Brooklyn Oktoberfest Gets a Facelift

And guess what . . . I don't like it. Surprise, surprise. Come on, they had a good thing going. The colors they are using now are atrocious. They hurt my eyes. Luckily, the beer is still good. I love it, been drinking it since my early beer blogging days.



Old.



New. The colors are worse in real life. The silver is reflective. Ugh.

What is really weird, the Brooklyn Brewery website still has the old design featured. Apparently the web dept likes the old design too.

Things change, get over it. Right. Central Market has six packs now.

Brooklyn Brewery Brewmaster’s Reserve Coming to Texas

Good news to start out the week:

We are excited to announce that our Brewmaster’s Reserve line of draft-only specialty beers has broken the borders of Texas, and will for the first time be available State-wide.

Brooklyn Black What!.....again

As you know, I love a good, tasty rumor. But didn't we hear this last year.

Brewtopia @ Central Market - Today, Sept. 29

The lineup for today at BREWTOPIA!!!

North Lamar
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
6:30 – 9 p.m. Louie’s Tex-Mex, Cooking class in the Cooking School
Louis Ortiz, CM Cooking School Instructor
Cost: $40
Class description: Learn to prepare Tex-Mex favorites at home, using authentic fresh ingredients and traditional techniques. Menu includes: Shrimp Campechana; Grilled Chicken Flautas; Blackened Red Fish Enchiladas; and Shrimp & Chicken Chile Rellenos.

Westgate
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
4 – 7 p.m. Brooklyn Brewery, Sampling in the Beer Department
Cost: Free

Did not see this coming...

Brooklyn Sorachi Ace Saison. Whip in has it.

Beer Flashback #2

This flashback come from before I had any blogs: October 2004. Our visit to Brooklyn Brewery.



I am going to say this, but I am not sure if I am correct: Brooklyn Brewery was my first ever brewery visit, unless you count Anheuser Busch at the Busch Gardens in Tampa. These pictures suck.



Sofia pullin' the ol' drinking from the fermenter gag.



The Brooklyn Brewery tour is basically: walk into one room, this is this, this is that, now go have a beer. At least, that is how i remember it. The Brooklyn Brown Ale was good as ever. You are supposed to get one beer, but you can pretty much continue walking up and getting more (back then).

James Beard Semifinalists: OUTSTANDING WINE AND SPIRITS PROFESSIONAL

Beer dudes in bold:

Larry Bell, Bell's Brewery, Galesburg, MI

Derek Brown, The Passenger, Washington, D.C.

Sam Calagione, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, DE

Brian Duncan, Bin 36, Chicago

Merry Edwards, Merry Edwards Wines, Sebastopol, CA

Alex Golitzin, Quilceda Creek, Snohomish, WA

Paul Grieco, Hearth, NYC

David Hirsch, Hirsch Vineyards, Cazadero, CA

Jim Koch, The Boston Beer Company, Boston

Stephen R. McCarthy, Clear Creek Distillery, Portland, OR

Michael McCaulley, Tria restaurants and Fermentation School, Philadelphia

Greg Moore, Moore Brothers Wine Co., Pennsauken, NJ, NYC, & Wilmington, DE

Garrett Oliver, The Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn, NY

Neal Rosenthal, Rosenthal Wine Merchant/Mad Rose Group, NYC

Jörg Rupf, St. George Spirits, Alameda, CA

John Shafer and Doug Shafer, Shafer Vineyards, Napa, CA

Alpana Singh, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Chicago

Eric Solomon, European Cellars/Eric Solomon Selections, Charlotte, NC

Julian P. Van Winkle, III, Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery, Louisville, KY

Gary Vaynerchuk, Wine Library TV/Wine Library, Springfield, NJ

Congratulations!

South Austin Beer Search #1

We recently moved down to South Austin. The last two years we've lived up north, a hop, skip and a jump from Draught House and Flying Saucer. And a quick zip downtown to Gingerman. When I say south, I mean wayyy south. I was worried. Worried good beer would be hard to find. And that is what this little series is about. Our first exploration was to Red's Porch.



It was Saturday night and the place was jammed packed. They had a pretty decent tap selection. Something for everyone - even beer dorks.



NXNW Pale Ale?? They had it. Someone explain to me why they are allowed to have this. I am not complaining, I just thought this was not possible, beer-law-wise.



My Yakima Twilight. We also had a Green Flash IPA and Brooklyn Lager.

The food was pretty good too. My Border Burger was spicy as hell. Sofia liked her Chicken Fried Chicken, but her sides were soaked in garlic.

We will be back.

Three New Beers in Town

At Whole Foods, and beyond surely.

Two of these I have had at the flying saucer, the other is not actually new just a seasonal that is in town.




This is one of the beers I had at Flying Saucer. Not so good. But Lee liked it. I think this is the first beer from Sierra Nevada that I have not enjoyed. Just not what I am looking for in a bock. An ideal bock for me - Saint Arnold Spring Bock.



Not a new beer. But new in 2010, as it is a seasonal. Maybe a hint of what is to come from Ranger IPA.



