The Fort Collins Brewery scene is controlled by Odell’s and New Belgium, and the locals all know to go to Coopersmith’s Pub – but there is a new player in the world of Northern Colorado brewing, Equinox Brewery. Located within miles of New Belgium, Odell’s and Coopersmith’s, Equinox is a young brewery (opened in April) and hidden down Remington Street. There is a great local brewery feel when you walk in, much like a coffee house but for beer. Everyone there knows why they’re there – not to impress with flashy clothes, or get wasted - but to enjoy good beer. High top tables fill the left side of the room with the bar straight ahead, to the left of the bar is the merchandise and in front of the bar the board games(!). Journey to the right and the room opens up to extra seating, bathrooms and a hallway to their recently opened Beer Garden. We enjoyed this place because of the freshness, and the possibilities abound. As for the beers:
This week August ends and we start our transition into fall. The weather will get a bit cooler but we have many things to look forward too in the beer world. Fall spice brews and Octoberfest’s will start to grace the beer menu’s at our favorite craft brew bars and we can finally go back to seasonally enjoying the darker beers in life. Let’s see what we have to look forward to this week as fall starts peering around the corner.
Tuesday, August 31 – Hodgepodge Event @ Jimmy’s No. 43: The East 7th Street craft beer legend has a fantastic series of events, every Tuesday, called $10 Tastings. They’ll bring in brewers and beer experts, including their own famous expert/owner Jimmy Carbone (co-founder of The Good Beer Seal) and for $10 you get to taste and talk about the featured craft brews. This event is truly Hodgepodge. Jimmy’s is going deep into their bottle collection and pulling out some of their favorite brews for this week’s tastings. When a place as renowned as Jimmy’s No. 43 goes into their bottle cellar and pulls out their favorites for you to taste for a 10-spot, you’d want to be there.
Last week was supposed to be our final Brooklyn Brewery review of the month, PSYCH! We pulled this one from the vault because it was a delicious beer and hope that they could recreate the formula at some point…
This week we reviewed Brooklyn Brewery’s Dark Matter, which we had the pleasure of going to the release party and enjoyed some of the first taste, then found at a local bar and HAD to do a growler review…
Be sure to keep up-to-date with the Brooklyn Brewery expansion project here, and a big thanks to BrewYorkNewYork’s Chris O’Leary (@ohhleary) for a mention in the excellent NYTimes.com post about his beer blogging, which can be found here.
Finally it has returned: The Sierra Nevada Blind Tiger Extravaganza! One of The Beer Friends favorte breweries has come back to take over almost all of the Blind Tigers taps. This night started as just one Beer Friend headed down to one of his favorite NYC beer bars to sample some of Sierra Nevada’s finest offerings. It quickly turned into something bigger. How could one man attempt to tackle so many fine offerings…by himself? The choices were tough, but they were made. Here’s the best attempt by one man at recapping a truly epic event.
Numero One – Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale 6.7%. – One of the rumors surrounding this event was that this will be one of the places that Sierra will unveil this years Harvest Ale. A fall brew from start to finish, this pour offers up hearty malts, seasonal spices reminiscent of October and a big hop character. I could definitely see myself drinking this one or the usual Harvest that comes to us New Yorkers throughout the fall season. It warms you, without taking away the drinkability or versatile flavors. (more…)
Aaaaaand we’re back! The Beer Friends NYC Beer Events calendar updates took a bit of hiatus recently if you hadn’t noticed. I’d apologize, but it was for a good reason. A Colorado Brewery Tour is a good reason right? I think so. You’ll be hearing all about the Colorado trip and the 15 breweries we visited while there all in good time. For now let’s talk about what’s happening with craft beer this week in this little town.
Wednesday, August 25 – Sierra Nevada Extravaganza, Blind Tiger Ale House, Manhattan: It’s that time of year again! Sierra Nevada will be taking over the taps at the Blind Tiger Ale House for their yearly extravaganza. Last years event was phenomenal with all of Sierra Nevada’s fantastic regulars and more than a handful of rarely released and specialty brews. This is a brewery event you won’t want to miss at a beer bar that always puts on a great time.
