Hello Beer Friends Nation! Tonight we are back at Idle Hands for the slightly official kickoff of New York beer week with Kelso, Empire and the newcomer Singlecut. As always thanks to Rev and .rob for the awesome event and Dan at That Burger for TATCHOS!!!!!!! Let’s get started!
Phil’s First: Kelso Rauchbier – I’m a big fan of the Rauchbier. graham and I have agreed its not a real pint contender unless you’re looking for a sipping beer. Wonderfully smokey this one keeps the beer taste on the down low, but that’s not a bad thing. I would usually only have one or two of these a night, but that because its a bit more specialized than others. Fortunately we have Jarlsberg cheese here with some samples to go along with the smokey goodness, a well balanced bitterness that helps balance the sweet smoke of the Kelso.
Graham’s First: Kelso Rauchbier – Rauchbier is a delicious flavor of beer that I rarely get a chance to drink, and probably for good measure. If I had it all the time I probably would get smoked out. In the rare circumstances that I enjoy a Rauchbier I, well, enjoy it. Especially when it’s paired with smokey Jarlsberg cheese like tonight. The Kelso Rauchbier has a hint of bacony meat smoke with a great earthy flavor behind it and a light hop bitterness that is delightfully embraced by the cheese.
Phil’s Second: Empire Amber – always a good showing form the Empire crew, the Amber is a solid malt forward offering that hits well in the second round. A slight combination after taste of the malts and the hops finished cleanly and get you ready for the next taste.
Graham’s Second: Empire Amber – Ambers are not usually my favorites: too heavy on the malts and not enough hop action. This one is mostly the same with the exception the nice hop bitterness in the back end of the back end. In reality, I’m not as praising of this beer because I’m some sort of hop monster, in the end it’s one of the most well-balanced, easy-drinking ambers out of the northeast.
Phil’s Third: Singlecut 18 Watt IPA – OH MAN is this good! Super hoppy in the best way. The aroma hits you even before your bring the glass up to take a sip. A lot of floral hop flavor right off the bat, bewitch a good sweetness on the back end that only compliments the hops you tasted 2 seconds before. This is one I will be getting another glass of, right after this glass! Can’t wait to hit up the brewery for some fresh IPA. Yum yum.
Graham’s Third: Singlecut 18 Watt IPA – I could talk about this IPA as having a super hoppy herbal aroma, or having a complex hop flavor or being a super drinkable 5% ABV. Or I could talk about the secret tasting of a rum barrel aged dopplebock that will eventually be poured in a nitrogenated fashion. Not that these two awesome things happened at the same time or anything…
Thanks again to Rev and Rob for the amazing event. Thanks to the breweries Kelso, Empire and Singlecut! Singlecut we’ll be seeing you real soon for some more IPA/Rum aged Doppelboch in the very near future, Trista it was great to meet you!
Till next time BF Nation! (next week probably, who are we kidding)
Another week, another week of beer events… check it!
Monday August 27th -
In the craft beer world movement to get local, we find Rockaway Brewing Company , a company so local they deliver their kegs via bicycle! This brewery pairs up with Jimmy’s No. 43 and Queens County Farm Museum to provide a small tasting where you can try this 2 barrel microbrewery and find out a little more about the Queens County Farm Museum in a fun filled evening of food pairing and local drinking.
It’s Live Bloggerin’ time!!!! (Phil’s kinda excited for The Avengers). Hello Beer Friends Nation! Here we are again for our current favorite live blogging beer event at Idle Hands Bar in New York City welcoming Sierra Nevada to the stage.
For now were are chilling with a couple of pre-gamers:
We had a great time at Rattle n’ Hum last night at the Empire Brewing Company event. Being a fan of the Empire Cream Ale I was excited to try some of the brewery’s other offerings. Of course, they did not disappoint. The “Dragons” were the standouts to me. I tried both and am interested to try these, and more like these, again. The addition of the basil to the Belgian style was great, and it almost got Phil to call a Belgian ale delicious…
If you missed out last night, NEVER FEAR! Empire is hitting NY Craft Beer Week hard and you should make sure you don’t miss it.
They have 2 events scheduled tonight; one at Spring Lounge and at Puck Fair. If you miss those, then you can hit up Dive Bar tomorrow night.
I suggest you try to get out to one of these events, and check below for what Phil and I thought of the night as it unfolded.
Wow, so that just happened. The Beer Friends hope everyone is safe (to drink craft beer) and has power (enough to watch our videos). While people are getting power back and lives together, this week we’ll feature something to do every night in effort to get you out of the house. Some of these events are weekly happenings so if you like it, come again next week!
Monday – 25 Cent Wings and Daily Double at Lansdowne Road
Shout out to Nick @ Stags head!!! Go see this man!!
