Happy New Year Beer Lovers! First things first—a giant thank you to everyone who voted for me in the Best of 2010 Poll! I know I’ve been a little quiet as of late but I promise to do my best to make it up to you now that the holiday season has come to a close and most of the snow has been plowed. I have big plans for this year folks, starting with registering for Cicerone (see also: Beer Geek) classes and getting ready for my February trip to Dogfishhead.
Bring it on 2011 the Wench is ready for you!
Another big thank you goes out to DiWine for hosting the WLA Writer’s party! I had never been to DiWine before but after that spiffy shindig I will certainly go again and do a full write up. Food was delicious, ambiance was sexy and laid back, beer list was do-able and that open bar sure as hell didn’t hurt. Thank you DiWine and thank you WLA!!
I’ve been toying with the idea of having a beer tasting party for some time now, so when I finally got a day off I decided to make the trip to check out Best Yet Market to see if they can give EuroMarket a run for their money and help me stock up for some festivities.
Best Yet is set back in a shopping plaza on 20th ave and 37th St. with a liquor store and a Bank of America (is it just me or are all Bank of Americas in Astoria the most inconveniently located banks ever?!). Walking in through the automatic doors I was immediately greeted by the sight of a straight up grocery store, this place is as big as a suburban Stop & Shop! I did a loop through the whole store, checking out the sushi counter, butcher, and produce area before arriving in beer section.
Walking past the refrigerated section I was mildly disappointed, sure there were oddities like Red Stripe Light and Heineken Dark that piqued my curiosity and a few six-packs from Californian breweries that aren’t too prevalent in NY, but the abundance of Natural Ice made my heart sink a little—I walked all the way down here for this?!
Then my friends, I hit the room temperature shelves. Mixed packs of Flying Dog, Smuttynose, Bluepoint and Abita all for around $17! Six packs of Lagunitas Pils, IPA, and CENSORED right next to a variety of Oskar Blues cans. Skull Splitter Scotch Ale in four packs! 22oz bottles offering all the sideshow goodness of Coney Island: Albino Python, Sword Swallower, and Coney Island Lager were all lined up above a smorgasbord of Samuel Smith beers. Big bottles of Stone, Lagunitas Hop Stoopid, Wailing Wench and Hitachino White all there for the taking at under $10!
The Belgian selection was reasonable, the highlights being the $5 bottle of Orval, the $13.99 4 pack of Duvel and the Trappist Sampler gift pack of five bottles for $34.99. Right next to the Belgians was a line of Belgian style ales: Allagash Dubbel and White, almost all of the Ommegang line, and a bottle bearing a mustachioed grain marked “Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project, Jack D’Or” saison ale. I grabbed a bottle of the Allagash Dubbel and a bottle of the “Pretty Things” and began my hike home.
While my new beer acquisitions chilled in my fridge (which at present is only used as a beer cooler, sigh must remember to buy food too) I grabbed my laptop with the intent of delving into this “Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project.” Turns out these are some beer loving folks in Massachusetts who refer to themselves as a “gypsy brewery”. Without a permanent brewery to call home base, they collectively brew their innovative brews in small batches at their homes or at whichever brewery will let them in. My mustachioed friend on the label of the Jack D’Or is the “ soul of beer, nature’s magician” and he adorns the label of their flagship beer, a Saison Ale. They have a useful beer locator on their website and several stores and bars in NY are mentioned for carrying their beers, Best Yet Market, however, isn’t on that list. I’ve got to say that I appreciate what these crazy kids are doing, this shit takes balls. Jack D’Or Saison was very spicy and peppery to me, with some sour notes that seemed more lambic than saison to me, but unlike lambic the sourness didn’t finish clean. I was left with puckered lips and a fuzz coated tongue. Rarely do I come across a brew I can’t drink so I asked Joe to try it too, fully expecting him to at least finish the bottle. Sadly, neither one of us cared for Jack D’Or, but at least we tried something new.
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