the deacon's weekend

"Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed - Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, 'It is better that I drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver.'"

-Jack Handy

Friday's: Brooklyn Bowl's Gaslight Anthem concert was epic. "As always, every week night features 30$/lane/hour bowling specials, Brooklyn-brewed beers, and our custom menu with food by Blue Ribbon," Brooklyn Bowl advertises, which would bring in a lot more church goers if we'd only put it up on the sign, as I keep arguing with Minister. He sort of rolls his eyes, faithful witness will not lie, etc. But it doesn't need to be a lie! Sigh...

With the A- rated Bengali Tiger IPA on tap (along with nine additional local brews from Six Point, Brooklyn and Kelso) the deacon and stephen the head won on every level.

Saturday: More crazy shenanigans. Final Fantasy VII on one 42 inch TV, college football on the other, a 4-pack of delicious Allagash White and one fancy schmancy big bottle of Great Divide's Imperial Cherry Saison. Needless to say the deacon was one cool kid growing up.

Heavenly. I love that the clear coffee table doesn't come out in the picture. It looks like a ginormous bottle of Southern Tier is floating in my living room, which is pretty awesome if you think about it philosophically. I sort of went into Carroll Gardens' American Beer Distro. with the intention of finding and reviewing some seasonal offerings and went home with this instead. "Wait, when did we get that in!?" I heard the Distro's hyper-knowledgable co-manager yell as I was checking out (in between mutterings about healthcare reform from the Distro's other, hyper-wingnut co-manager). Having just homebrewed with pounds and pounds of cherries, i didn't think anything I could buy would be able to compete with the thick aroma, but boy was I wrong. This is a rich, heavy, complex Saison with a bevy of flavors absolutely underlied, overlied, you name it with Cherry. Delicious. I passed out on the couch with both TVs on. And yes, we do have two 42 inch TVs in our living room. Why not?

Sunday: Football at Cobble Hill's Downtown Bar & Grille, ye pub of the 5 billion different beer selections. I actually went to the bathroom and saw on their Sierra Nevada shelf, three separate versions of the Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barley Wine (from 3 different years, with different labels) which just about says it all about their selection.

DB&G gets flack for being a bit overpriced (for the area...it's no more expensive than Blind Tiger) but every day they have 1 or 2 $5 specials of some totally cool, totally random bottle or brewery. Yesterday's was the Royal Extra Stout from the Carib Brewery (Trinidad):

RES was inherited from a merger with the Walters Brewery in Port of Spain (Trinidad) in 1952. More a dark pilsner than a dark stout, there's little trace of roasted barley. It's much sweeter, and thinner, than deceoptively strong: 6.6%. The taste was a little bizarre, certainly unique, very drinkable like coffee with an unfamiliar but tasty sweetener.

Anyway pretty cool to have a deal like that at a bar I went to for football. And I had Oktoberfest's off tap from Brooklyn, Spaten, and Sierra Nevada. And the Pats won 59-0. Not a bad Sunday, not a bad Sunday at all.

deacon's feelgood pick of the week

The good people of Southern Tier, who make one of the most blessed lists of IPAs on the planet, and no seriously don't let me get distracted but if you've never had the Oak Aged Unearthly Imperial IPA, or the Gemini or Hoppe Imperial or the Iniquity or the...where was I...right, Southern Tier: on Sunday, they'll be putting on a benefit (OktoBENEfest) for the St. Susan Center. St. Susan is a soup kitchen in upstate New York that last year served 135,761 nutritional meals to the people with the hardest lots in life on this planet. They do good work, and they'll continue to do it with the support and generosity of people who like YOU who like to go to beerfests and pay $3 for awesome craft brews. And generous organizations like Southern Tier, providing beers, and NY partner Farm Fresh Foods, providing the $3 brats.

Lakewood, unfortunately for ME, is just about as far from Brooklyn as any part of New York State. I'd love to go to this though. If I were a gambling man, and ave maria but 'tis one of my sins, my money's on Southern Tier as the best craft brewery in the great state of New York.

Southern Tier highlights:

Oak Aged Unearthly Imperial IPA (9.5% ABV): Woodsy, powerfully hopped and deliciously dark DIPA. "To underestimate Oak Aged Unearthly is to trifle with the mysteries of the universe, so please consume wisely," reads the label. the deacon will condone a bit of sacrilegious for this divine brew.

Pumking Imperial Pumpkin (9.0% ABV): Definitely a brew hop pumpkin candidate

Gemini Imperial Blended Ale (10.5%): A straight blend of the Hoppe and the Unearthly, two Pales on opposite ends of the ingredient spectrum. Experimentation for experimentation's sake? the deacon's down.

And this one's breakin' the rules a bit since I've never had it...but since it's only weeks from its November release, will consider this a down payment:

Old Man Winter (7.2%): "A liquid wonderland" Old/Strong ale. What I'll be drinking next upstate ski trip.