Category Archives: Review

Bridge View Tavern

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sleepy hollow street signIn our house, Halloween isn’t so much a holiday as it is a month-long celebration of the harvest and the Fall, and also of murder, mayhem, and death.  We’re equal parts pagan and horror-movie-obsessed, and October is for us a month both high and holy.

Beyond trips to pumpkin patches and abandoned-prisons-cum-haunted-houses, we make a yearly pilgrimage to the town of Sleepy Hollow, New York, of Headless Horseman fame.  These people do Halloween properly, right down to their street signs, which are orange and black and feature a silhouette of their most infamous resident. It’s a great little town, with a few wonderful bars and restaurants to round out an evening visiting their Halloween attractions.

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A beer back through time in lower Manhattan

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The Dead RabbitWe recently visited The Dead Rabbit Grocery and Grog, a historical-revivalist taproom and parlour on Water Street in Lower Manhattan.  While TDR is just a short walk from Battery Park and other tourist attractions, it is a destination worth traveling to in its own right.

The whole joint is thoroughly infused with the Gangs of New York – era, 1850’s Irish gangland NYC theme.  The ground-level taproom is an honest recreation of a period Irish pub, complete with sawdust on the floor.  The bar servers a good selection of craft beer, with a focus on local selections (Sixpoint, Bronx, Ommegang) and Belgian styles (Ayinger, DuPont, Ommegang).  Most notable is their house ale,

brewed by Sixpoint, a cask-conditioned Mild with tons of brown malt (which fits the period theme nicely). Tasty. Continue reading →

RFK 3-Boro Beer Tour

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Some Gluttony Titlerecent out-of-town guests allowed me to spend some time being a tourist in my home city, something I love doing.  Our adventures included a tour of awesome beer spots spread across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.

Manhattan

poopinIt all started just before dusk on July 4th.  In need of a quick pre-fireworks snack, we hit up Pioneers Bar.  The atmosphere was laid back (the joint was almost empty) and the beer selection was decent.   Everyone who went into the restroom pooped.

 

 

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Miami Beer Spots

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Abbey Brewing CoWe recently went on vacation to Miami and Key West.  Miami especially has a reputation for not being a great beer town, but we found a few winning spots that deserve to be mentioned.

The Abbey Brewing Company was a nice little brewpub in South Beach.  It’s a little bit off the beaten path (a.k.a. it’s more than a block from the beach) but well worth the trip. (have dinner at Yardbird on the same block and you’ve got yourself a pretty fantastic evening.  Make a reservation).   They Abbey has about a dozen house beers, made at a production brewery Continue reading →

Stir Starter

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I recently bought a stir plate to aid with my yeast starters.  Using a stir plate can increase your yeast cell count considerably, resulting in quicker fermentation starts and less chance of off-flavors (specifically those that come from unwanted organisms beating the yeast to the yummy sugary nourishment of the wort).

The combined use of a yeast starter and stir plate can also make each batch of beer consierably cheaper, since you won’t need to pitch two (or even three) tubes of yeast to Continue reading →

Flemish Primitive Wild Ale

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Flemish PrimiitveI finally feel healthy enough (after 2+ months of limited smell and taste ability) to open a Christmas gift from my wife Olivia: a bottle of De Proef’s Flemish Primitive Wild Ale (Surly Bird).  As the name implies, it is a light Belgian-style ale (close to a Dubbel, perhaps), fermented with wild yeast and other critters.

Wow.

It pours with a nice, pillowy head.  The first sense is aroma, of a strong smelly cheese.  Like a Bleu, Stilton maybe, but smoother.  More like a very soft, runny cheese, but way more pungent than Continue reading →