Peace and Happy

IMG_0203As 2015 draws to a close, we want to wish everyone in Jimmy’s Community peace and happy. Every year, we like to reflect on the one that has passed, and this year was extraordinarily eventful for us. It quite literally rocked our world when our little corner of the East Village suffered a massive explosion and fire that took out many of our neighbor’s homes and businesses. But we would rather focus on the good times and our many friends, including  community/arts and non-profit partners from 2015:

  • Slow Food NYC and Slow Food USA
  • Grow NYC/Greenmarkets and the Regional Grains Projects
  • Heritage Radio Network – the home of Beer Sessions Radio!
  • Eating/Drinking/Laughing liberally
  • Edible Schoolyard NYC
  • NYC Brewers Guild
  • NYC Homebrewers Guild
  • Middle Collegiate Church/Pub Theology Group
  • East Village Independant Merchants Association
  • Fourth Arts Block/FAB NYC
  • Neighborhood Preservation Center (St. Mark’s church)
  • Lower East Side History Month
  • St. George’s Ukrainian Catholic Church and the annual East 7th Street Festival
  • Cooper Square Mutual Housing
  • Solar One
  • Farm on Kent/North Brooklyn Farms
  • Anthology Film Archives
  • Union Docs : Documentary Film Center
  • The Jerome L Greene Space of WNYC and WQXR
  • Taste NY
  • Lower East Side Ecology Center
  • Brooklyn Rescue Mission (Rev. Robert Jackson, Bed-Stuy)
  • Slow Money NYC
  • The Foodstand
  • Food+Tech Connect
  • Hearth Gods: Michael Yates Crowley and crew
  • State Senator Brad Hoylman
  • City Council Member Rosie Mendez
  • Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer

And we turned 10 this year (HuffPo wrote up a nice piece on our anniversary)! In honor of such an auspicious occasion, we added spirits to our bar this year and did an overhaul of our kitchen, launching Tito King’s Kitchen at Jimmy’s No. 43, which was well received by both the public, our regulars and the NYC food press (scroll down for more press links).

UPDATE: The prix fixe ticketed dinner/open bar for New Year’s Eve is almost sold out. The bar will be open all night for regular customers, drinking and a light ala carte menu. Join us!

And there’s still more to come before we ring in the New Year! Seasonal events include:

  • Annual Christmas-Day Lunch on Friday, December 25th: $25 gets you a plate with unlimited servings (while supplies last) of great fare from our menu, including our acclaimed Lechon whole roast pig
  • Our Annual Boxing Day Coat Drive will benefit Mary House, a women and children’s shelter in the East Village: Donate a coat (new or gently used) and your first drink is on us all afternoon on Saturday, December 26th
  • We’ll have an open bar package for Thursday, December 31st, as part of our New Year’s Eve Celebration: From 8 p.m.  to midnight, enjoy three hours of unlimited drinks and access to semi-private room with separate bar with champagne toast at 12 a.m. (Get tickets here.)
  • We are still accepting reservations for private parties through December 31st (e-mail foodkarma@gmail.com)

Please check out some of our most recent press re-caps:

We hope to see you during this holiday season and we wish you a safe and joyous end of 2015 and new year!

From Maine to Britain, From Wild-Fermented Cider to Cask Saturday

Brewer Eli Cayer of Urban Farm Fermentory - Portland, MEJimmy’s No. 43 has always been a place that visitors to NYC like to check out (or Orphans & Expats, when it comes to our Christmas-Day lunch!), so we love it when new folks come to town. This evening, we’ll be chatting with fermentor Eli Cayer of Urban Farm Fermentory in Portland, Maine. Eli is doing very cool things with mead and wild-fermented ciders (not to mention that mysterious concoction known as Kombucha). He’ll be dropping by for a meet-and-greet at the bar.

Then on Saturday, we’re bringing back the cask! We’ll have an amazing beer from England: J.W. Lees Harvest Ale. This classic English-style Barleywine (weighing in at a whopping 11.5% ABV) is brewed only once a year with the new harvest’s fresh floor malted Maris Otter malts and the classic English East Kent Goldings hops . Sure, we know it’s going to be a warmer-than-usual 12-12, but we’re still digging this beer and hope you’ll drop by to try it.

