Craft Beer NYC

I recently got to visit the Broken Bow Brewery in Tuckahoe, New York.  This newly opened Westchester Brewery is making full use of the great Catskill Mountain water system that flows freely into the Hudson Valley and the New York City Metro Area.   Proving that you can't brew great beer without great water.   The tasting room is open Wednesday through Sunday and tours are offered on Saturday and Sunday.  They currently have 8 different flavors on tap in their tasting room and all are available to be taken home in their custom branded growlers.   The friendly staff create a fun environment to drink and taste great beer and learn a little about their brewing process.  After a tour of their production facility, including their nifty fermenters and brite tanks imported from Japan, my first brew that I sampled was their Broken Heart Stout.  This nice dark ale with roasted malted barley has a medium finish and a spicy overtone of hops without being overpower...

This delightful red "copper" ale from Maine is a nice entry for a summer night.  Brewed near the Canadian border of Nova Scotia, where red ales flourish, the Lobster Ale has an even balance of hop flavor and floral spices.  This one scores high as a session beer with a diverse selection of food pairing for any social occasion. 5.0% ABV 6 out of 10 Red Lobsters http://www.belfastbaybrewing.com

The 60 Minute IPA from Dogfish Head is a fine replacement or substitute for its 90 Minute older brother, when you need the mental clarity that is lost due to its strength and fortitude.  Coming in at 6% ABV this hop roasted IPA is an outstanding performer for all occasions and can be used as more of a session beer compared to the 90 Minute version.  The hop mixture includes Northwest hops for a citrus and grassy flavor for hardcore hop heads.  The Dogfish Head process of continuously boiling the hops for 60 Minutes bring a unique hoppyness flavor and a fitting name to a strong IPA for beer fans of all varieties to enjoy. Food Pairings:  Anything spicy, BBQ Chicken, Beef or Pulled Pork Sliders 6.0% ABV 9 out of 10 Off Centered perfection! Sam's Video on the 60 Minute story http://www.dogfish.com/brews-spirits/the-brews/year-round-brews/60-minute-ipa.htm

In 2006 Wells joined forces with Young and Co of Wandsworth in London to create the largest family beer company in the UK.  The history of the Wells half of this brewery was started by Charles Wells in 1875.  All their barley comes from family-owned farms in England that handpick their crops, which has been a key to Young Ales for almost one hundred years.   Their Double Chocolate Stout has been an award winner since 1998 and most recently in 2004.  Created by mixing a Pale Ale, crystal malt, chocolate malt, sugars, Fuggle and Golding hops, along with dark chocolate.  This stout has quite a nice tone and balance to it, without going overboard with the sweetness.   Pure luxury and indulgence to go around that amps up what would just be a normal stout.   I've been asking the basic question all year- why just have a stout when you can have a coffee or chocolate stout? 5.2% ABV 7 out of 10 Chocolate Bunnies http://www.youngsbeers.co.uk h...

Caution!  Remember to sit down while drinking this one.  Dogfish Head pumps this one full of sugar eating yeast to offer up an intense 9% ABV.   Drink wisely and responsibly while you wash down a nice healthy meal of chicken or beef sliders.   Sam and team at Dogfish Head focused an entire episode of his unfortunately short lived Discovery series, Brew Masters, around a quality control issue of 90 Minute IPA.   They pride themselves so much on perfection that they decided to dump an entire batch worth thousands of dollars to prevent a less than stellar batch going to market.   This has a strong hoppyness once they dry-hop every batch but balanced well with a large amount of English Two-Row barley.   This scores a Beer Advocate 95, but in my book it is perfection that can't really be duplicated.   This ale takes over a month to make given the intense continuous hop process that offers us a pungent and citrus flavor plus the dry-hop ...

2014 marks the 20th Anniversary celebration for Brian Dunn and the team at Great Divide in Denver Colorado.  This special ale is fermented with Viognier grape juice to give it a little extra flare for the celebration.  Enjoy in the 22 oz bottle and you'll agree that the team at Great Divide has something special to offer.  The brewery prides themselves on their green initiatives going as far as exclusively using bottles from a plant in Denver that uses recycled glass.  80% of the barley used in production is grown and malted in Colorado and all their spent grain is used by a local cattle farm in Platteville, Colorado.   We have just started seeing more varieties in NYC and hopefully we will see some of their rotating seasonal lines in Manhattan markets soon.  I'm trying to find the Oatmeal Yeti and the Lasso IPA just to name a few.   Try the special Belgian ale with shrimp or red curry. 8.2% ABV 6 out of 10 Andrew Jackson's http://greatdivide.com...

I applaud any attempt to brew a coffee inspired American Stout.   Bell's Java Stout uses a custom blend of coffee from the Water Street Coffee Joint in nearby Kalamazoo (Derek Jeter's hometown) to make their ale.  They take a nice dark and roasty stout and enhance it to another level to offer a intense taste but without any overpowering bitterness.  The magic enchantment of Bell's was founded in 1983 by Larry Bell with a 15 gallon operation that has grown to almost 250,000 barrels annually.   Originally opened in Kalamazoo, in 2013 they relocated to nearby Comstock, Michigan after outgrowing their old space.   Just like other success stories across the Mid-West, the Bell operation is riding the wave of the craft beer renaissance and expanding their production while building out their on site pub, which serves as an outdoor beer garden and music space called the Eccentric Cafe in downtown Kalamazoo.  Historical footnote, in 1993 they were the first brew...