Owl Farm: Brewing Network Meet-Up

Retired potato chip salesman.

On Tuesday July 2, 2013 we ventured to Park Slope to a Meet-Up organized by our pal Fritz for The Brewing Network, an on-line beer and homebrewing website resource that features articles, podcasts and, in general, seems to strive to be informational and entertaining.

Unlikely list -- in best possible way.

B.R. had been to Owl Farm before, one of a family of Brooklyn bars that include Bar Great Harry and Mission Dolores, but it was my first visit. I was surprised by the eclectic draught list. I've been to plenty of good bars with great lists, but there was a quirky randomness to their tap list. I don't think that I've ever seen anything from Beer Here, Emelisse or Alvinne on tap before, but here they were, among a wide range of breweries and styles represented on the 28 taps, plus one cask. And Owl Farm's Steven took good care of us!

Beer networkers.

I had to get the Beer Here beer, naturally. Their Dark Hops looked and drank like a Baltic porter, with a slight cocoa note in the finish and a clean, bitter aftertaste. B.R. went for the Pretty Things ¡Magnifico!, a "3.4% rustic session pale ale", which had a hazy dark golden straw color, a very hoppy, grapefruity nose (thanks to Simcoe, Horizon, Citra and Bravo hops), a very light body, with some citrus flavor up front and some graininess in the finish. The finish was extremely clean and trailed off to oblivion.

Beer Here's Dark Hops left, Pretty Things ¡Magnifico! right.

Next, B.R. tried the Oskar Blues Pilsner, Mama's Little Yella Pils, which was aged in chardonnay barrels. It had a tart, cidery aroma and flavor, and, seemingly, a very light body, though the wine attributes could have pushed perception in that direction. The wine barrel really imparted a lot of wine character -- it was quite refreshing.

Créme Brulee by Emelisse.

I, on the other hand, went to the opposite end of the scale, with a Créme Brulee Imperial Stout from Emelisse Brouwerij of the Netherlands. It had the darkest brown color with a garnet highlight when backlit with a candle, topped off with a thick, dense, tan head, which retreated rather quickly. The nose was rich and sweet with marshmallow, cream soda, and caramel notes. A bitter note peeked out from under the sweet, creamy, malt-dominated flavor, and reasserted itself in the finish and aftertaste with roasted malt flavors. It started out creamy and ended with roasty bitter finish. It's a real piece of art!

Cask version of Perennial's Aria Belgian Ale with brett.

I finished the visit with a Perennial Aria, a Belgian style ale with brett, which was on cask. The Aria had a medium golden color, and an almost pumpkin pie spice-like note in the aroma. The flavor had a hint of pleasant sourness cutting through a somewhat creamy, soft malt quality in the mouthfeel and in the flavor. Perennial is known for making beers with bold barrel aged characteristics, but this one was quite subtle and understated -- much smoother and softer in flavor than any other of their beers I've had. Perhaps being on cask, with the lower carbonation, rounded out the edges a bit. It was a good one to end with!

Three's a parliament.

The Festival -- An Attendee's Perspective

All I want for Christmas is 20 cases of Cantillon.

In the previous post we covered what it was like to be a volunteer at The Festival. I dare say, it was more fun to be a volunteer worker than an attendee, as the volunteers got an inside view that regular patrons did not. And they also got free admission to a session themselves!

Most of our volunteer work was set-up before each session was open and breakdown after it closed, so we got to be "regular attendees" for the majority of each session. And what was that like? WOW. Imagine a two-day concert with 75 of your favorite bands playing exclusive sets -- AND you were able to meet and talk to them! That's kind of what it was like. Except with beer.

A week afterwards, I'm thinking about what I missed! With roughly 75 tables, clearly, it wasn't likely that I'd have sampled everything on offer. And I found myself going back twice, three times and sometimes four times for certain beers, at the expense of missing others. Some of those which I didn't try I later found out were not-to-be-missed. Damn.

There's no reason to dwell on the disappointments of beers missed and the few beers that didn't live up to expectations. They simply went to the dump buckets, appropriately. Yes -- while all the breweries were amazing, not every beer was for everyone's taste. And I'm sure that some of my "dump beers" were exulted by others.

