Craft Beer NYC

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...

Perfection!   This American style black ale or black rye IPA is an amazing powerhouse of flavor perfection.   The inspired ale uses roasted malts ranging from midnight wheat to black malts from Germany mixed with German Magnum hops for the bittering process and double dry-hopped Citra and Amarillo for flavor and aroma.  This also includes a secret ingredient known as "Wookey Dust" which is unknown in origin and doesn't even show up in a google search.  Notice the slight change in spelling in order to escape the legal team at Lucasfilm Ltd.  Scoring a world class 95 from Beer Advocate, this one will not disappoint the stout, black ale, or porter beer fan.   The complex tones blend so many things together in a way not commonly seen with the new dark stouts or hybrid porters that use chocolate or coffee.  The palette is so complex that you have to continue to indulge to discover new hints of hoppy spice and malts that engulf your sipping glass until the v...

Firestone Walker started brewing back in 1996 in Santa Barbara County, California in a small rented facility part of the Firestone Vineyard.  Relocated to Paso Robles in 2001 where they have been growing in production and reputation ever since into a craft beer powerhouse brand.   All their ales are fermented in their custom Firestone Union oak barrel brewing system, which consists of 65 gallons of American fine oak barrels.  The Double Jack IPA is a strong bold choice rounding out at 9.5% ABV and part of their select proprietors reserve series.  This IPA won a bronze medal at the 2012 Great American Beer Festival in the Imperial IPA category.  You can definitely taste the fruit overtones mixed in with a very intense hoppyness but the flavor is well balanced.   Remember to store below 44 degrees since they don't pasteurize any of their bottled beer.  For convenience, and to make sure their ales are enjoyed in their optimal freshness window, all bo...

Coffee and craft beer make a great combination, especially as part of a milk stout.   I posted about Keegan's regular Milk Stout a few months ago and this one scores much higher.  The added flavor tones of the coffee help balance their traditional milk stout which comes across very chalky and bitter.  They amp up the brown sugar from the standard milk stout recipe and then add in a cold coffee extract from the Monkey Joe Roasting Company also from Kingston, NY.  The extra brown sugar also ups the ABV from the 6% to 8% for a more bold and powerful experience. 8.0% ABV 7 out 10 Kingston Coffee Beans http://www.keeganales.com/the-beers/beers/

The Fort Collins Brewery is another Colorado craft beer creative force established in 2003.  After several expansions including upgrading to a 50 barrel production facility in 2013, they are now brewing a full portfolio of lines and flavors.  Building upon a philosophy from the three basic principles of create, share, and savor they are fully positioned to offer a very unique and true American craft beer experience for the coming generations.  The first beer in their portfolio that I had the privilege to taste was their Chocolate Stout, which does a great job at mixing the character of roasted barley and chocolate malts with a nice even hoppyness that create a subtle and smooth drinking experience.   I especially enjoyed that there is less of a chalky aftertaste that exists with some other chocolate or mocha stouts.  Self described as velvety smooth, this stout represents a rising tide of Chocolate and Coffee stouts that deliver a great alternative flavor for an...

I first sampled this new beer experience during the NYC Craft Beer Spring Festival at the Lexington Avenue Armory in Manhattan.  I was skeptical of a craft beer company jumping on the anti-gluten bandwagon of our current dietary age of Absurdism, but I was pleasantly surprised with my discovery.   Omission is the first American craft beer company with the specific mission to brew beer with gluten removed from the malted barley it uses in the normal production process.  The Omission line is officially part of the Widmer Brothers brew operation out of Portlandia, and if you want to personally verify the gluten level of the batch you purchased you can enter the batch # and production date from the bottle on their website. Here's a nifty little video to describe their vision: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5wdJ-QmKho The pale ale has a very nice finish from the Cascade and Citra hops, with a medium caramel malted body rounded out with a nice amber color.   For an...

The ladies and gentlemen at Flying Dog never fail to impress.  Their Hunter S. Thompson inspired Baltic Porter is another one of their top contenders.  This intense dark porter is packed full of caramel, black and chocolate malts mixed with warrior, cascade, and northern brewer hops.   Food pairings range from BBQ to all smoked meats, Chili, Chocolate and Coffee deserts.  I fully recommend this one for all beer fans who are willing to enjoy a great stout, porter, or heavy full bodied beer.  Sip wisely, as this one packs quite a punch with the ABV.  We hope they bring this back all year round. 9.2% ABV Perfect 10- Gonzo's cigarette holders at maximum velocity http://flyingdogbrewery.com/beers/gonzo-imperial-porter/

This English style pale ale is a tribute to the 1955 World Championship campaign of the Brooklyn Dodgers over the New York Yankees.  Dodger greats such as Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, and even Yankee coaching great Don Zimmer was on that roster.   This is a great fridge beer for the summer while watching a game at home, but it doesn't impress an IPA fan who is seeking more hoppyness.   This brew poured out of the bottle actually has a few metallic characteristics, which might have just been a bad batch or a stale bottle.   The team at Brooklyn uses Scottish Maris Otter malts, which does add to the biscuity flavor for this one.  The Brooklyn house yeast also creates a dry finish. 5.0% ABV 6 out of 10 Dodger Blues 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers Roster http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1955&t=BRO