anon, Author at Jimmys No. 43

The Bruery, Belgians Bring in December

While the weather outside is decidedly not frightful, we’re super excited about the line-up of beer events we have this week, including the return of (the fifth annual) Battle of the Belgians this coming Saturday, from 1-4 p.m. But first up, tomorrow night we welcome back Mike Lovullo, who used to curate our Tuesday Tasting program. Mike will be pouring from six different bottles from The Bruery in a guided tasting that will include (subject to availability):

*Hottenroth Berliner Weisse
*Autumn Maple, A Belgian-style Brown Ale with yams, molasses and maple syrup
*Tart of Darkness, A sour Stout aged in wood barrels
*Smoking Wood, A 14 percent ABV smoked imperial Rye Porter aged in bourbon barrels
*Sour in the Rye, A Rye sour
*Oude Tart, A Flemish Red aged in oak barrels

We are offering all six for a $35 ticket (here) or you can pay by the glass. Ordinarily, you have to buy the bottle to get The Bruery, so this is an excellent opportunity to try these beers at a fraction of the retail cost.

And of course our favorite annual event, Battle of the Belgians brings together brewers and distributors from around the globe along with a few home brewers thrown in for good measure. This annual event features the best of Belgium (from 12% Imports, Vanberg & Dewulf, Shelton Brothers, B. United, Duvel) alongside American-made Belgian-style beers. This year’s new representative is Italy! You’ll get three-hours of walk-around sampling plus food (we’re smoking a whole hog, plus vegetarian sides).

Expected to be available (subject to change):

*Blaugies Moneuse
*Wild Beer Somerset Saison
*Mystic Table Beer
*Jolly Pumpkin Fuego del Otno
*Jolly Pumpkin Bam Noire
*Bruery Oude Tart
*Grimm Bees With a Buzz
*Midnight Sun Trickster
*Alvinne Melchior Pur Sang (aged in Red wine barrels with cherries)
*Extraomnes Zest
*De Dolle Oerbier
*De Glazen Toren Saison d’Erpe Mere
*Baladin Isaac
*Del Borgo 25 Dodici
*Loverbeer D’Uvabeer
*Ichtegem’s Grand Cru
*Smisje Catherine the Great
*Saison de Pipaix
*Plus selections from Stillwater Artisanal Ales chosen by brewmaster Brian Strumke

Tickets for Battle of the Belgians are on sale here.

Drink NY Wine for Thanksgiving!

We’re giving thanks here at Jimmy’s No. 43, and we’re particularly thankful for all the great beer, wine and cider produced here in our home state. At the recent Crain’s NY Business conference, Jimmy Carbone was on a “Made in NY” panel where the question was raise about how to get more NY State products (wine in particular) into NYC restaurants and hotels. Another panelist, Andrzej Bocian-Brown who is Director of Food & Beverage Operations for The Standard (Highline), suggested, “Why don’t we make Thanksgiving a ‘Drink NY State Wine Day’?”

This is a plan we definitely can get behind! We have so many great wineries from Long Island (Shinn Estate, Channing Daughters, Paumanock, Wölffer) through the Hudson Valley and on up into the Finger Lakes region. So, this week our bar menu will have ciders and wines sourced from NY State, including (subject to change):

*Eve’s Cidery, Perry Pear (Van Etten NY)

*Slyboro, Night Pasture Cider (Granville, NY)

*Wölffer Estate Vineyards, Wickham’s Pear Cider (Sagaponack, NY)

*Shinn Estate, Red Table Blend (North Fork, NY)

*Millbrook, Cabernet Franc (Dutchess County, NY)

*Wölffer Estate Vineyards, Merlot (Sagaponack, NY)

*Wölffer Estate Vineyards, Sagaponack Red (Sagaponack, NY)

Every year we read about what to drink on Thanksgiving: One year it’s the Beaujolais Nouveau, then we’re trying California Zinfandel, then back to (am upgraded) Cru Beajoulais like Morgan’s or Mouilin-a-Vents (the junior burgundies of sorts). This year, we’re keeping things local!

So why not drink NY wine (or cider) for Thanksgiving? We’ll have plenty at Jimmy’s No. 43 (and while we will be closed Thanksgiving day, we’re loading up on local wines that you can drink all week long). And we’ll have great local food on the menu, as well. Happy NY Thanksgiving!