At most beer fests, you're lucky if 10% of beers are interesting, unusual, exclusive or amazing. At The Festival is was more like 90%. Possibly the most "mundane" brewery was Sixpoint. But even they stood out, having brought the only spruce beer at the fest! (I didn't try it there -- my biggest regret --though I did get to enjoy it, happily, at Barcade a week later.) This fest was filled with brewing artists. The choices were overwhelming. Looking over the list of those represented was a dream-list.
One of the big stories of The Festival was the inclusion of Westvleteren. They were the only participating brewery that didn't have the actual brewer present. But since their brewer is a monk, who could object? Certainly not Dieu du Ciel. (Though possibly Trou du Diable...)

Westvleteren, a truly authentic Trappist beer (and one of two Trappist breweries where the monks are involved in the day-to-day brewing process). Their highly regarded beers are not available anywhere but at the Belgian monastery... officially. And they keep pretty tight control on that, so profiteers can't take advantage of its high demand and limited availability. But they worked out a limited term arrangement so that their Westvleteren 12 could be sold in a gift-pack of six bottles and two glasses for $85. All of the proceeds to go to building restoration of the monastery. Forget turning water into wine -- they turn beer into churches!

I had one experience at The Festival which helps to bring into focus just how extraordinary the beers were, and how one can get creative when the glass is bottomless. My pal Jim from NYC and I traded recommendations as we passed by one another throughout The Festival. At one point he insisted that I have a glass of DeRanke Guldenberg on tap -- but not the beer! Only the foam! What? At a NYC beer bar, I'm paying $8-$10 for Guldenberg on tap -- NO foam, thank you! But here, why not? I asked for a foamy pour, and got it -- direct from the man who brews it! Wow. Beer-cream. The smoothest, cloudiest, dreamiest beer imaginable.

Stefan of Dieu Du Ciel and B.R.

The Festival had a kind of Willy Wonka/Disneyland feel to it. It was the magic beer kingdom for 2 days. Though I was disappointed that I wasn't given a tour by Shelly Shelton. But Will "Willy" Shelton was there! The brewers also felt the magic vibe. They were just as impressed and just as eager to meet the other brewers. The brewers in attendance got as much, or more, out of the experience as anyone else.

Some, and certainly not all, of the beer highlights...

Freigeist had a delightful Gose which had a well balanced sourness, and also offered their Abraxxxas (6%) which is a sour, smoked wheat beer! The style is Lichtenhainer Weisse, which is a Berliner Weisse made with smoked malt. It was an incredible combination of flavors. We got to try their Pimock, a hoppy Rheinland Hefeweizen. And a few days later at Spuyten Duyvil, we enjoyed their Pink Panther, a 5.8% light and refreshing wheat beer made with hibiscus.

The DDC team has to all share one stick.

Dieu Du Ciel had a number of very dark, very strong beers, such as a Péché Mortel Bourbon, aged in oak, which was extremely rich, heavy and flavorful. But we were really impressed by their 4% Blanche de Plateau, a very mild wit style, having the palest yellow color and the most refreshing mildly sour taste.

Brouwerij De Graal had a very clean, dry and powerful 9% triple called Quest, which has all residual sugars fermented out of the beer. We interviewed brewer Wim about it.

Wim of De Graal

Jolly Pumpkin brought, it seemed, everything! Their table was mini-sour fest of its own!

Les Trois Mousquetaires from Brossard, Quebec brought some tasty German style beers -- a malty Kellerbier and not-too-commonly-seen Sticke Alt.

Westvleteren 12 was poured for lucky fest goers at the table at which they signed up to reserve their Westvleteren gift pack, a fundraiser for the monastery. Often times when you get those super rare imports, they're in terrible condition, because they've been handled badly and have spent way too long in transit. But this Westvleteren was in as good a condition as an imported bottle of monk-brewed beer can be -- heavenly!

Proletariat bartender Cory, Daniel Thiriez and B.R.

Thiriez brought their thirst quenching 4.5% abv northern french saison, which we had the privilege of enjoying in May at the brewery. And they debuted their new double IPA, Dalva.

Nøgne-Ø had a very rich, viscous oak aged version of their 11% Sunturnbrew, which was best enjoyed in very small sips. Kjetil the brewer also had his sake on hand, which was a delicious, light bodied, light flavored contrast to his heavy hitting ales.

Pretty Things offered their standard brews, all of which are anything but "standard". I was happy to be able to enjoy some St-Botolph's Town, one of my favorite brown ales of all time, since it's disappeared from the NYC market lately. Their latest seasonal, ¡Magnifico!, had also just been released so we enjoyed this refreshing 3.4% beer.

