I met my friend Gerard at Locale on a Sunday night, his roommate had mentioned it was his favorite spot in Astoria and the two of us were curious. At first glance, the layout stops just shy of screaming sex: the front metal rimmed windows, the flickering candlelight and black and white nude paintings on the wall, the cozy wrought-iron enclosed lounge. I made a mental note to bring my man back for date night before I had even opened a menu.
We sat at the marble topped bar and Katie, the new bartender, asked us for our drink orders. The new manager was nice enough to set up a full tasting for me and I opted to go light to dark, which was easy due to the set up of their beer list. Locale has broken down their brews into Lagers and Ales and then into Light, Dark, Triple, IPA, and Stout. There are familiar beers on the list (Spaten, Amstel, Hitochino White, Green Flash IPA, Delirium Tremens, and non alcoholic St. Pauli girl) and a few we haven’t talked about yet. The new manager, Kara, is very passionate and proud of her beer list (and their awesome new website) so keep your eyes out for new beer additions, she mentioned getting a Belgian style Tripel (from New Jersey of all places!) in the next week.
I started with the Southampton Keller Pils. Keller Pils was light and crisp with a little bite at the end. The word “Keller” means that the beer has been aged but unfiltered, which is why the Pils is slightly hazy in appearance, and it is a very old world way of brewing beer. Southampton is making a new Pils every summer to showcase different varieties of hops, this particular Pils is brewed using only one hop variety which really allows the characteristics of that flower to come through.
I moved onto the Wolaver’s Organic Pale Ale and Gerard and I went ahead and ordered the mussels in garlic sauce. Katie poured the rich caramel hued pale ale into a pilsner glass in front of me and we were all instantly hit with the floral smell of the brew. I tasted it and, ugh, it tasted like perfume! The entire experience of this beer was reminiscent of my childhood stuck in a Florida church pew between two over-zealous grandmas. I couldn’t even finish it. Gerard had been enjoying his Hazed&Infused and I stole a few sips to neutralize myself.
Our mussels arrived. Damn, I thought, everything in this place is sexy. They were lovely and plump, chips of garlic sticking to their shiny black shells. I could eat these things every day. They paired nicely with the Warsteiner Pils I had moved on to (no perfume here!). Gerard was examining the cocktail menu, trying to decide between the Lolita and the Writer’s Block. He went for the bourbon based Writer’s Block, a sensual mix of Knob Creek, brandy brown butter sauce, Campari, and sweet vermouth. This is the kind of cocktail that makes you want to lick the glass after you finish it.
Moving on down their beer list, Locale carries Xingu a Brazilian Black beer. A note about Xingu: black beer does not equal stout, so don’t think Guinness. Xingu is named after a river in the Rainforest near Brazil and is brewed using an ancient Indian recipe. While it looks dark and brooding, Xingu has a light mouthfeel and hints of coffee, burnt sugar, dark fruit, and cola. After one dark beer I was tempted to keep going and enjoy a 22oz bottle of Rogue’s Hazelnut Brown Nectar, but Gerard refused to share it with me and in all honesty I didn’t think I could fit 22oz of beer on top of the other four beers, garlic mussels, and bruschetta.
I asked Katie what she would do and she produced a bottle of Schneider’s Edelweiss, an organic wheat beer. She poured it for us and mentioned that this was her typical after-work beer. It had a rich almost smokey characteristic, which I don’t usually associate with the lighter variety of hefewiezens and there was a hint of alcohol somewhere in there, a cloying sweetness that made me ask her for the bottle. I asked Katie what the A.B.V. was and as we looked for it on the bottle we realized, homegirl had just given me an 8.5% beer that was too delicious not to finish. This was turning it to one interesting evening, I was already beginning to hum songs from the Sound of Music. Apparently my friend’s grandmother didn’t have the same affinity for Rodger’s and Hammerstein musicals that mine did because he quickly told me to stop humming and was perplexed as to why “Edelweiss” would even make me sing. It happens to be the flower of Bavaria, by the way, and is “small and white, clean and bright/ [it] look[s] happy to seeeee meee.” My leighterhosen should be arriving momentarily.
Moving on from the Schneider, Gerard tried his first ever mojito. This is pretty hilarious folks because at his bar he makes a million of them but he has never bothered to make a whole one for himself! The Locale Mojito has a bit of a twist, they use cucumbers with the mint and lime which is a nice light touch. I wound up going back later in the week to satisfy my man’s Writer’s Block curiosity and got the Locale Mojito with Hendrix Gin and it was lovely and refreshing. I had heard Katie describing her signature drink of the evening and decided to give it a go. The Knockout was a tequila fruit concoction that was made, our bartender said, “with lust not love.” It was a naughty little drink, I was tempted to start singing again although this time it was along with the bar music. Seriously, their mix could have come off my Ipod: “Try Me” by Bob Marley, “Australia” by the Kinks, Tom Petty, Radiohead, more Bob Marley, more Petty—yay!
Finishing our cocktails, we decided to migrate for a few more pints. Sunswick had some new kegs and once there we encountered the staff of 5 Napkin Burger, who invited me to come on in for drinks and dinner soon. Mr. Free gave me a ring and asked us to come by his friend’s backyard for a few Silver Bullets (actually he didn’t mention the Coors Light on the phone or else we may have opted to stay at Sunswick with our Stone Levitations). Off we went into the sticky Astoria night, still reminiscing about the taste of brandy brown butter, bourbon, and garlic mussels.
I would like to offer up a big Beer Wench HELL YEAH! to Jet Blue employee Steven Slater, the new patron saint of the service industry, for taking the time to grab two brews before making his gallant “F-You” exit on an inflatable slide. Rock on dude, you are my new hero! What beers do you think he grabbed?
http://www.whyleaveastoria.com/page/locale-1
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