Looking Ahead to Battle of the Belgians

On Saturday, December 6th, Jimmy’s No. 43 will once again be gathering the world’s best Belgian and Belgian-style beers for the Fifth Annual Battle of the Belgians. This year, we welcome newcomer (and possible upset winner) Italy! Yes, we’ll have some Belgian-style Italian beers, along with a great list of Americans.

Some of the people behind these amazing brews dropped by the bar yesterday, including Michael Opalenski of B. United Importers, Mike Lovullo (who is curating the American side of Battle of the Belgians) and this “brain trust” of beer. We were purchasing beer for an upcoming preview event this Saturday, November 22nd, when from 4-6 p.m. Jimmy Carbone will be doing a guided tasting of six rare Belgian (or Belgian style ales). Take a tour of our beer cellar, help choose your own beer, taste, talk and sample some of our favorite bacons and cured meats (yes, it is another Bacon & Belgians event! tickets here).

We asked the group to “match that brew” in a bit of a beer geek challenge. Jimmy said to choose a beer with a high malt profile (not too hoppy), sessionable (less than 6% ABV), something in a pale ale, and something a consumer could drink all night long.

Mike Lovullo, Union Specialty Rep (not pictured as he was taking a sales call) picked Maine Beer Co.’s “Mo” Pale Ale and the Hitachino Dai Dai Blood Orange Saison (we’ll have Mo on the menu with Dai Dai coming in next week). Andrew (Union rep-in-training) went for our favorite beer from NJ, the Carton Boat Beer. Michael Opalenski picked Schlenkerla Helles Lager and Hofstetten 1810 Lager (both of which will be available in the run up to Battle of the Belgians). Finally, Mick Bonde (also a Union rep) chose Heavy Seas Winter Storm.

Heavy seas winter storm

Just another typical day at work!

And be sure to get your ticket to Battle of the Belgians (very limited in quantity). Current beer list and tickets available here.

Weekend Wrap-up with Southern Food & Music

It was a slow-food-soul-food kind of weekend at Jimmy’s No. 43, as we went from a pig carving with Colonial-era music from live singers to Southern food favorites and music harkening to the Big Easy from George Kirby, Jr., and friends. George presented the Sounds of the South with an amazing accordion player, plenty of blues, and down-home country.

The food was all courtesy of Ben LeBlanc’s Good Stock Soups and Annie Etheridge’s Field & Clover biscuits. The gumbo was a crowd favorite (we’ll be serving up his gumbo at this Friday’s FallFunFood! at Albany Plaza – more info here), influenced by the flavors of Louisiana. Annie’s authentic, handmade, buttermilk biscuits were a great complement to the gumbo made with organic bacon from NY and cheddar from Vermont.

And if you missed out this weekend, no worries! The whole group will be back with this particular pop-up on Sunday, December 14th.

It’s Slow Food Week at Jimmy’s No. 43

Carlo Petrini is back in NYC!

Jimmy’s No. 43 is committed to supporting local food purveyors and area farmers, and you see it in our menu (and our tap list – beer and cider are foods, right?) every day. Featured on our menu this week is a new dish: Flying Pigs Farm Smoked Pork Chop, served with Brussels Sprouts and Grits

It’s all part of our focus on slow food for the next week or so in honor of Slow Food founder Carlo Petrini, who we hope will be visiting us again (a recap on his visit last month to Jimmy’s No. 43 is here). Among the features of our Slow Food “Week”:

*Hosting Slow Food Italy students for an upcoming luncheon.
*Appearing at TedX Change Food panel on Thursday, November 13th.
*On Saturday, November 15th, we are hosting a slow food/slow music with Ted “The Butcher” Nigro leading a whole hog carving workshop in one room of the restaurant while Shape Note performs (their colonial era sacred harp singing was a highlight of Carlo’s last visit; he remarked how Jimmy’s No. 43 is a pleasant change from all the NYC bars with TVs).
*Hosting new Just Food Executive Director Jasmine Nielsen for a meet-and-greet on November 20th.
*And, of course, featuring other local foods on the menu and beers by NYC brewers, ciders by NY State cideries, and wines from Long Island.

Speaking of Slow Food… our friends at Slow Food NYC are presenting a documentary at this weekend’s NYC DOC film festival: Grazers: A Cooperative Story about the great group of people behind the Adirondack Grazers Cooperative (get tickets to see the movie here).

Finally, owner Jimmy Carbone was recently profiled in the Eat Well Guide, where he talked about his journey in slow food.

And we’ll have regular bar/restaurant service available all week long during these events.