New York — The Brew Enthusiast

Stories Breweries About

Stories Breweries About

New York

chris@thebrewenthusiast.com

Dark beer = amazing beer. The more beer I drink, the more I appreciate the historical significance of porter and stout, and how damn good it is. We wandered around Brooklyn yesterday in search of a few great pints...and found them ;-p

One of the best beers in the world (yes I said it, and I’ll stand by it). Since 1981, @sierranevada has released one of the country’s only nationally distributed fresh hop ales in Celebration, and it’s always spectacular. Fresh pine notes, clean finish, and a gorgeous amber red hue in the glass with lacing for miles. This is the sort of beer that sets the bar for how dialed in a brewery’s offerings should be in 2018.

The blurb on the back of this bottle says that drinking this beer is “the liquid equivalent of biting into a raspberry-filled dark chocolate cake”. What a great freaking start to a sensory description. A great experience, regardless of what it actually is that you’re experiencing, is all about setting the right expectation, and @allagashbrewing absolutely nails it every time.

This, in the beer world, is what we call a “customer”. Someone who would potentially buy our beer. We were at @savfoodwinefest this past weekend and I was thinking about the growing distance between the people who work on the supply side (brewers, marketers, sales) and their customers. Breweries should take as many opportunities as they can find to put their employees next to their customers...and then they should listen closely. This conversation is where success and failure diverge down separate paths. #beerisaboutpeople

Savannah’s got what I need today. Checked out @servicebrewing (excellent lagers) and the food scene is killing it!

Francesca Jasinki (@chanchanjanski) - Communications Manager at @foundersbrewing in Michigan. They visited us in NYC recently for a couple pints and a thorough discussion on the state of the beer industry. What a business!

Straight #brooklyn on Monday. What’s your favorite part about fall in the city?

Peter Bouckaert - Industry famous and still sporting that classic Belgian reserve. Peter has spent a career as a passionate thought leader and brewing luminary since the mid 80’s...former brewer at @rodenbachbeer, brewmaster at @newbelgium in Fort Collins for over 20 years, and now working his own project at @purposebrewing in Colorado. Peter was the keynote at yesterday’s @nhcraftbrewconference in Manchester, and spoke on all topics including better collaboration between brewers, a renewed focus on quality, and the evolution of the business in his career. #nhcraft

Neil Witte, the @brewersassoc Quality Ambassador, speaking on beer quality programs from brewery to retail at the @nhcraftbrewconference in Manchester, New Hampshire. We are also doing a class on storytelling a little later and it’s so great to hear from so many industry luminaries.

A shout to our homies at @treadwellpark downtown for the rather industrial and fun piece of equipment behind the bar. This is *actually* called a Flux Capacitor...anyone want to take a stab at explaining what this bad boy does to assist in pouring perfect pints at the pub?

Happy #internationalstoutday to all! Obviously we are a little biased toward this particular stout, but here’s our honest ask: If you think that stout “isn’t your bag” or you think you don’t like the style, take a little time to sample some of the great stouts out there (@lefthandbrewing and @rockawaybrewco and @circabrewingco all make fabulous stouts). Long before light lager took over the world, Porter and Stout was the world’s first superstyle, with drinkers in dozens of countries 75 years before lager was even being produced at scale. Stout is truly amazing and worth trying whenever you can.

Mark Edelson - Homebrewer, father of five, and founding owner of @ironhillbrewery. We had a chance to recently sit down with Mark at Iron Hill’s newest location in Center City Philadelphia to discuss the trajectory of their business, their focus on customers, and obviously their beer. Brewpubs can be a tough sell for a younger audience looking for an authentic experience, but Iron Hill has done a great job focusing on the pillars that drive success for each new location they open, from their original location in Newark, DE (16 in total now). Great food, very well made beer (that’s mostly made on site), and excellent customer service. Truly impressed by this crew.

Oysters, shrimps, and the official beer of the clam for a magnificent finish to a Monday.

Jeremy Kosmicki - Brewmaster at @foundersbrewing for the past 18 years. Jeremy’s recipes have formed the foundational structure of Founders’ success’s over the past two decades, starting with beers like Founders Porter and KBS, and eventually leading to massive commercial successes like All Day and Solid Gold. However you choose to define success for your brewery, its starts and ends with the talent in the brewhouse and the creative license they’re given to find the next great beer. #michigan #craftbeer

Dave Engbers - Co-founder of @foundersbrewing in Grand Rapids, MI. It was great to sit down and share a few war stories with this crew here in NYC yesterday. They’re certainly not slowing down any time soon. Founders represents a success story that’s hard to find in large regional breweries these days, with their core portfolio still growing at double digits. This growth keeps the innovation pipeline strong, and the beers continue to hit a quality mark that can’t be debated. The Backwoods Bastard was incredible. Look for a few more features on this brewery team in the coming days.

The remnants of my tasty cask stout from @brasseriedieuduciel from the previous post. It didn’t stand a chance. Cask beer is indeed a rare and fleeting site in North America, both because it’s notoriously finicky, but more because North American drinkers simply don’t know enough about it to support the infrastructure needed to properly serve fresh cask beer at scale. To the places that do it well (and you know who you are), I tip my cap to your efforts, and I hope to see more enthusiasm for this fantastic service method in the future. #caskbeer #montreal

I get real, real thirsty sometimes. Especially if it’s a beautifully made foreign export stout served on cask at 5% ABV. This was, hyperbole aside, a verrrry finely crafted offering from Dieu De Ciel in Montreal at their brewpub. In business over 20 years now, they’ve quietly crafted a reputation for extremely good, European-influenced styles that cut along the edge of tradition without breaking with it entirely. Montreal is a boat load of fun, and represents a city that has moved with the times nicely, given that it’s been around since the 1640s ;-p.

Josh Bernstein (@joshmbernstein) - Brooklyn-based author of four books on beer, prolific writer (for a legion of publishers including @nytimes, @sevenfiftydaily, etc), and “hand holding a beer on Instagram” titan. Josh has been a crucial voice in great beer journalism over the years and continues to push the needle with his writing. Seen here being taught how to pour the perfect pint of @guinnessus. #writing

Anne Becerra (@annelikesbeer) - Beverage Director at @treadwellpark (all three NYC locations), Certified Cicerone, and friend of the site. Anne has long been a proud face for NYC’s burgeoning beer scene, and continues to hold the torch high for education and exploration in great beer. Swing through Treadwell Park for a high quality pint (served off a flux capacitor, no less), some great food, and the potential to run into this lady.

What’s better than a Monday night podcast appearance at @treadwellpark? We were talking @guinnessus, beer styles, and trips to Sweden on @stealthisbeer with @justinxkennedy, @mrjohnholl, @cartonbrewing, and @annelikesbeer.

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