Mikkeller was in attendance, and I sampled the always satisfying Beer Geek Breakfast, but only by good fortune. While dumping out an ice bucket, as part of my work as a volunteer, an unscathed bottle of BGB fell out of the supposedly empty tub! It was a welcome break from the hard work on the loading dock!


Le Trou du Diable of Shawinigan, Quebec had one of the most intriguing beers on tap, due to its simplicity -- one type of malt, one type of hops, one yeast strain. And the result? Their SMaSH Citra was the most wonderful, clean, crisp, palate cleansing drink -- the perfect interlude amidst the wide range of sour, smokey, roasty, oaky, hoppy, etc. flavors inundating the tongue.

All the Quebec brewers came prepared for game of shinny.

Page 24/ Brasserie St Germain: I'm not even sure which beer I had. Since we visited my good "biloute" Stephane a few weeks ago and since we have some of his fine beers at home, I didn't sample much. But whatever it was, it was sturdy, malty and delicious. Ch'ti strong!

West County Cider, among their other ciders, offered their exquisite Reine de Pomme, which is made from an apple that originated in Normandy, France. This is possibly my favorite cider in the world, with its rich, honest apple aroma and flavor, effervescent body and tannic apple-skin bitterness. If there were an award given for "best looking table", West County would have won it with an attractive array of dwarf apples amidst the bottles.

Fred from Hopfenstark

Hopfenstark's Saison Station 55 had a rustic malt character offset by slight citrus spiciness and good hop bitterness. But I cautiously avoided experimenting with the Boson de Higgs, lest I help create the formation of a black hole. The brewery is located just north of Montréal.

Mahr’s from Bamberg had an unfiltered (ungespundet) pils, which we put into a water bottle and took outside to enjoy with lunch on Sunday. We drove from NYC to Worcester with their brewer. When I met him I asked, "So, you're Stephan from Mahrs?" "Yes!" he replied. "Pleased to meet you! I'm Bob from Earth!" I'm sure that it was the very first time that he had heard that...

De Ranke's Guldenberg, as previously mentioned, was smooth and delicious, and their Kriek tangy and refreshing.

Sebastian from Freigeist can be seen on the far left among the crowd.

Brasserie de la Senne from Brussels had the simple, uncomplicated and delicious Brussels Calling, a 6% Belgian Pale Ale with a lot of yeast character, and Taras Boulba, a floral-hopped, aromatic 4.5% Belgian Pale Ale -- both beers exceptionally refreshing and so easy drinking, they nearly drank themselves.

Cabinet Artisanal Brewhouse of Alexandria, VA had an impressive Gose, though perhaps a bit more sour than a traditional version of this sour Leipzig-style beer, uniquely made with salt, and a mouth-puckeringly sour Red Wine Barrel-Aged Grisette. When I saw their Flyers bottle opener on Saturday, I had to wear my NY Rangers t-shirt on Sunday to give them a little friendly ribbing!

Anchorage Brewing Company was pouring their Galaxy, a 7% white IPA fermented with brett, which was uniquely tasty. Gabe came further than most every other brewer, save for Brian Baird (Japan) and the New Zealand brewers!

Gueuzerie Tilquin is a lambic blender, utilizing lambic beer from Cantillon, Lindemans, Girardin and Boon. They had a bottled gueuze and one on tap -- the bottled beer being a bit rounder than the very aggressively sour draft.

Brasserie de Blaugies, an authentic French family farmhouse brewery, offered the rustic 5.8% Darbyste, made with fig juice, and La Moneuse, a simple, delicious 8% farmhouse saison, the namesake for which was a highway robber in the 1700s, of whom brewer Marie-Noelle is a descendent.

It should be noted that originally there was to be food served inside the venue. But the response from brewers wishing to attend was so overwhelming, they decided to make room for more beer and have food trucks outside, instead.

Clover at the left, FroYo at the right.

The Shuckintruck was our first stop for oysters and clams at the raw bar and super rich lobster rolls! There was the veggie/vegan Clover truck that served very satisfying BBQ seitan sandwiches and chickpea fritter sandwiches along with lipsmacking rosemary french fries. For those looking for a more traditional BBQ, there was BT's Smokehouse Southern Style BBQ with pulled pork, smoked beef and the like, as well as some mouthwatering crabmeat-and-corn fritters and sweet potato tater tots! ("You gunna eat yer tots?")

