The freshest beer news, delivered weekly, is one of my goals with Friday Froth. Tender, green shoots of hop aroma and flavor, seeded by the brewer, come to full fruition the moment you crack a young IPA, and tend to wilt when left to languish on a shelf. The hop plant is like knowledge that way, reaching its true potential when you use it to water yourself.
Bursting through the dewy soil of Connecticut's beer scene this week was a new leaf in the form of Shower Beer from Kent Falls Brewery. How new are we talking? The five gallon pilot batch sampled by myself and others at the latest Beers At The Beach event in Norwalk was the only one in existence, for now.
The first ever Beers At The Beach micro-fest went down at Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk earlier this month, and CTBites was there to give you a look. The party's host, Ken Tuccio of the Welcome To Connecticut podcast, created the event to showcase in-state breweries which don't have large distributions, and give people a chance to try the beers and meet the people who make them. The guest of honor on June 11th was Beer'd Brewing of Stonington.
Burgers and hot dogs were provided by Ripka's Beach Cafe as part of the party, and shrimp, clams and oysters were also on ice for bites al fresco. Beer'd took the opportunity to launch their new imperial amber,Get To The Choppa!
"Raygun Gothic," they call it - all pneumatic curves and sleek fins blasting through air and space. This was the look of a future that meant rocket vacations to the moon, a fission reactor in every home, and wristwatch television walkie-talkies. Like Cicely, Alaska, I've always wanted to live there.
Humanity has accomplished some of this - I'm sure at least one of you reading this right now has an iWatch on your wrist - but the dream, the one Huge Gernsback had while writing inside his isolator and thinking about "Vacation City" suspended 20,000 feet in the clouds, is out of reach. Maybe not quite so far as I think, though, thanks to Beavertown Brewing of London, and late of America.
Tis the season for Farmer’s Markets and they are taking place all over Connecticut. Find one near you.
Have you ever heard of “Moink balls?” Prepare to be amazed… they are meatballs wrapped in bacon! On Mondays, Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ in Hartford sells them for 50 cents each.
Newly opened Brother Jimmy’s BBQ, located in Stamford, has announced that kids eat free Monday-Saturday until 7pm (with purchase of an adult platter and southern specialty).
June 10th, join Cask Republic Stamford for “What the Funk,” a night featuring beers with extreme tasting profiles. Starting at 5pm they’ll serve “funky” beers from bitter to sour to barnyard!
Fairfield Cheese Company offers “Perfect Pairings: Cheese & Wine”at its Fairfield Location on Tuesday, June 9 and at its Greenwich Location Thursday, June 11. They’ll pair the perfect cheese with its perfect wine match. 7-9pm, $45 per person.
When we last left Friday Froth, your occasionally humble and rapidly expanding host wastalking American Craft Beer Week, and local offerings from OEC, Stony Creek and Stubborn Beauty. We'll continue the furthering rides the Connecticut beer bus this week as we take our minds on a drive to Bristol, Hartford, and Stratford. Buckle up, because it gets heavy.
Life is currently pretty fluid out there on the vast, rolling prairie of American craft beer. Everyone who lays hands on a mash paddle seems to be inventing a new style, or at least melting an existing style down and sculpting it into a new form. Much of this morphology arrives in the world with enough alcohol to sterilize minor gunshot wounds. These come stamped with labels marked "double" or "Imperial," which are largely interchangeable, and just mean "strong."
American Craft Beer Week was last week, and my pants hate me. You'd think massive doses of beer paired with little to no sleep for long periods of time would do a body good, but no. Anyone would tell you that if you'd just listen, but then you'd also have to hear about "healthy decisions" and "getting out of that bulldozer this instant," and anyway I can always buy new pants.
So, I'm fat now and here are some of the beers which left me with a) no regrets in that regard, and b) this red line under my navel.
Stony Creek Dock Time. For the past several years, the tasting room at Two Roads has reigned supreme in Connecticut. It is a massive, brightly lit space which fairly bubbles with history, it has an enormous central bar, and the stools have these bearings in them that let you spin around. Truly a top notch operation. Now, though, dare mention the Two Roads tasting room in any context and people will burst from out of nowhere shouting a chorus of "BUT HAVE YOU BEEN TO STONY CREEK" like it's the "fiiiiive gooold-en riiiiings" part in The Twelve Days of Christmas.
