Tiger Turns 20

 Interview with Dave Brodrick and Catherine Kyle of Blind Tiger 

 Non-Flash version of the podcast

New York-born Dave Brodrick grew up in Fairfield County, CT and moved back to NYC over 20 years ago to make a go of working in journalism. He worked for a few different outlets, including Geraldo Rivera's "Now It Can Be Told", while bartending at Tribeca's Riverrun. But after finding journalism not entirely to his liking, and wanting to do more than just bartend, Dave decided to open his own joint somewhere in Manhattan -- a cosy neighborhood bar with good beer.

Bob, Dave, Catherine and B.R.

In 1994 there weren't many places focusing on good beer in NYC. Two years earlier Eddie Berestecki established Mug's in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, thought of by many as the first real "beer bar" in New York. Dave and his business partners were looking to open a beer bar in Manhattan. At the same time Ray Deiter and Dennis Zentek (both sadly lost to tragic circumstances in 2011 and 2014 respectively) were also looking to do the same thing and, in fact, both sets of partners bumped into each other at 41 1st Ave. while scouting locations. Ray and Dennis took that space and opened D.B.A., and Dave kept searching, finally settling on a West Village space at Hudson and W. 10th St. Thus was born The Blind Tiger. A few months later, The Gingerman would open, bringing the number of good beer bars in New York City in 1996 to four!

In 1996 New York, "good beer" meant imports like Guinness, Hoegaarden, Newcastle, Boddingtons, and Paulaner Hefeweizen, and domestics such as Brooklyn Lager, Sierra Nevada, Pete's Wicked Ale, and Wild Goose IPA. And those were some of the best sellers, Dave recalls, when he first opened. About 10 years later when the Tiger lost their lease (to a Starbucks!) in in Dec. 2005, they relocated a block east of 7th Ave, on Bleecker at Jones St., in March 2007. With the move, the bar left all the imported beer behind. The 28 regular draught lines are almost exclusively American craft. Though they do make an exception for the occasional treat from, say, Cantillon or Dieu du Ciel.

The Blind Tiger has been recognized not only as a pioneer for craft beer bars in New York, but appreciated by locals as just a damn good bar with damn good beer. It's a must-visit pub on any beer lover's trip to NYC. In addition to the exalted Tiger, Dave has opened up two beer-centric bistros in Vermont, Worthy Burger and Worthy Kitchen, and is behind Beanery Brewing, a beer company that focuses on making coffee beer, and will be brewing at a new contract brewery located just outside of Boston and run by former Smuttynose Head Brewer Dave Yarrington. Here's to another 20 years of the Tiger!

Dave Engbers of Founders Brewing

Interview with Dave of Founders (Flash version)
Non-Flash podcast  

On Dec. 9, 2013, The Jeffery hosted a tap take-over by Founders Brewing, and featured such rarities as Kentucky Breakfast Stout, Doom, Sweet Repute, Backwoods Bastard -- which was amazing! -- and many others. The following day at the Blind Tiger we caught up with Dave Engbers, co-founder of Founders, and Tim Traynor, the NY Marketing Manager for the brewery, for an interview.

Bob, Dave and Tim -- all very serious men. (Not really!)

Founders was established in 1997 and originally named Canal Street Brewing after the neighborhood in Grand Rapids, MI which was home to a number of breweries in the 1800s. Eventually, the name became Founders, a nod to those long gone 19th century fore-bearers of beer. Their original location was in a building with some serious space restrictions, which required them to brew with horizontal tanks as part of their ambitious 30bbl system.

Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers, both Grand Rapids natives, met at Hope college, which is where Mike discovered homebrewing. Dave, however, started homebrewing at age 19. Neither went to brewing school or even apprenticed in a brewery before they decided that life was too short to not chase their dream of brewing beer professionally, and after a short stint in the post-college working world, they started their journey on becoming brewing founders themselves.

They wisely hired a professionally trained brewer at the outset. And, as so many of the "first craft beer bubble" breweries did, they brewed pale ales, ambers, and all the rest of predictable styles, in Dave's words, making "technically solid, but unremarkable beers". They thought that this would give them the greatest potential market. But with everyone else making essentially the same stuff, they soon found that they weren't selling enough beer to be profitable. They were behind on rent, late on loan payments. Something had to change.

So, they decided to set themselves apart from all the rest of the pack by brewing something that they themselves were excited about -- a Scotch Ale called Dirty Bastard. And thus began the change in direction away from common-denominator beer and towards "brewing beers that we wanted to drink." The Dirty Bastard was an award winning beer and, more importantly, a sales success! Soon after followed other beers that would remake the brewery's image: Breakfast Stout, Devil Dancer, Curmudgeon Old Ale, Bad Habit. Dirty Bastard was the brewery's biggest seller from 2002 to 2006. Then from 2007-2012 their Centennial IPA was the #1 seller. Currently Dirty Bastard and Centennial are neck-and-neck in sales, and the recently launched All Day IPA has overtaken the #1 spot, a beer that took 3 years to develop.