Far left, the white Shuckintruck; far right, BT BBQ.

Julian's had their double decker bus food truck, with dining tables on the open-air upper deck! They served some quality modern American fusion fare. In addition to all that, a FroYo frozen yogurt truck provided dessert. One of their treats was a tangy/creamy, almost sour fruit flavor frozen yogurt -- very refreshing to the palate!

Julian's in red.

They pretty much covered it all for food: BBQ meats, fried food, seafood, vegan fare, mixed American bistro chow. Too often at such an event, the non-meat alternatives are lackluster and disappointing, if they even have any non-meat servings. So, they killed it on this front, as well!

Dive Bar backyard.

The Festival wound up at 5pm, with attendees trying to squeeze in one more beer as blue shirted volunteers scrambled to pack up, clean up and clear out. At about 7pm the brewers and some volunteers started filtering into the backyard of the Dive Bar for a post-festival party thrown by Alec Lopez, the proprietor of Dive Bar and Armsby Abbey.

Julian's provided the eats for the party, which was pay as you go, and the beer was provided by The Festival free of charge, in the form of half-filled kegs and left over bottles from the fest. With about 7 different unmarked key kegs floating in icy water to choose from, it was a bit of beer roulette until you sussed out which kegs had what. The best tactic was to find a not-too-strong one that suited you, and then just stick to that, least you end up drinking an 11% heavy dark beer, followed by a 10% barley wine, then a 9% god-knows-what -- what I'm saying is that there were a LOT of strong beers!

The High and Mighty-mobile, which is low and tiny.

We were lucky to find the High and Mighty Beer of the Gods keg! Also scored at the party were drafts of Taras Boulba and Brussels Calling (how did those kegs not kick at The Festival?!), and some choice bottles, such as West County Cider's Reine de Pomme and a few Jolly Pumpkins! What a way to wrap up one of the beeriest weekends of a lifetime!

"A Big Pile Of Rocks", as listed on The Festival's area map.

What's Bob Drinking Now?

Pretty Things has been a favorite brewery for a while, now. St-Botolph's Town is in regular rotation in the fridge, and Jack D'or also makes regular rounds at our table.

When we saw the latest new pretty thing in the cooler at Good Beer, LOVELY SAINT WINEFRIDE, it was a given that we'd be trying it before long.

L-St-W is billed as a "brown lager brewed using a decoction method to mark the end of winter." Good timing, then, as the temperature is to climb to near 60-degrees this week!

The beer is a very dark brown color, as viewed from a wide goblet. The color reminds me of Turkey Pond in Concord, N.H., which has a slightly iodine color just on the top, super dark brown just inches below the surface, and then quickly brown to black. St-W has a modest, tan lace along the edge of the glass.

There is an assertive, bold, long lasting and consistent mild roast aroma -- it's strong without being acrid or burnt. There seems to be some real fruitiness, but from hops and not yeast? You don't expect that from a lager, unless it's fermented a bit warmer than usual -- and as their website notes, it was fermented a bit warm, "as low as 53-degrees" which might account for the dry frutiness, á la a Steam Beer or Kölsch.

The flavor is also roasty, and extremely chewy!  It's very malty, mildy roasty and bitter. And, again, not acrid bitter, but rather hoppy bitter. Perhaps the decoction mashing added a hint of darkened caramel flavor, mixing about the hop bite.

Of course, decoction mashing means that a portion of the mash is brought to a boil and then re-added back to the main mash, in order to step up the temperature to help activate different enzymes to convert starches to various sugars.

At 7% abv, it's not quite a session beer and not quite a 10-ounce pour, but it's a richly flavored solid dark-brown beer best savored with relaxed patience and prolonged enjoyment. Let St-Winnie bless your tankard!

Stillwater Collaboration With Pretty Things

WFMU's Beer Hear! with Bob W. and B.R. from 9/13/2011

Who knew that the first ever collaboration between PRETTY THINGS and STILLWATER would be a freestyle rap with Brian of Stillwater and Jim of Pretty Things! And we thought that Sam at Dogfish Head was the only rapping brewer!

Stillwater Artisanal Ales

WFMU's Beer Hear! with Bob W. and B.R. from 9/13/2011

Lucky for us, Brian of STILLWATER ARTISANAL ALES decided to come to NYC to meet up with his pal and fellow "gypsy brewer" Mikkel of MIKKELLER, during the Mikkeller event at The Gutter! B.R. sat down with Brian to hear about another gypsy brewer's experience brewing exceptional beer, without having his own brewery.

