Jonathan Moxey of Perennial

Jonathan Moxey of Perennial Artisan Ales (Flash version)

  Non-Flash podcast   

On Dec. 6, 2013 Proletariat hosted Jonathan Moxey of St. Louis' Perennial Artisan Ales. And while it wasn't quite the extreme tap take over by Perennial at Barcade earlier this year, there was plenty of great beer and good cheer to welcome Jonathan back to the city where he discovered the art of brewing!

Full house on a rain drenched Friday night.

Jonathan explained to us how a friend introduced him to homebrewing while working as an editor for the financial services industry in New York, biding his time as he sought to discover what he really wanted to do for a career. He immersed himself the craft brewing world, joining the NYC Homebrewers Guild, becoming a beer judge, brewing scores of beers, entering contests, and taking in all things beer. His success in contests gave him the confidence to return to his hometown and apply for an internship at St. Louis' Schlafly Beer. After an arduous month of brewery hard labor, he applied for a position at Perennial Artisan Ales, where he interned for 6 weeks before being hired on full-time.

Currently, Perennial brews at a full capacity of 2,000 bbls per year on their 8 1/2 bbl system. The brewery is tiny in size, but enormous in stature, brewing some of the most interesting, delicious, intriguing and creative brews you could imagine. A big part of the brewery's identity is their use of fresh, local ingredients. Their Peach Berliner Weisse, which in late summer annually, utilizes local Missouri and Illinois peaches -- 750lbs per batch! Jonathan explained that while they could brew the beer with less expensive and more readily available Georgian peaches, their concept source as many ingredients as possible from local producers.

"Needs more bird!"

B.R. ribbed Jonathan a bit by asking if Perennial uses Cardinals in their Vermilioin Winter Ale. He played along and noted that it is their only non-vegetarian beer! More seriously, he noted that their Walnut Dunkel Weisse uses Black Walnuts from Stockton, MO, and that Woodside honey from Maplewood, MO goes into their triple, and said that coffee is specially roasted for them by local roasters Sump Coffee for their Sump Coffee Stout.

B.R. has that Perennial glow.

When asked about any special brewery projects, Jonathan told us that he recently took part in the blending of Perennial's La Bohéme, which involves fermenting a Belgian Brown Ale with Michigan tart cherries in used wine barrels, allowing the naturally present bacteria and Brettanomyces to transform the beer into something magical. He also mentioned an on-going project involving an all-Brett version of their Aria Strong Belgian Ale. They take a portion of the aging beer out of the barrels each year to bottle and keg, and replace it with fresh beer, adding layer after layer of depth and complexity to the beer over time.

Cory of Proletariat, David of Hearth, B.R., Jonathan and beer writer Chris.

We spoke with Jonathan on day two of the Belgium 2 Brooklyn fest at Mugs Alehouse on Sunday Dec. 8, 2013 and learned a few new things about the brewery, owned and run by Phil Wymore, which adds to our knowledge from previous blogposts on Perennial.

Same crew, different pose.

Bob and Jonathan at Mugs Alehouse.

Menu at Proletariat.

John of the NYC Homebrewers Guild at Proletariat.

Jonathan and Chris O'Leary.

East Coast Vs West Coast Punk Rock Brew Tour

[link to podcast page]
WFMU's Beer Hear! East Coast Vs West Coast Podcast

Three years ago, Smuttynose's NY sales rep Pat Fondiller started the East Coast Vs West Coast Brew Tour with two East Coast craft brewers and two from the West Coast. The idea was to take over the taps of a bar while a particular music genre battled over the sound system (think East Coast Hip Hop artists vs. West Coast Hip Hop artists) and the beers battled on the tap towers.

(C) Jan from Sierra Nevada, (R) B.R.

Pat said that the inspiration of the annual event was the fact that all of his music-centric pals drank terrible beer, and this was an excuse to try to get them turned on to the good stuff.

Jeff from Sixpoint, unidentified person, Pat from Smutty and Yvon from Oscar Blues.

We went to Barcade Jersey City, one stop on the 8-city stops on the tour, to talk to Pat about the history of the EC/WC Brew Tour, the schedule for this year's installment, as well as some of his ideas for future tours. One thing he told us was that, continuing with the beer/music collaborative themes, Smuttynose Director of Brewing Operations Dave Yarrington wants to brew a beer called  "B.W.A. -- Straight Out Of Hampton" once that their new facility opens in Hampton, N.H.! Suckers to tha side I know you hate my I.P.A. -- you're gunna get hops!

Barcade JC

Here are all the remaining dates left on the tour:


April 9 Bronx Alehouse -- Bronx, NY
April 10 Birdsall House -- Peekskill, NY
April 11 The Black Sheep Ale House -- Mineola, NY
April 12 Beer Authority -- NYC, NY
April 16 Julians -- Providence, RI
April 17 The Independent -- Providence, RI
April 18 Bar Matchless -- Brooklyn, NY


See ALL the dates for this year on the tour's FaceBook page.