Stratford, CT's Two Roads Brewing Company will be celebrating their 2nd annual Road Jam concert on the grounds of their 100 year-old brewery building and it promises to be just as fun as last year with four awesome bands, great food trucks and plenty of Two Roads beer.
Building on the success of last year's event, this year's Road Jam will be a must-attend festival for music lovers. Two Roads has hired three local bands as well as a headliner all the way from New Orleans to keep you dancing until last call.
Returning this year will be the Alpaca Gnomes who killed it at last year’s event and new to the line-up this year are two other Connecticut favorites, the psychedelic Snooty Garland and jam group The McLovins.
Headlining the event is New Orleans' finest brass band: The Soul Rebels. They have shared the stage with everyone from Kanye West to Dave Matthews and have collaborated with some of this generation's best musical acts. They have been described by the Village Voice as “the missing link between Public Enemy and Louis Armstrong.” Two Roads is thrilled to feature them as the main act.
Ninety9Bottles Craft Beer Festival is back for it's 2nd Annual Festival where Festival goers will enjoy a variety of brews while overlooking beautiful Norwalk Harbor up atop the hill at Oyster Shell Park. With an emphasis on New England based breweries, we will be pouring samples of 40+ CRAFT BEERS and some old favorites and some that you have yet to experience including new beers to the Connecticut market.
YOU CAN WIN 2 FREE TIX TO NINETY9BOTTLES by telling us why YOU need to go, in the comments section below. Please include your email address so we can contact you. Winners announced May 31st.
Ninety9Bottles Craft Beer Festival will feature great LIVE MUSIC along with some of the area’s most popular FOOD TRUCKS including LobsterCraft, Bounty, Melt Mobile, One Bro Pizza Co. and The Local Meatball each serving up some delicious local fare.
Imian Partners will open The Beer Garden at Shippan Landing for its second season on May 21st. Imian first introduced the pop-up beer garden concept two summers ago with The Beer Garden at Harbor Point and is credited for invigorating the social scene in Stamford’s South End. The Shippan spot has a significantly more relaxed vibe than that of Harbor Point, but has all the charm and beauty of the perfect summer hangout.
With unobstructed waterfront views, (and the best seat in town to watch the sunset all summer long), The Beer Garden at Shippan Landing will showcase and rotate its carefully curated list of local craft beers on draft and in cans offering a variety of options. Look for favorites such as Half Full, Broad Brook, Captain Lawrence and more. We also hear that The Beer Garden will be partnering with Half Full to create a signature beer just for the garden. Pretty cool.
An impressive rotating lineup of the area’s best food trucks will also be part of the nightly festivities at the Beer Garden. Stay tuned for details on some of your favorite mobile eats.
The family-friendly environment will include outdoor games such as life-size jenga, corn hole, can jam and beer pong.Entertainment will include live music and special themed-events throughout the summer beginning on Sunday May 24th with a Memorial Day party.
What happens when you combine two of Connecticut's James Beard nominated chefs, a Connecticut Brewery, a community farm, and a good cause?Millwright's at the Farm, of course! This charity dinner series is held throughout the summer with guest chefs and themes. Chef Taibe will be the guest collaborator on September 10 at 6:30 pm at Community Farm of Simsbury, located at 73 Wolcott Road, Simsbury CT 06070. Price includes tax, food and beverage at $95 per person.
June 11: Chef/Owner James Wayman, The Oyster Club & The Engine Room
July 16: Chef Jamie McDonald, Bears Smokehouse [Theme: BBQ]
August 27: Chef Jeff Lizotte, On20
September 10: Chef Bill Taibe, LeFarm, The Whelk, Kawa Ni, and New England Brewing Co.