Also, you can check out the bonus podcast of a tasting of two Stillwater beers, one of which, the Débutante, was paired with homemade strawberry shortcake that B.R. made!

Review of Débutante

Strawberry Shortcake and Débutante

And if that's not enough for you, how about another bonus podcast! Who knew that the first ever collaboration between PRETTY THINGS and STILLWATER would be a freestyle rap with Brian of Stillwater and Jim of Pretty Things! And we thought that Sam at Dogfish Head was the only rapping brewer!

Pretty Things In Brooklyn

WFMU's Beer Hear! with Bob W. and B.R. from 7/26/2011

On July 21, 2011 Dann, Martha and Jim of PRETTY THINGS were at BARCADE in Williamsburg to showcase six of their lovely beers. They told us about what it's like to be a brewing company without a brewery, and talked about the "brewing philosophy" of Pretty Things.

Martha, Dann and Sophie at the bar.

The latest PT beer on tap was AMERICAN DARLING (7%abv), a "summer lager" which is made with 100% Weyermann malt from Bamberg, Hallertau-region hops, and three yeast strains, and is lagered for 7 weeks. It was a fresh, clean, malty lager with significant hop bitterness. It definitely had a special something setting it apart from a typical pilsner beer. I'm guessing that the yeasts used contributed a LOT to its uniqueness.

Always an impressive list at Barcade.

We also tried the JACK D'OR saison style beer, which was quite refreshing on what was a blisteringly hot day. It had some assertive hop character and bitterness as well as spiciness, especially when compared side-by-side to the soft and malty FIELD MOUSE'S FAREWELL, which uses Strisselspalt hops from Alsace and Bramling Cross hops from England. (If I ever get pet mice, I'm naming them Strisselspalt and Bramling.)

The American Darling and Baby Tree.

The BABY TREE "quadruple" was also on tap. Made with 40lbs of dried California plums added to the boil, it's a 9%abv dark belgian ale, with delicious candy sugar/brown sugar/toasted caramel flavors -- not too sweet, but sweet enough to mask the high octane nature of this very-glad-it's-served-in-a-10-ounce-glass beer.


They also featured the ST-BOTOLPHS TOWN, which we featured in an earlier post.

Sophie passes on a 9% ale...

...but she won't turn down a 7% lager!

It's not always easy to find many PT's beers on tap in NYC, but you can search for them at BEER MENUS. Also, they'll be at the Cooperstown, NY fest, BELGIUM COMES TO COOPERSTOWN on July 30-31, 2011 and at the STAG'S HEAD in Manhattan on July 27.

Pretty Things St-Botolph's Town

Jimmy's No. 43 is only 2 blocks from home, so, there's rarely a good excuse to not go there. But when our pal Jim of PRETTY THINGS has a beer featured, AND there are oysters on offer -- we're there!

The ST-BOTOLPH'S TOWN "rustic dark ale" was pouring from the tap and it was good. The beer has a nice mild chocolate flavor mixed with a mild dried dark fruit flavor, a little bitterness and a deep dark cola-brown color. It's a full bodied beer, smooth, mellow and offering a gentle sweet finish and aftertaste.

The brewery's website has this to say about it: "This Yorkshire-inspired beer is a big malty brown ale fermented in open squares with Yorkshire malts and eclectic yeast strains. This is another of our year-round offerings."

Did We mention that it was oyster night at Jimmy's No. 43

By "eclectic" I think that they might mean "Belgian" because there are plenty of Belgian esters and yeast flavors mixing about in this ale.  It clocks in at under 6%, but given the distinct alcohol note as it warms, I'd have guessed higher. Then again, the smoothness of the beer angles more towards a direction under 7%.

B.R., Jimmy, Bob and Jim of Pretty Things

I love what their website has to say about the beer and the brewery's philosophy: "... we don't do beer 'styles' straight up, as it doesn't leave any room for  creativity. Instead we take our inspiration from great beers as a starting point."

Also available that evening was a BELGIAN PALE ALE from BARRIER called BELGIAN 1.

It had a nice gold color, light lacy head, and was extremely easy to drink. I seemed like a "small" triple, that made up for it's size with a kick of hops. Though 7.5% isn't what I'd call a small beer of any style. This seemed like one of those style-defying beers, for which the only things that count are, is it good, and would you have another. This one passes, easily.