Sorry for disappearing!

Hey everyone!

Sorry for disappearing! I have been traveling, starting a new job, and otherwise running around like crazy, but please do look out for new blog posts coming up very soon!

CBNYC Super Bowl Special!

For American beer lovers, there is perhaps no beerier day of the year than Super Bowl Sunday. Hardcore football fans and casual football acquaintances alike give their livers a firm pummeling.  We here at CBNYC are certainly no exception, but this year we decided to give that pummeling a little twist. Jess and I selected one craft brew from Seattle and one craft brew from Denver, and let them slug it out

To represent Seattle we selected the Elysian Bifrost Winter Ale (7.6% ABV).

Elysian styles the Bifrost as a Winter Warmer, but it doesn’t have the spiced quality one would expect. For me that was fine, but its something to note if you’re looking for that type of brew. If I were to guess from taste alone, I would’ve put it down as farmhouse ale- there was a definite sourness to it. Overall it felt like there was something lacking. You expect a lot of flavor bang for your 7.6% alcohol buck, and you just don’t get it.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

For Denver we decided go with the Crooked Stave Vieille Artisanal Saison (4.2% ABV).

Ugh, sorry for the blurry photo!

The Vieille had been very well reviewed so we were excited to get a crack at it. We were mightily disappointed. Our initial reaction was well, to stop drinking it immediately. The sourness completely overwhelmed the beer. I know that sour beers often shock my system initially, and that I need to plow through to get at the more subtle elements, but quantity did not improve this one. It didn’t linger on the palate very long, so its possible there was more to be had here, but I don’t think so.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5

Conclusions

We weren’t in love with the Bifrost, but it was the clear winner of the two. Its not something I’ll actively seek out, but its certainly pleasant enough.

Jessica's additional comment:

We had several more beers we were planning to try, but alas in the hubbub of the Super Bowl party it got to be too crazy to do this in an organized way. But I got a chance to try Elysian's Loser (7.0% ABV) which I really enjoyed! It was easily my favorite of the night: a lovely crisp pale ale. This beer is also commemorating 20 years of Sub Pop records, the legendary Seattle indie label, which I got a kick out of too!

Bartopia review: Supercollider

Every month, I host a beer night for my friends at a local bar in central Brooklyn (which I’ve cleverly dubbed “Bartopia.”) This time around, and for my first review for this blog, I’m going to review Supercollider, a reasonably new bar in South Park Slope, Brooklyn (a Google search suggests they opened in May 2013). NOTE: Please read through to the end, where there is an update!

I’d never been before, and we went this past Friday night. There must have been an event going on, because as I walked in, the long, narrow bar area near the doorway was PACKED. And as I tried to edge through the crowd, I kept getting dirty looks! I realized I was bumping up against canvases hung on the walls – and that folks were congregating around these canvases – so I assume the event was a celebration of the new art installation. (It wasn’t my fault folks! It’s not a good idea to crowd around the entryway of a bar that has not been reserved just for your event.) No damage seemed to be done to the art, however.

The bar was shaped like a skinny long rectangle with a square at the back. The square at the back had large booths around the perimeter – and it was totally empty when I arrived, so I decided this would be a good place to settle. The walls of this back area had lots of fantastic posters, all of the same abstract style, advertising amazing punk, postpunk, and new wave acts like Joy Division and the New York Dolls. And the music playing was very good too: we heard REM, the Cure, and Talking Heads, among others.

But the ambiance was a little weird. In the early part of the evening, it was really crowded because of the event they were having. This made it take ages to get the bartender’s attention, unfortunately. Also, the canvases on the walls had these little spotlights on them. The walls were a combination of white and a sort of grey-green color (if I remember correctly). The lighting and walls gave the whole affair a sort of suburban basement vibe, which was really different than the usual brick/wood/tin ceilings vibe of many Brooklyn bars.

So: on to the beer list. It was fairly extensive (between 15 and 20 taps) and had several beers from each brewery. There were beers from Captain Lawrence, Smuttynose, and Victory, among many others. In particular they had a number of outstanding stouts and porters. They also had a lot of fun cocktails listed on a blackboard, all revolving around the theme of supercolliders, physics, and the universe. (I can’t vouch for those – none of my party tried them!)

As the night went on, the crowd died down, and the environment mellowed out. We had a nice time. A couple of things to note: cell reception is really poor there, especially as you get further back in the bar. They have a television which was showing, when I was there, Turner Classic Movies (it was The Spirit of St. Louis starring Jimmy Stewart). The bar is really close to the subway at Prospect Avenue. Supercollider is a café during the day and turns into a bar at night – so they are in a great position to capitalize on workers going to, and coming from, the R train!

UPDATE:

A few nights after I first went to Supercollider, I decided to stop in again to check it out on a different night. I went mid-week in the early evening, and boy, was I surprised! The lighting was dimmer and there was only one table full of patrons in the back. I sat at the bar and enjoyed a Smuttynose Porter (always a favorite!) while chatting with Robert, the man behind the bar. He confirmed that the previous Friday was an outlier as they were, indeed, having an art opening. This time around, I found the bar a lot more warm and inviting. I will definitely be back!