September 24: Chef/Owner Billy Grant, grants, Bricco
Stamford’s Harbor Point now boasts “Sign of the Whale,” a roof top beer garden with views of Long Island Sound. Visit them on weekdays for happy hour from 4-7pm. During that time, try $4 drafts, $5 mixed drinks, and $2 off all wine by the glass.
Freshii Fairfield is encouraging kids to eat healthy with its “Kids Eat Free program” in the month of May. Kids ages 10 and under will receive a free, healthy lunch on weekends with the purchase of an adult entrée.
CT has great beers and now you can try them at Cask Republic New Haven. Monday, May 11 is an ALL CT Night! They’ll have brews from every brewery in CT available.
May 12th, Vespa in Westport will host the 1st of their Vintage Vespa wine dinners w/ Marchesi Fumanelli's “Iconic Wines from an Iconic Family.” The Marchesi Fumanelli family have been cultiaving grapes and producing prestigious wines since 1470. Event starts @6:30pm, $125 not including tax or gratuity
The drinking population, increasingly located in cities as we carve through the invisible gelatin of time's future, has been separated from the earth. Beer taps in brick buildings reflect the light of televisions, and fluorescent light sears our retinas as we grab a shiny cardboard package from metal coolers. We obtain beer from chrome. The paradox is that brewing culture in the extravagantly digital 21st century has begun to bring us a little closer to the farm, and to the inextricable link between agriculture and beer.
Breweries were farms and farms were breweries, for most of human history. People fed themselves with what they grew and raised, but they also drank it, and the beers changed based on whatever crop was in season. We still drink the different styles of beer which resulted from these changes, but now we hardly ever see the farm. That's beginning to change, in food as well as beer.
Life is better when you're among friends, and people have been gathering together over a beer or a beer-like substance for thousands of years now. Everywhere there are humans, we gather in the sun, the shade of palm fronds, or under a warm tavern roof to enjoy a few drinks and catch up on what's new. We host bottle shares and beer festivals and, increasingly, brewers have been working together across brands to combine their experience, just to see what happens.
This week, Friday Froth is going to drink a few of the beers resulting from these evanescent partnerships between breweries. The beers themselves are friendship in a glass.
Apparently today is National Beer Day, so here are my notes from the first time I had Three Floyds Zombie Dust.
*Yep - not a Friday at all, but Tuesdays could stand a bit of Fridayness, anyway.
I have a friend out in Indiana who floated the idea of doing a beer trade; he'd send me some of his state's beer, and I'd send him a few selections from Connecticut. I sent him Sea Hag from New England Brewing and Two Roads Lil Heaven, and made one request of him: "Whatever you send, please send me some Zombie Dust, too." He did not disappoint. What follows is the result, word for word:
Grapefruit hop notes hit from two feet away as soon as it's poured. Barely cloudy amber, head forms and resolves into a thin ring. Big, juicy hops on nose, very fruity. It's hoppy on the tongue like a jungle is green - everywhere and all at once. Far cry from the punch of west coast IPAs. This is a smooth and flavorful pale ale. I want to turn back time and drink it again.
The waiter gave me a look that said "Dude - work with me here," because I was mumbling. It started like this:
Him: "What'll you have?" A perfectly reasonable question, and not an unexpected one, given that I'd just sat down. So I replied:
"Nmm nmm."
"What?"
"Nmm nmm... ee."
And that's when I got the look. So I said it louder, biting off each word:
"Nummy Nummy, please."
Dammit.
Look, I get it - it's fun to name your beer something ridiculous like "Buttface" or "Even More Jesus," but please, I humbly beseech you, the brewers of the world: please don't make it something I'm embarrassed to order in public. That said...
I like to let my face grow its own sweater for the colder months. Having a glossy layer of man-fur dulls the teeth of the winter wind, people seem to like my more avuncular look, and growing a beard takes slightly less work than shaving every day, so technically I'm conserving the planet's resources. You're welcome.
I've noticed the delicate liquid measurements, tweezing of botanicals, and arguing over the perfect shape for a single unit of ice has lead many adherents of cocktail culture to treat their faces like overly manicured topiary. There will always be respect and, above that, love in my heart for those who create finely constructed, strong and delicious cocktails, but an enthusiastic ransacking of my home will never turn up a single tin of mustache wax.