Phil’s First-Oskar Blues G’Knight – Always my favorite from Oskar. Holds up at this great event. Just the right malty seedbeds with a hoppy bite to start the night off.
Brad’s First- Oskar Blues Ten Fidy – what else on a hot night but a stout… Wait… Somethings are just so good you need to get them. With no Hungarian Oak Aged available (See: The Pony Bar Oskar Blues Night) I settled on a brew I always enjoy – Ten Fidy, dark, malty and delicious.
Brad’s Second- Two Brothers Northwind Imperial Stout – I like a lot of stuff Two Brothers does, but this is no Imperial Stout, not nearly as heavy as the Ten Fidy, but this is unfair – like trying to follow Michael Jordan you’re never gonna be as good (Read: LeBron James).
Phil’s Second- Two Brothers Northwind Imperial Stout – thankfully I don’t really like basketball so I’m unbiased to my interpertaion…….and that means I liked it. Good and deep malty roasted goodness with a nice coffee sidecar attachment to the flavor. Definitely a repeat offender for my Taste buds.
Phil’s Third-Left Hand Sawtooth – always a fantastic way to round out the evening. This is one I never fail to have if it’s offered. Perfect for the back of the bell curve.
Brad’s Third-21st Amendment Monks Blood – classic, I’ve had this on tap a couple places and this is always enjoyable. This doesn’t taste like rotten fruit (Phil) but like a nice mixture of light fruity taste but still a beer. No overpowering notes makes this very light and drinkable.
As a peace offering to the West Coast, The Stag Head has graciously hosted an Oregon Beers night here in NYC! At least one of us is SUPER excited for the possibilities, let’s see what we have in store from Rogue, Dick’s and Elysian Breweries:
Phil’s 1st – Elysian Men’s Room Red: a good staple kind of red ale. A little coppery on the aftertaste, but was an excellent way to start the evening, a good malty ending helps bring the flavor forward.
Brad’s 1st – Elysian Jasmine IPA: This was a bit of a surprise because I was expecting a more flowery hop because of the name (I’m a native male). This brew was good but could’ve been better… However I’ve had other Elysian stuff so I’m looking forward to more.
Phil’s 2nd – Dick’s Danger Ale: a good choice for the second round. A good showing from he malts involved, but I missed the hops that were supposed to round out the taste. The feel was a little on the thin side, but definitely worth a try.
Brad’s 2nd – Full Sail IPA: a decent IPA, although I enjoy a hoppier IPA. When your favorite IPA’s are Bengali Tiger and Pale Ale is Dale’s a lighter hopped IPA just doesn’t do it… The thrill is gone.
Phil’s 3rd – Full Sail LTD 05: I had high hopes for this one, and it came close to my hopes and dreams. A good middle range ale, gets a little bread-y I’d you let it get warm. Maybe good for a first round, but I think better could be found.
Brad’s 3rd – Elysian Immortal IPA: This is cheating but I’ve had this beer before and I really like it. It’s a hoppier IPA (see above) and that’s the way, ug huh ug huh I like it!
Hello Beer Friends Nation! We’ve had some crazy competition this year to get here, the Final Four beers that will battle it out! Our two matches are Founders Brewing VS Nebraska Brewing and Speakeasy VS Cape Cod! Just for you we have a video with the four of us summing up the last few rounds and making our predictions for the Championship! If you’re good, we’ll show you the new “Hash Tag” dance move brought to you by The Beer Friends. Take a look and don’t forget to vote!
As the East Coast v. West Coast Final Four Matchup quickly approaches we reflect on the Sweet Sixteen in amazement. This has been by far the craziest BFF4 in the history of this storied tournament.
Northeast Region – Elite Eight
There was one major upset in the Northeast – although at this point it’s hard to call a Captain Lawrence Liquid Gold victory an upset as they have been dominating the Northeast side of this tournament and continued to do so against Sixpoint’s Bengali Tiger IPA defeating the Brooklyn #1 seeded favorite by an 80% – 20% vote margin. (more…)
What’s up everyone time to get the Western Bracket for the 2011 Beer Friends Final 4 up and running!
This year Phil’s bracket has contenders from Oregon(of course), California, Hawaii, and a surprise showing from Mexico! Make sure your vote counts, check back often and get your friends to support your favorite beers in all four brackets all the way to the Final Round!
The first match up is our 1 vs 16 with Sierra Nevada’s Torpedo going head to head with Kona Brewery’s Fire Rock Pale Ale. A good showing from both, but I’d have to side with the Torpedo, alot more flavor even with the Hops kick has enough in my opinion to unseat the standard flavored Fire Rock. But who am I to tell you that? Click on through to the rest of the article and get all 8 of your votes in!
dingerc
Brad
Corporate Kerouac
Phil