Not sure if this actually new to Austin. It's new to me anyway. I enjoyed one at Flying Saucer. So good. Seek it out. To me it tasted like a hybrid of Prima Pils and Brooklyn Lager, two of my favorite lagers.

Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen-Weisse!

Available now in Austin.

Brooklyn Black What!

Speculation abounds... and I like it.

Brooklyn On Sale!

More Brooklyn Brewery info. From BA Forums:

To pay homage to Garrett Oliver being in Austin this weekend:

On Friday and Saturday (10/16 and 10/17)

Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout - $5.99
Brooklyn Local 1 and Local 2 - $6.99+

This is more what I was referring to when I mentioned "your wallets would appreciate it", I was not attempting to sling any mud at The Whip-In.

Good at all Spec's in Austin, Round Rock and Bastrop...

Damn, that is a deal! I won't be here this weekend. Anyone want to volunteer to pickup me up some??

GO in ATX

Ole Garrett Oliver is in town this week. Basically doing the "beer and food" thing. Check him out. I can't. I'll be in Jacksonville, FL, most likely drinking Corona Light with my cousins.

See a complete schedule and interview at Liquid Austin.

Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout

It's in town. I think half of all the BCSs I've drank over the years have been in ice cream floats. Try it. It's good.

http://www.brooklynbrewing.com

NYT: Bowling For Brews

Best opening line ever:

Each time I’m buckling my 5-year-old into his car seat on the way to another of his peers’ birthday parties, I say a little prayer that there will be beer.

Read the rest here. Bacon Barleywine!

Texas Best Burger - Part 1

Stopped in Black Sheep Lodge last Friday. No more free beer, but it’s still worth a visit. I am slowly making my way through Texas Monthly’s list of 50 best burgers in Texas. Very slowly, since this is the first one I have had from the list.

We split two burgers. That’s a pound of burger, plenty for three people. The regular one (Black Sheep Burger) and the buffalo (Black Buffalo Burger) one (the actual burger that made the list). Every joint in Austin seems to have a buffalo/blue cheese burger, which is fine with me. I love ‘em. Both were indeed good, the Buffalo was my favorite.

The fries were tasty too. I prefer regular fries, but the sweet potato fries were enjoyable.

Now, onto the beer. The most important factor. That’s why you are here, right? They had a decent selection. Far better than most burger joints. I had a Brooklyn Lager. If every burger place had only Brooklyn Lager on tap, I’d be happy. But a nice selection is always appreciated.

My wife and sister also liked the Buffalo burger the best. And Santiago pretty much slept the whole time and was only groped by four drunk women. He is good bar baby.

1 down, 49 to go.

http://www.blacksheeplodge.com/

Hyde Park Beer Hunt

I live in Hyde Park, in Austin. As you know I've been looking for those damn Allagash beers lately (see below). I've heard reports of them here and there around TX. This weekend I plan on making a trip to Grapevine. If anyone has it, I guess they would. Today I checked Hyde Park Market and Central Market.

First Hyde Park Market:


I've wanted this for awhile now. HPM had it for 15.99 bucks. Ridiculous! A whole three dollars more than most places. HPM has a good selection, but the prices are just too much to handle.



They also had this. IPA from Michigan Brewing Co. I heard nothing of this, where did they come from? Later I learned they are the same brewery who brews the Celis series. I checked around and they seem pretty well rated. Some day, not today.

Now, Central Market:



Brooklyn Local 1 - $6.99!! Obviously, a must buy.



And then I saw this. Redhook Limited Tripel. In the past, Redhook has not exactly wowed me. But I decided to give this one a shot. And surprise, surprise it's good. Well done Redhook, you got me.

No bloody Allagash though.

The Bad and the Good

First the bad:

As I "reported" (ha) earlier. It looks like Local 2 is not coming to Texas. Well not yet at least. Stay tuned, I guess.

And now the good:



From Josh at Draught House,

This week we will tap a cask of Stone Ruination at around 3pm, Friday. It was dry hopped with Chinook and Simcoe in the cask.

To be honest, I have not been entirely happy with the Firkin Friday offerings at Draught House. They have all seemed to be "off" in some way. Last week's Oaked Arrogant Bastard was almost decent, but it had a strange rubber flavor that I could not figure out. Luckily I got used to it half way thought the glass and was able to ignore it.

Luckily Firkin Friday has given me a good argument for stopping in every Friday evening after dinner. "But Sofia, this is a special cask. It's the ONLY one in Austin. Probably the only one in ALL of Texas." Sometimes this works, sometimes not so much. Now as we approach 40 weeks of pregnancy, I just don't see it working all that well. Oh well, Ruination is overrated anyway.

Local 2 - Texas

Best email all week:

Hi Aaron -

Local 2 should make it to Texas sometime in June. We are excited about its arrival...it has been a long wait! Thank you for your support of the Brooklyn brand. Cheers!

Nadine
Brooklyn Brewery
Texas Brand Manager

This beer is so good. Much better than Local 1, a great beer as well. Local 3 is gonna kill me.

Brooklyn Local 2

Local 2 set to release in March. I will always have a fondess in my heart for Brooklyn Brewery. I love that they are now available here. I hope this one makes it as well.