Drafts:

BFM La Meule
BFM Abbaye de St. Bon Chien ‘07
BFM Alex le Rouge

Cask: Hanssens Kriek

Beer By the Glass:

Birrificio Italiano Cassissona
Baladin Al-Iksir
BFM Abbaye de St. Bon Chien Pinot Noir Barrel
BFM Abbaye de St. Bon Chien Bourbon Barrel

In the “Beer News” department, which I don’t touch on very often, Orange County, California’s The Bruery is making its debut in the New York City market next month.  A variety of awesome sounding events, all of which will be apparently attended by head brewer Patrick Rue, will be popping off in the next week!  Brew Dog Blog has had the pleasure of sampling some of Patrick’s brews and they do not disappoint! Hear a nice interview with Patrick on The Brewing Network here, and brush up on the beers he has to offer here.  Get ready to geek out on some really interesting beers, fellow beer enthusiasts!

In the “Recent Flavors” department, here’s a couple tastes of things I’ve tasted.  Long form reviews are to return soon, as soon as I can get my rhtythm back.

Victory “Golden Monkey” – Golden Monkey is touted as being one of the first American brewed Belgian Style Tripels, a style that is one of the easier to pin down of the Belgian “Trappist Style” beers.  Golden, spicy, a bit hoppy, and very floral from yeast aroma, Golden Monkey hits the style hard on all marks.  A great beer that is pretty widely available and is a great choice if you can randomly find it stuck in with a bunch of shitty macro beers at an airport or a local deli.  There’s a sixpack in my work fridge, which reminds me, having two of these 10.5% ABV beers during lunch is one too many.  Oops.

Kelso “Hop Lager” – Kelso is fucking killing me lately, and somewhere deep in my beer-brain there’s a feature article/interview/tribute piece where I break down why they rule so hard.  You probably haven’t had any of their beer, have you? If you live outside of NYC, you’re forgiven, but if you live in this fair city, you need to seek them out, like, immediately.  “Hop Lager” is a beautiful clear, golden, effervescent…hoppy lager.  Not entirely different from their Pilsener, which I also enjoyed quite a bit, Hop Lager is a great choice for a few late night pints, and certainly would have been a good substitution for the two Golden Monkeys that killed my aforementioned work day.  A nice touch of bready grain, a good dose of hops, and a clean, floral smell gives this everything you could ever want from a sessionable Lager. Not sure if there’s anything these guys can’t do.

Captain Lawrence “Rosso E Morrone” – Travelled up to Pleasntiville with the entirety of the BDB crew the other day for this latest beer in CL’s lineup.  A few of us had tried this about six months or so ago at the Belgium Comes to Cooperstown festival at Ommegang, and boy has it changed quite a bit since then.  Fully carbonated, intensely sour, and unbelievably fragrant, this even beats Cuvee de Castleton in my book and takes the prize for the greatest East Coast sour beer and certainly competes with any of its west coast counterparts (yes, including Russian River).  Rosse is a Cantillon styled, very acidic sipping beer that… can actually be compared to Cantillon, which is saying quite a lot in any beer nerd’s book, especially mine.  A deep reddish brown color with a perfectly present body that finishes very dry, this beer took a few years to complete and I’m glad the brewer waited as long as he did to release it.  He was waiting for perfection, and I think he found it.  I’ll be aging this beer for a while, and I’ll try to write a year from now as to how it’s pouring.  Find one if you can!

That’s all for now, back soon with more!

Please read the information below, provided by the New York State Brewers Association, concerning an important piece of legislation which, if passed, would help ensure greater access and choice for consumers of craft beer in the Empire State.

New York Craft Brewers need your help!

We are asking for your support of the NY Craft Brewers’ efforts to pass an important amendment to the laws governing beer distribution in New York.

Under current law, it is very difficult, expensive and sometimes practically impossible for small brewers to switch from one wholesale distributor of their beer to another. The laws now in effect were enacted about 15 years ago to protect beer wholesalers from unfair distribution contract termination by large, multinational breweries. Wholesalers were legitimately concerned because all too often when a brewery moved its brands, the former wholesaler went totally uncompensated for all the time and effort spent in building sales of those brands.

In 2008, however, the beer and brewing landscape is very different. Although there are fewer wholesalers, those remaining are much larger companies and while multinational breweries certainly exist, the rise and proliferation of small, local craft breweries means that many brewers are smaller than the wholesalers they do business with.

Yet, these small craft brewers are required to operate under the same “franchise” laws that were created to protect the wholesalers from large brewers. Unfortunately, today these same franchise laws are being used by wholesalers to lock in the distribution rights and restrict access to market for these small brewers. Clearly, this is not good for small brewers, but it’s also very bad for consumers because it means less choice in terms of fewer brands and fewer breweries available on store shelves.

S 6101 proposes a change to that law so that any small brewer that is less than 5% of a wholesaler’s business will have the ability to terminate a relationship with a wholesaler providing they pay fair compensation to that wholesaler, i.e. what the brand has transferred for with other wholesalers over the past 12 months or a minimum of 2 times gross profit. Thus, S 6101 relieves small brewers from the franchise laws but importantly would continue to compensate the wholesaler for value of the brand rights if they are terminated.

On behalf of the New York State Brewers Association, please call or email your New York State Senator at his or her Albany office as soon as possible and urge them to support S 6101. This bill has already passed the Assembly and could come up for a vote in the Senate at any time.

Senators’ contact information can be found at http://www.senate.state.ny.us/senatehomepage.nsf/senators?OpenForm

If you are unsure of who your Senator is, please visit: http://www.senate.state.ny.us/sdlookup.nsf/Public_search?OpenForm

KEY POINTS TO INCLUDE IN YOUR COMMUNICATION:

• I am a craft beer drinker and it upsets me that some craft beers are being held hostage by the franchise laws.
• The small craft brewers in New York State are not only making great beer, they are making a contribution to the state’s economy.
• The franchise laws as they exist in NY today are a burden on this growing industry and a restraint on small brewers being able to develop their business.
• I urge you to amend these laws and vote yes for S 6101.

Thank you for your support of New York’s craft brewers and consumers.