When I met Aaren Simoncini of Beer'd Brewing in Stonington, he was wearing a shirt that said "beer is art"and his beard didn't look like an aluminum foil swan full of lo mein. We nodded at each other and I approached.
Patrons of Washington Prime will find comfort in the cuisine of its new Executive Chef Howard McCall Jr. This unassuming chef is not new to SoNo nor the kitchen at Washington Prime; he started in the kitchen at Barcelona twenty years ago and was the opening Sous Chef at Washington Prime last summer. Prior to joining Washington Prime he oversaw the kitchen at Mint restaurant in North Carolina which influenced his new Southern style cuisine.
CTbites was invited to meet the chef and sample some of his new additions to the menu. Chef Howard exudes a soft personality, allowing his culinary talents to speak. His recent changes to the new menu range from a creative American Soul Rolls to a Braised Lamb Shank, plus modifications of previous favorites. Each maintained the focus on the main ingredient with delightful accompaniments…more akin to Southern comfort food.
What happens when you get the owners and brewers of five Connecticut breweries in the same room at the same time and ask them pointed questions?
There's a scene in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou where Bill Murray, as Zissou, explains documentary filmmaking by saying "Nobody knows what's going to happen. And then we film it. That's the whole concept." I kept on thinking about that line as guests filed into a room at the Two Roads brewery in Stratford and watched Tony Pellino of OEC Brewing, Clement Pellani of Two Roads Brewery, Tyler Jones of Black Hog Brewing, Rich Visco of Shebeen Brewing and Conor Horrigan of Half Full Brewery take their seats in front of live mics. Whatever went down, it would all happen on the record.
On the record, in this case, means the proceedings would be recorded live for Ken Tuccio's Welcome To Connecticut podcast. The weekly podcast highlights businesses and personalities making an impact here in the Constitution State, and has previously broadcast with guests like Jerry Springer, Aaron Sanchez, Oh, Cassius!, the Nutmeg Curling Club, Miss Connecticut, and Anthony Bourdain's Russian sidekick, Zamir Gotta, among many others. The audio of the beer summit will go live on Thursday, March 19 on WelcomeCT.com, but CTBites was right there to bring you a first look.
Session beers are popular now, but a single drinking session rarely includes 250 different beers. The Big Brew NY Beer Festival returned to White Plains on Feb. 7 with hundreds of kegged and bottled beers, plus a VIP area with almost 30 casks of special ales. It's tough to write with a beer in one hand and camera in the other, but I managed to record a few notes and observations from what has become a very good midsize beer festival.
First: it may look crowded in a few of these photos, but the crowd was never an issue. Beer fest attendees tend to be pretty easy going. Most seem happy just to be in a place where they can simply stick out their glass and have it filled, and it's exciting to try new brands and styles without running the risk of taking your first sip and realizing you're now stuck with a six pack of beer you wouldn't use to poison driveway weeds.
I was recently invited to a press dinner at Strada 18 in South Norwalk. The restaurant was eager to share with us their Italian-American Comfort Classics Dinner. With temperatures well below the freezing mark, all the snow, freezing rain and sleet, this is the type of food so many are craving right now.
A group of about 20 or so writers, editors and bloggers gathered together for this dinner that was prepared especially for us. We started out with the Fried Calamari with Three Sauces, aioli, lemon-lime-jalapeno-cilantro, and marinara. The calamari was tender, flavorful and incredibly crispy and the accompanying sauces complemented them perfectly. We also enjoyed the Arancini, a fried risotto ball stuffed with American farmstead Fontina and served with a tomato sauce. The Arancini was good – but I wouldn’t say it was outstanding or one of the best I’ve ever had.
The freshest beer news, delivered weekly, is one of my goals with Friday Froth. Tender, green shoots of hop aroma and flavor, seeded by the brewer, come to full fruition the moment you crack a young IPA, and tend to wilt when left to languish on a shelf. The hop plant is like knowledge that way, reaching its true potential when you use it to water yourself. 