Food Picture!

Here, as promised, is my BBQ Slow Cooker Chicken made with Captain Lawrence's Xtra Gold:

Super delicious!

Update: Captain Lawrence Xtra Gold American Tripel

So, it turns out that the Captain Lawrence Xtra Gold American Tripel I spoke about in my first review works really nicely in cooking! Or, at least, it does in a particular recipe I tried: Crockpot BBQ Beer Chicken. We've been in a slow-cooker phase lately as well as a barbecue flavors phase (since a big road-trip throughout the American south this summer!). At any rate, the strength of this beer held up really well over the long cooking time of the slow-cooker recipe and also stood up to the rich flavors of the barbecue sauce and seasonings. You could still taste the beer's flavor in the final dish. (I will point out that this is the same large bottle I used for my initial tasting. Heresy, I know. But! I did use a vacuum-stopper to seal the bottle, and I will say that lots of hops and lots of alcohol lead to preservation of flavors, as we've seen. So there! Aside from being a little bit flat, the beer's flavors were mostly intact.)

At any rate, I am making it again today and will post pictures when it's ready!

Captain Lawrence Series entry 2: Ales and Pales!

I love a hoppy beer. American craft beer has gotten hoppier and stronger, hoppier and stronger, until we regularly see 8, 9, 10% and more ABV (alcohol by volume) beers at the pub. (There has also been a bit of a backlash against these super-strong beers; some breweries have started focusing instead on so-called “session” beers, which run at an ABV in the 5% range or so, which means you can have more than one of them in a sitting!) Also, pales are sometimes described in IBUs, or International Bitterness Units, which can be helpful if you are sensitive to the bitterness that often comes along with hops. India Pale Ales tend to be hoppier and stronger than their pale ale cousins; hops have preservative properties and IPAs were initially manufactured with extra hops to be able to keep fresh on the journey to India from England, and to stay fresh in the Indian climate. Hoppy beers, especially IPAs, have several flavor profiles: sometimes they are pretty neutral, sometimes they are really piney, and sometimes they are really citrusy, for example. (There are approximately 7 gazillion types of hops, and beers are often brewed with combinations of hops as well, so a lot of variation is possible, according to the brewer’s taste.)

In this review I’ll be checking out three of Captain Lawrence’s pale ale offerings: the Freshchester Pale Ale, the India Pale Ale, and the Captain’s Reserve Imperial India Pale Ale (which is the strongest of the bunch. Note: “Imperial” often means “strong/high ABV/be careful.”)

Freshchester Pale Ale- 5.5% ABV, IBU 35

For me, the difficulty with pale ales (as opposed to India Pale Ales) is that they seem to be more likely to have background flavors I don’t love, including a slight skunkiness.

According to RealBeer.com, the various pale ale styles can be more susceptible to skunking. And guess what: it comes from light hitting beer in bottles, and the reaction produces the same chemical found in actual, for real, skunks. The more you know!

The Freshchester that I got did have a bit of that skunkiness, unfortunately. So I will have to get a new bottle and try it again. To be continued!

India Pale Ale- 6.5% ABV, IBU 65

The IPA’s smell is gorgeous. SOOO piney- and I have a real love for piney beers. I seriously sat and smelled the beer for a couple of minutes. I commented to my boyfriend, Mike, that it smelled ideal. I gave him the glass to smell. And this was all before I took a drink!

My turtle bottle opener from Fiji!

When you do drink it, it’s very crisp, with a lot of hoppy bitterness up front. (As you can see, the IBU is a lot higher for this one than for the Freshchester!) However, it doesn’t have as much body as you might expect. The mouthfeel is pretty crisp and clean too. Once you swallow, though, you still get reminders of that piney flavor on the back end. It’s sort of funny that way: you have initial strong flavor, then less flavor, and then strong flavor again. But you know what? It grows on you and you like it more and more! I’m pretty happy (hoppy? Sorry.) with this beer.

Imperial IPA- 9% ABV, IBU 90

According to Captain Lawrence, they brewed their Captain’s Reserve Imperial IPA first, and then worked backwards to create the regular IPA. But I decided to do the Imperial last, because it is the strongest and it would be hard to drink anything after it!

Trying to get a bit more creative with my photography

To me they taste pretty different. This one is quite strong, and also a lot less piney. In fact, it has bit of the essence of the Belgian Captain Lawrence American Tripel I recently reviewed. It stands up nicely against the spicy chicken dinner I’m having, too.

What I learned: “Skunky” flavors are called that because they are the same chemical skunks produce.

Bottom line: Absolute clear winner: the India Pale Ale! (With, of course, a potential challenge from the Freshchester at a later date.)

Speakeasy Tasting at Bierkraft

So last night I went to my first tasting at Bierkraft, the fantastic beer-and-sandwiches place in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

One of the great things about this place is they sell loose beers; you can purchase single bottles without buying whole six packs (and you can drink the beers you buy at the store while you eat one of their delicious sandwiches!). They also offer 10-15 beers on tap that you can sample. You can order pints (to drink in the store) and also fill growlers to take home with you.

