Last week, my friends, was one hell of an adventure. From tug-of-war to burger cook offs to craft beer events I don’t think I had an ounce of downtime, and I am definitely not about to slow down anytime soon. It seems as though once the weather cools there are a million and one events in each and every day and each one is better than the last. So let’s all raise our glasses to the start of fall, Craft Beer Week, Oktoberfest and the fun it all brings! I hope you all packed your extra livers, you’re going to need them.
My week began with the “Battle of The Bars” organized by none other than George from Hell Gate Social. Sparrow, Hell Gate, Ovelia, Dally’s, Sunswick, O’Hanlon’s, Crescent Lounge, Sweet Afton, and Vesta competed in an adult field day for bragging rights and a fabulous trophy. We three-legged raced, built human pyramids, played dodge ball, and acted like Jameson fueled idiots in Socrates Sculpture Park on Sunday afternoon until one team emerged victorious. Congrats to the badass birds of Sparrow Tavern, who would have thought we were athletes after all?
Following the battle Hell Gate invited us all back to the backyard BBQ, where teams rejoiced, drank away their sorrows, or simply cried into their beer in the corner. I sipped on my Oktoberfest and enjoyed my flat bread pizza in an attempt to soak up the whisky from earlier. From Hell Gate we ran back to the Mother Bird Sparrow and proceeded to install our newly won and newly broken (yeah we had to super glue it later) trophy.
After a few rounds of Gaffel Kolsch on the patio we made our way to Sweet Afton for some fried pickle goodness and quality time with Chris, who had almost single handedly held down her team at the park. Afton has recently updated their food and drink menus and now they have a Portobello Burger (yay veggies!) and Salt and Pepper Ribs. Their beer list, as always, was solid. They always offer a Cask Ale which, for those of you who aren’t in the know, is a “live beer”. It is kept at 55 degrees and contains live yeast which continues to ferment in the keg but also results in a warm, flat beer. I don’t mind a Cask ale if it’s a darker beer or stout but I have had a few that bordered on disgusting, so be for-warned and ask for a taste before you commit. The crew at Afton sent us off with a congratulatory round of “pickle-back shots”—Irish Whiskey followed by spicy pickle juice as a chaser.
We then proceeded to crawl our way to 5 Napkin Burger for a round of victory shots from our friend Thomas at the bar. Having swiped Miss Chris from Afton, our merry band of revelers had picked up speed and yes, some sidewalk dancing did ensue. We danced into 5 Napkin for our waiting whiskey shots, sadly we had no time for a beer. The burger joint really does have a stand up beer list, check it out next time you are in the area.
We finished our evening at Sunswick, enjoying their early Oktoberfest brews and drooling over the soon to come Pumpkin Ales. I was also excited to see Flying Dog’s Tire Bite Golden Ale on the top of the list and I wish that I had had more room left for more beer! It was around the time Jeffrey sent us a round of shots that we all realized we had been boozing and battling since 2pm and it was now almost 3am, yay Sunday! Now, I know what you’re thinking: don’t you people work? Yes and let me tell you, my Monday lunch shift hurt like whoah and even my hangover cure of coconut water and macaroni and cheese didn’t dull the ache in my muscles from all the physical activity and the sheer exhaustion I was experiencing. Thank the beer gods my shift was slow.
Isn’t that enough for one week, you might say? No, dear reader, there is no rest for this here Wench. Tuesday I made a post-hangover appearance at my girlfriend’s birthday party, Wednesday brought about a girl’s night at Vesta where the wine on tap thwarted my plan to avoid all things alcoholic—the Vesta Blend is so yummy—I also was going to forgo desert buuuut the Baby Jesus Cake and Ricotta Cheese Cake, why say no to one when you can have three? All of this, however, was leading up to the next big event: Bistro 33’s Battle of the Burgers.
Three unprofessional chefs created three very original burgers and were then subjected to three judges (two of which were George from Hell Gate and Juan from Sunswick) as well as the entire restaurant. Bistro also offered 2 beers with your burger sampler purchase and for those who were just here for the beer and the show, they also kept their sushi menu operational all night. My boyfriend and I snagged a table inside and began our beer and burger adventure.
We Rocked the Belgian beer hard at Bistro. I started with the crisp, clean and herbally Saison Dupont Farmhouse Ale. Joe was outside when I ordered so I got him a Duvel. Duvel translates to “devil” and if you have enough you will find out why. It is a strong Belgian Golden Ale that needs, needs, needs (I cannot stress this enough) to be poured into its signature goblet in order to be completely experienced. The glassware is shaped like a bell and etched with a “D” in the bottom to aerate the beer and bring you the flavor with the aroma. There should be a thick white head on the top and a tornado results when the beer is properly poured over the etched “D” that swirls on the bottom of the glass and continuously agitates the beer. Because it is fermented for the last time in the bottle, a sediment of yeast clings to the bottom and should be saved with about a quarter of the beer until the very end, as it tastes slightly bitter but contains loads of vitamin B and may combat the hangover from an 8.5% a.b.v.
We then moved on to the La Chouffe, whose little gnome logo always makes me smile. It’s an unfiltered blonde beer which is either fermented in the bottle or the keg, depending on which you buy. It is 8%abv and spiced with coriander. I finished my night with a Young’s Double Chocolate Stout for desert. The rich dark malt with real dark chocolate was a delectable way to end the night and would be fabulous with vanilla ice cream.
I finished my week with a craft beer event in honor of New York Craft Beer Week at the Sparrow sponsored by Lagunitas. The California based brewery brought in two awesome kegs: the Little Sumpin’ Wild Ale and their Fusion. Little Sumpin was herbally with hints of pine and spruce and juniper, made with wheat. It’s also 7.2%. The Fusion was a dark, rich Imperial Stout Style Scotch Ale aged in Bourbon Barrels—oh boy! Half of a Fusion and I was a little giddy, so much for hosting this event guys I’m hell-bent on enjoying it!
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