Don't believe in Beer Santa? Now you do.

Sierra's Jan with his pal Liz of WFMU

Funky 8 Belgian Style American Beers

[link to podcast page]

For eight years, NYC beer-scenester Warren Becker has, with friends Bill and Glen, organized a unique beer party for Warren's inner circle of beer buddies. "The Funky" was created to disprove the incorrect assumption by one unnamed, misinformed Belgian brewer that American craft breweries weren't so great. With his friends' help, Warren decided to collect together a horde of great Belgian style beers made by American brewers from coast to coast, and celebrate the knowledge ability, technical skill and creativity of our country's accomplished brewers -- USA! USA!

Last year's Funky 7 was featured on the blog/podcast.

Jason, Brian, Bob & B.R. (photo by Lefty)

In this week's podcast, we speak to the President of Funky, Warren, as well as 8-time Funky veteran Glen, and Funky participant Leighton, who came all the way from London, England!

Barcade owner Paul with Warren.

If there were a substantial number of great American craft brewers eight years ago who were tackling Belgian styles, then today the number is astronomical. But the growth trend is really a recent development, which began to significantly increase after 1990. To put the modern American brewing industry's growth, decline and rebirth into perspective (according to the Economic History Assn.):

-- in 1870 there were 3,286 brewers each producing an average of 2,009 barrels/year, meaning incredible variety, and many local breweries
-- in 1980 there were about 101 breweries in the US brewing an average of 188 million barrels/year, meaning no real variety, and almost no small local breweries
-- in 2011 there were about 1,900 breweries, more breweries in the US than at any time since 1890

BR and Warren... what pair of mugs!

With American breweries like New Belgium, Jolly Pumpkin, Stillwater -- even Brooklyn Brewery -- making some of the finest Belgian style beer anywhere, I think that the point has been proven that Americans make some kick ass biere. And with that point decisively made, another raison d'etre has emerged for the annual Funky. In recent years it has evolved into a fundraiser for the The Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition (BARC), with participants donating cash to the animal shelter, and even some "graduates" of the organization participating.

Bill's alumni of BARC, Sophie and Otto.

This year I live-Tweeted every single beer that I sampled -- 39 of 'em! Some were amazing, most were pretty good, some not so great, and at least 3 were, to put it politely, "not to my liking" (you'll have to dig through the Tweets to figure out which ones). As the day wore on, the unrefrigerated bottles didn't benefit from the gradual warming, eventually all reaching room temperature. Some held up better than others. The Blanche de Brooklyn and Hanger 24 Belgian Summer Ale both showed no flaws at room temp. Though others presented as oxidized and imperfect when they were no longer cold. And if Coors Light commercials tells us anything about beer, temperature -- specifically being "cold"--  is the most important characteristic of a beer (especially for beer that tastes bad, or has no taste at all).

Not sure where to start with over 150 beers? Just ask John! "This one!"

Out of the 39 I tasted, I'd list my top 8 favorite categories and standouts as:

-- White Birch "Cooper's Dilemma" ale aged in birchwood for being so unique and extremely tasty (you could really taste the birch flavor!)
-- "Blanche de Brooklyn" for freshness and for being true to style
-- Hanger 24 "Belgian Summer Ale" for being clean, simple and refreshing
-- Dogfish Head "Festina Lente" for its wonderful sourness (with Smuttynose "Brett and I" also worth mentioning in this regard)
-- New Holland "Farmhouse Hatter" IPA for its subtlety, and curious tea-like flavor
-- Iron Fist "Spice of Life" for its well balanced use of orange peel and coriander
-- homebrewer Peter's "Sour Flanders Red" made with cherry juice, for an excellent, homemade version of this uncommon style
-- Boulevard's "Nommo" dubble made with molasses & spices for its richness and complexity

Too funky for you, Bob?

Further below are listed all 157 different brews that the attendees brought and shared with one another -- 22 more than last year. And yet even further below that are a slew of photos from the Funky. Some more pictures of the Funky 8 are available at Glen's photo page, and at Lefty's photo page. Some photos posted here are courtesy of Glen and Lefty, and we thank them most wholeheartedly !

The 11am troopers.

Paul and Bill.

BR, Glen and Mary.

Purple shirt, purple shirt.

Mike and interview subject Leighton.

Paul and Warren.

Waffeletierre Mary.

List 1 of 4.

List 2 of 4.

List 3 of 4.

List 4 of 4.

Full.

Empty.

BR's homemade Belgian White Cheese, made from scratch.

Pour Warren.