They also host tastings most weeks, usually on Tuesday. I had never been to one before, so I invited my friends Edwina and Dan to check it out with me. This week's tasting was for beers from the San Francisco-based Speakeasy Ales and Lagers. So I sat down, giant sandwich in hand (Serrano ham, manchego cheese, arugula, and fig spread!), and got ready to try some beers.

We tasted five beers, a range from lighter in color and ABV to darker and stronger. The first beer was quite a nice Belgian ale (see? I'm starting to warm up to them!) called The Witness; it was a sort of Belgian wheat/Saison. The big standouts of the night for my friends and I were the Double Daddy Imperial IPA, which had a lovely piney flavor; the Payback Porter, which was rich and lovely, with notes of coffee; and the extra special offering, the Ritual Coffee Porter, brewed with Ritual Coffee. This brew really, really tasted like coffee.

If I had to pick a favorite, I think I'd vote for the Payback Porter. It was everything a porter should be: balanced, rich, and silky. (But I did go back and buy a pint of The Witness Belgian!)

Why hello!

Do you love craft beer? So do we!

Good, we'll get along fine. This blog will be all about craft beer in the NYC area and beyond. We'll try lots of beers, talk about new beers and breweries as they come out, and hopefully be a useful (and entertaining) resource for all of you out there. We'll learn as we go.

Captain Lawrence Series 1: Belgian style grudge match!

I’ve decided to begin with Captain Lawrence because I feel like I’ve never had a beer from them I didn’t like. High praise, indeed, and I wonder if that will actually turn out to be true - especially since I’m starting with a style I tend to avoid, Belgians. I assume they’re all going to be like Blue Moon (which, fair enough for some people, but it’s not my bag). Is this accurate? Let’s see, shall we!

Also I figured it was a great opportunity to try some of the rarer brews from this brand, which is stationed in Elmsford, NY.

My first step is to acquire supplies at Eagle Provisions in South Slope, Brooklyn, which is frankly one of the best places to get unusual beer (or any beer) in Brooklyn.

I hadn’t been in a few years and was pleasantly surprised again at their selection. The only drawback: you can’t buy loose beers from six-packs. So keep that in mind. They have a great selection of rarities, seasonals, and specialty beers, though, many of which are sold in single large bottles, so I picked up the Xtra Gold American Tripel Ale. I already had one of Captain Lawrence’s most popular beers, Liquid Gold, so I included that for comparison.

Liquid Gold – ABV 6.5%

According to the brewery, this is a “Belgian-style ale brewed with spices.” It looks golden in color and is pretty clear and filtered. As I said, I think of myself as not a fan of Belgians, but this one is so spicy and complex that I am won over.

The smell is lovely and malty – I always think of Belgians as wheaty, but really, apparently, according to the Captain Lawrence website, it’s malt, not wheat, that they’re working with.

(This is confusing to me as a beer drinker because I always think of malt as the predominant flavor of many darker European beers, but I suspect this may just be down to the brewing, the yeast, and the style of malt used, etc. Learning experience! Actually, the more research I do on this, the more I’m learning that “Belgian” is a term applied to basically thousands of kinds of beer.)

Also according to the website, they add hops to this beer toward the end of the brewing, so that you get hop flavor and not hop bitterness, and I think this is what makes the difference for me. This is why the beer is a crowd-pleaser: it’s got spicy and hoppy notes but it doesn’t have the bitterness that turns the Anti-Hops folks off.

There is a nice amount of carbonation, too, but not so much that you’d confuse this with a lager or pilsner-style beer (even though that is what the color might lead you to believe!). There is a tiny bit of lemon flavor, and a beautiful depth. This is a pretty fantastic beer, all around. 

Xtra Gold – ABV 10%

I was curious to see if, given my uncharacteristic love for Liquid Gold, Captain Lawrence could pull off converting me to a fan of Tripels. Tripels are an intense, strong style of Belgian ale, so, of course, I usually avoid them, assuming they will be extra intense versions of what I think I don’t like.

The smell of this beer is really different from the Liquid Gold. It isn’t spicy in the same way; it’s much sweeter. And it tastes really different! Wow. The carbonation feels much more pronounced, and the flavors are less perfectly in balance. According to the Captain Lawrence website, this is a blend of a Belgian Tripel and an American IPA, but I don’t taste a ton of the hops involved in an IPA here, and I wish there was more of a bitter kick. Also, it’s STRONG. (Seriously, I had like a third of a pint glass of it - see below - and then I had to take a break!) It really mostly tastes like a Tripel (rich, slightly sweet, malty), and that’s great if you like Tripels, but this beer doesn’t make me a convert, unfortunately. 

What I learned: “Belgian” means different things to different people. It doesn’t always mean “wheaty.” I like some Belgians if they have a sufficient hop bitterness to balance the sweetness of the malt.

Bottom line: These two beers do different jobs, but for me the clear winner is… Liquid Gold!