Wednesday, August 25 – Blue Point Night, Standings, Manhattan: East Village Craft Brew hotspot Standings will be featuring four lines of Long Island’s favorite brewery: Blue Point Brewing Co., out of Patchogue, New York. They haven’t released the names of the brews that will be pouring but we imagine it’ll be somewhere along the lines of the Toasted Lager, Blueberry, Hoptical and maybe something mysterious. Or the Summer Ale.
Thursday, August 26 – Allagash Night, Barcade, Brooklyn: It has been faaar too long since the Beer Friends have made it out to this Brooklyn brewhouse/arcade. It has been one of our favorite bars for beer events and Pac-man and an Allagash event seems like a perfect reason to head back. So come on out to Barcade in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and join us in sharing some of Allagash’s traditional and experimental Belgian-Style Brews. I’m looking forward to grabbing an Allagash Black and maybe a Curieux.
While one Beer Friend held down the fort in NYC, the other three travelled out to the Great (Brewery) State of Colorado for a look around. Below is a brief recap of the days and breweries we hit.
August 12th -
Garden of the Gods
Phil, James (honorary BF this trip) and Brad arrive in Colorado Springs, quickly finding themselves standing in front of a liquor store cooler inspecting the new and interesting beers in the cooler. Then a quick run around Garden of the Gods, in North-west Colorado Springs. Then a drive to Denver to pick up Graham and back home for our first beers of the tour – an extension of Christmas in July/August with a New Belgium 2 Below and Odell’s Isolation Ale to kick off the trip (beers remaining from my winter holiday trip home).
August 13th -
A beautiful drive to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. After taking some time to find a campsite (be sure to call ahead) we stop at our first brewery, Estes Park Brewery. This small brewery stays true to their roots, producing small batches to sell to local stores and supply their pub which is upstairs. A few highlights were the Trail Ridge Red – also known as the Redrum Ale (playing off the famed Stanley Hotel in Estes Park – inspiration for the Steven King novel “The Shining”) and the Estes Park Porter. Then we headed into Fort Collins to check out Coopersmiths Pub and Brewing and Equinox Brewery a short walk away. Equinox had a great feel – a bit of a coffee house vibe, it’s a bar without any heels and no Coors Light on draft. We enjoyed their sampler with six offerings – Sunrise Golden Ale, Vernal Hefeweizen, MidSummer Pale Ale, Orbit ESB, Zenith IPA, and the Sunset Stout. All we very enjoyable but MidSummer Pale Ale was a favorite of these Beer Friends. From there we headed to a favorite drinking hole – Old Chicago, had a few before returning to the forrest.
Sadly, this is our final Brooklyn Brewery SPotW review of the month. However, Brooklyn Brewery does have a excellent line of beers available in the Northeast and is continuing their expansion project through the end of the year and the Beer Friends are partnering to bring you coverage.
A Brooklyn Brewery Brewmaster’s Reserve release party in the Prospect Park Audubon Center at the Boathouse with a beer that’s described “BLAST!’s big brother?”
This weeks SPotW is Brooklyn Brewery’s East India Pale Ale. This is available in six packs all over the 5 borough area… and probably other places as well… we are just very NYC centric. With a 6.8 ABV this is a smooth, easy to drink IPA. Enjoy the video and check back for more Brooklyn Brewery related information!
The moment you have all been waiting for is here: The Beer Friends Colorado Brewery Tour starts today! Three of the Beer Friends and one guest, who you most likely be hearing about, are heading out to the great state of Colorado today, August 12 to experience the mountains, forests and, most important, the craft beer. (more…)
The Fort Collins Brewery scene is controlled by Odell’s and New Belgium, and the locals all know to go to Coopersmith’s Pub – but there is a new player in the world of Northern Colorado brewing, Equinox Brewery. Located within miles of New Belgium, Odell’s and Coopersmith’s, Equinox is a young brewery (opened in April) and hidden down Remington Street. There is a great local brewery feel when you walk in, much like a coffee house but for beer. Everyone there knows why they’re there – not to impress with flashy clothes, or get wasted - but to enjoy good beer. High top tables fill the left side of the room with the bar straight ahead, to the left of the bar is the merchandise and in front of the bar the board games(!). Journey to the right and the room opens up to extra seating, bathrooms and a hallway to their recently opened Beer Garden. We enjoyed this place because of the freshness, and the possibilities abound. As for the beers:
Corporate Kerouac
Phil
Brad
Graham
Paul