In 2012 they brewed about 71,000bbl of beer, and they expect 2013's output to be around 115,000bbl. The brewery underwent a massive expansion in 2012, having installed two 85bbl brewhouses, a new packaging line, a new canning line, and a new beer cellar, all of which will allow them to grow to about 320,000 barrels a year!

The brewery started experimenting with bourbon barrel aging beer in 2000-2001. They currently go through about 3,000 bourbon barrels a year. The barrel-aged beers are stored 85ft underground in the old gypsum mines in Grand Rapids -- about 6 miles of mine space! While Dave declined to reveal the source of their barrels, he said that many are barrels that had been aging bourbon for 15 to 18 years. The first beer that they experimented with in a bourbon barrel became Kentucky Breakfast Stout, and they have since gotten quite creative with the barrels. They age some specialty beers in maple syrup barrels -- former bourbon barrels that then were used to flavor maple syrup. Those barrels come from BLiS, a Michigan maple syrup producer, and are used to create the complex oaky, sweet, smokey characters in the rare and highly regarded Canadian Breakfast Stout as well as Black Biscuit, Curmudgeon's Better Half, Bolt Cutter, and Sweet Repute.

While Dave also declined to divulge any of the breweries secret projects under development, he did assure us that we won't have to travel to Michigan to enjoy them -- they'll all make their way to New York City when they're ready! For more information, check out the Michigan Daily's article on Founders from 2011, and a recent article about laid-off Miller workers seeking employment at Founders.

Victory Brewing's Co-Founder Bill Covaleski At Blind Tiger

Interview with Victory's Bill Covaleski (Flash version)

Non-Flash podcast

We ran into Victory Brewing's co-founder Bill Covaleski at a well curated tap take-over at the Blind Tiger recently. It served as the New York City debut for their Dirtwolf Double IPA, the beer that's replacing Hop Wallop, which is being retired. There were about 14 Victory beers on tap, including some interesting brews which we've never tried before.

The busy staff of Blind Tiger.

One of Bill's college pals, Tony Limuaco, was there as well. Tony also ferments things for a living, but the object of his work is kimchee. His Kimcheelicious is seeking to merge the famed fermented Korean cabbage into the American gastronomical world.

Tony of Kimcheelicious, B.R., Bill of Victory, Bob.

In addition to their common experiences at college at Otis Parsons School of Design and their shared loved of fermetation, albeit of different things, Tony has also been involved in Victory, in a very visual context. Tony has designed a number of prominent Victory labels: Golden Monkey, Hop Wallop, Hop Devil, and the newest brew, Dirtwolf.

Labels that Tony designed.

You can hear all about it on this installment of Beer Hear! And if you're unfamiliar with the history of how Bill and his brewery partner, Ron Barchet, ended up forming a brewery -- a brewery that has an annual output of almost 100,000 barrels of fine beer -- the story starts in 1973 on a school bus when the two were in 5th grade. Find out the rest of the story at Victory Brewing's website!

Click on the image for a larger, better resolution.
Click on the image for a larger, better resolution. White Monkey. Squeaky Wheel.

Click on the image for a larger, better resolution.

Carol Stoudt At The Blind Tiger

WFMU Podcast: Carol Stoudt podcast (Flash)
  Carol Stoudt podcast (non-Flash)

The Stoudt family has operated a restaurant in Adamstown, PA since before WWII. The establishment went through many changes over the years, starting as a simple roasted chicken joint and eventually becoming a fancy steak house. They've continued to build other enterprises around the restaurant, adding an antique shop, a cheese making business and an artisanal bakery. One of the most significant additions to the Stoudt empire came in 1987 when they began brewing beer.

B.R., Katherine of Blind Tiger, Carol, Susan Green.

At first, they only sold their beer at their restaurant. But it wasn't long before they got a bottling machine and began distributing around Pennsylvania and then further still. Stoudts has become known for brewing many traditional German styles, having won many awards for their Munich Style Helles. The fact that the area was largely settled by German immigrants has a lot to do with their specializing in Germanic brews.

Though Stoudt's was clearly a ahead of the curve in craft brewing, having started well before the first big microbrewery revolution, an even more groundbreaking fact is that in 1987 Carol Stoudt was one of very few female commercial brewers in North America -- probably in the entire world. And while there have been more women to follow Carol into the brewhouse and also work in a variety of jobs in the brewing industry, Carol is a true pioneer.

Cheers Jim!

On Aug. 21, Carol was on hand at the Blind Tiger along with a bunch of her fine ales and lagers, and we got to talk to her about Stoudts.

Smooth Hoperator Doppelbock

Four Play IPA.

Honey Double Maibock.

Oktoberfest.

Pilsner.

50 25 Quad.