And don’t forget, we have New Year’s Eve packages and a party room available for your private celebrate (inquire here). We’re going out with a bang this 2015 (in the non-building exploding sense!), and we look forward to seeing friends both near and far in the closing weeks heading into 2016.

LIC Beer Project Takes Best American in Sixth Annual Battle of the Belgians

BotB2015_judgingWe had a great turn out for this year’s Battle of the Belgians (full beer list – many still available for purchase – is here), beginning Friday night with a blind tasting panel of judges that included Gregg Glaser (Publisher, Modern Distillery Age), Paul Zocco (Zok’s Homebrew Supply in CT), brewer Heather McReynolds (Sixpoint), Cat wolinski (Ale Street News) and Jonathan White (cheesemaker at Bobolink Dairy and Bakehouse).

From 25+ Belgian and Belgian-style beers, the judges awarded the following:

  • First Place: Oude Quetsche Tilquin à L’Ancienne – Plum Lambic Gueuze
  • Second Place: Cuvée Des Jacobins Rouge – Flanders Red Ale
  • Third Place: Saison Dupont

On Saturday, it was on to the People’s Choice awards as the 6th Annual Battle of the Belgians was underway. Their favorites (by popular vote):

  • Best American Belgian-Style: Trigger Rye by LIC Beer Project
  • Best Belgian: Triporteur Full Moon
  • “Best in Show”L De Dolle “Teve” 10 Triple

And, of course, bar owner Jimmy Carbone had his own personal favorites:

  • Hitachino Saison du Japan
  • Crooked Stave Wild Sage Lambic (on draught; sadly, it went very quickly)

This being the sixth year of the event, we were once again trying to decide who makes the best “Belgian.” Our first year, we wanted to prove that American Belgian-style beers would kick Belgian beers’ butts! However, we met many Belgian beer importers like Wendy Littlefield of Vanberg and DeWulf and Matthias Neidhart of B. United, with an inventory of beers that continue to win every year. So big cheers to the Belgian beer importers!!

Battle_of_Belgians_bottles

December Begins with Belgians!

20151125_085601The dark cold days of winter may not be most people’s favorites, but we love this time of year as we usher in several months of great Belgian beers. Beginning this week, you’ll find an expanded menu of Belgians and Belgian-style American (plus Asian and European) beers. If you want to try them all, come out for this Saturday’s 6th Annual Battle of the Belgians! Our favorite Belgian beer event will bring together brewers and distributors from around the globe to test the best of Belgium alongside American-made Belgian-style beers. From 1-4 p.m., there will be unlimited samples of 20+ bottled beers expected to be included from the following (final availability subject to change):
From Belgium
  • Tilquin Gueuze
  • Westmalle Dubble
  • Westmalle Tripel
  • Rochefort 8
  • Rochefort 10
  • Orval
  • Saison du Pont
  • Triporteur Kinky Berry
  • Triporteur Full Moon
  • Cuvee des Jacobins Rouge
  • Affligem Blonde
  • De Dolle Stille Nacht (on draught: We’ll be tapping Friday night!)
  • De Dolle “Teve” 10 Triple
  • Fantome Hiver Saison
  • Strubbe Ichtegems
  • Alvinne Wild West Sour
  • Kerkom “Reuss” blended Lambic
 From USA
  • Crooked Stave Wild Sage Lambic (on draught)
  • Jolly Pumpkin  Oro de Calabaza
  • Jolly Pumpkin Bam Noire dark farmhouse ale
  • Stillwater – TBA
  • LIC Beer Project‎ (on draught TBA)
  • Fol‎ksbier Abigale (on draught)
  • The Bruery Oude Tart
  • Allagash Triple
 Other countries
  • Hitachino Saison (Japan)
  • L’Anjub/Stillwater‎ collaboration: Catalan Farmhouse Ale (Spain)
  • Hof Ten Dormaal/Stillwater collaboration: Arcana (a Belgian farmhouse stout)
 A limited number of tickets ($65 – get them here) remain. A select group of judges will be at Jimmy’s No. 43 on Friday doing blind tastings to pick their favorites. Then you can vote for your favorites on Saturday during the event.
And if you can’t make it to this year’s Battle of the Belgians, be sure to drop by anytime for the best selection of Belgian (and Belgian-inspired) beers around! We’ll be having special beers and tastings all winter long.