Finback Brewing Night: Meet the Brewers

Kevin_and_BasilWe’ll have a bit of Queens in the bar this evening, as Finback Brewing’s Basil Lee and Kevin Stafford drop by with several of their yummy brews. Well be rotating several kegs, including:

  • *I Pumpkin A – a 7.1% ABV spiced India Pale Ale
  • *Le Porter Kaldi – a 6.8% ABV American-style porter
  • *Archer’s Saison – an 8.5% ABV Farmhouse Ale
  • *Moby Hop – an 8.3% ABV Double IPA
As always, regular bar/restaurant service is available. Subject to change and while supplies last. And we’ll also be serving many ciders in our lead-up to Friday’s Cider Week NYC Kick-off Party with Chris Lehault.
[photo courtesy Queens Courier]

Weekend Wrap: Kicking the Casks, Jester King Visits, Prepping for Cider Week

JesterKingRonOct2014Have you heard? The Fourth Annual Cider Week NYC officially starts on Friday, but we’re getting our real cider line-up going with an incredible menu of the region’s and world’s best ciders (you can see our full schedule here). Starting tomorrow night with our Kingston Black theme night, we’ll have almost two full weeks of cider events and tastings, including pours by the glass (we’ll have a selection of bottled ciders on the bar from which you can choose your favorites).
Speaking of what’s on the bar, we did it! Kicked our three Franconian casks in three days over the weekend. Among the “beer-lebrities” helping us drink were Rebecca Flynn of Corkbuzz (who finished off the last two pints of the dunkel lager cask on Saturday) and Ron Extract, co-owner and brewer of Jester King! Ron was up from Austin, TX, and hung out with us, drinking Shelton Brothers’ favorites like Taras Boulba on draught and the Konrad Czech Lager in bottles. Ron was very impressed by the Sly Fox O’Reilly Stout we have on nitro pour (photo is of Ron and his dad, Jack). Ron was discussing his recent collaborations with Crooked Stave in Colordo and with Evil Twin down in Austin.
We always enjoy hosting prominent beer industry people, and we can’t wait to see what cider luminaries drop by over the next couple weeks as we serve up ciders from many of our favorite cideries, including:
  • *Farnum Hill
  • *Slyboro
  • *Eden
  • *Foggy Ridge
  • *West County
  • *Eve’s Ice Cider
  • *Red Byrd

German Gravity Cask Weekend

GravityCaskWe’re feeling downright autumnal, and we’re showing off some German (Franconian) Gravity Casks this weekend that are perfect beers for fall that, not coincidentally, go really well with our restaurant menu (Skillet Fried Beer Sausage, Charcuterie Plate, Cheese Plate or Flying Pigs Farm “Fatback” Lardo Toasts for starters).

We’ve brought in several casks from Shelton Brothers imports and for the next three days will be tapping one right on the bar. The schedule is as follows:

*Tonight! Thursday at 5 p.m. – We’ll tap the Weissenohe Monk’s Fest -a 5% ABV hearty, amber-colored, malty, but finely balanced Märzen/Vienna lager that is refreshing and filling all at once; this traditional ‘liquid bread’ is a rare version of the true “Oktoberfest” style, which has sadly been replaced in Munich by everyday Helles.
*Friday at 4 p.m. – Weissenohe Bonifacius, a Dunkel that at 5.1% ABV is a very drinkable beer for fall.
*Saturday at 3 p.m. – Another cask of the Monk’s Fest.

It’s while supplies last, so come out and get your cask on! And as always, regular bar/restaurant service is available, too.

German Casks at Jimmy’s No. 43, Oktoberfeast

This weekend we’re happy to be bringing German Franconian casks to NYC! Traditionally Germans from the Franconia area of Bavaria, Germany, would put their ales and lagers in vertical gravity casks. In celebration of great Oktoberfest German beers, we’ll be tapping one of these kegs this afternoon (at 5 p.m.), Weissenohe Bonifacius, a Dunkel that at 5.1% ABV is a very drinkable beer for fall.

We’ll be bringing more casks to tomorrow’s beer and bratwurst fest, Oktoberfeast, at the Seaport (on 10/11, with two sessions starting at 11 a.m.). Among the beer offerings (subject to change) will include both cask and draught options:

  • Secret Engine – Sticke Handwerker
  • Rocky Point – Das Saftige
  • Radiant Pig – Junior IPA, Gangster Duck
  • Grimm – Bees with a Buzz
  • Barrier – Oktoberfest
  • Gun Hill – Oktoberfest, Gold
  • Other Half – Veldrijden Love
  • SingleCut – Oktoberfest (secret small batch), Jan Michael w/Coffee and Vanilla
  • Third Rail – Bodega, Field 2
  • Bridge and Tunnel – “Maspeth” 1600, Black Rye IPA
  • Perennial – Hommel Bier
  • Jonas Brock – Chocolate Stout, Jasmine Lager
  • Mönchsambacher Unfiltered Lager
  • and, of course, more Weissenohe Bonifacia

For more about tomorrow’s Oktoberfeast and to purchase your tickets, please check out this great article by Lower East Craft.

So come into the bar this afternoon and pay-as-you-go (we’ll have our famous beer sausage for the perfect peppery food-beer pairing) or join us all day tomorrow at the Seaport for great German (and German-style) cask beers!

Taking It Slow… Italian Style with Carlo Petrini

CarloPetrini1Yesterday at Jimmy’s No. 43 we welcomed Slow Food founder and foodie icon Carlo Petrini for an intimate (in Italian!) meet and greet with this fun and fascinating man who launched the international movement almost 30 years ago. His efforts brought forth locavorism and the desire both to grow and to eat food in a sustainable way.

Carlo is a nearly messianic figure in the food world. This past Friday he was joined by another foodie icon, Alice Waters, for a special broadcast (you can catch it here) on Heritage Radio Network. (As an aside, HRN founder Patrick Martin was inspired by Carlo, having interned with him in the 90s before coming back to launch Slow Food USA, Heritage Foods, and HRN.)

Among his revelations yesterday, which he shared while enjoying our local Lardo Toasts from Flying Pigs Farm and East Village Meat Market:

  • *Carlo is impressed by the change in America over the past 25 years, especially in the rise of microbreweries and farmstead cheeses.
  • *He hates waste on a large-scale, commercial-food level.
  • *He cares about the producers behind artisanal practices and products.
  • *He appreciates simple affordable food and restaurants as much as the top, expensive, gastronomic restaurants.
  • *He started out as restaurant reviewer for a communist Italian newspaper; when the first McDonald’s opened in Rome he started a “slow food” movement to fight the onslaught of fast food.

While at Jimmy’s No. 43, he paired the lardo with cider from Farnum Hill (he drank the Kingston Black; we’ll have a special tasting on October 21st of Kingston Black varietals) and Eden Dry Sparkling Cider (join Eden’s Eleanor Leger for dinner on October 29th). If you missed him on this trip, keep an eye out for his return in November. He loves Jimmy’s No. 43 so much that he promised to drop by when he comes back to NYC.