Yes. Another beer festival. And why not? There are so many interesting and delicious beers out there to try. They can’t be contained by one or two or several hundred events. On November 7t, starting at 1pm, the folks over at Red Star (37 Greenpoint Ave) are featuring over 20 different craft and micro-brews. There will also but LOTS of music, including our borough’s Grammy Award winning John Forte. For more information go here.
Monthly Archives: October 2009
A Rewarding Halloween At The Brewery
If you’re planning on getting started early on All Hallows Eve, why not begin at The Brooklyn Brewery. In addition to our normally scheduled tours (1pm, 2pm, 3pm & 4pm) and $4 beers, we’ll be giving away delicious prizes for the following costume categories:
- Best In Show
- Brooklyn-centric
- Scariest
- Trashiest
Alright? Brooklyn, seriously. Get it together and come on out to The Brewery for some refreshing beer and good ole fashioned fun.
The Scoop On Our Grant And Forthcoming Brewery Expansion
Brooklyn Brewery receives state funds
Plans to expand, add jobs and green technology
By Stephen Witt
Monday, October 26, 2009 9:14 AM EDT
The bootlegging barons of the prohibition era must be smiling in their graves.
The state government last week awarded $800,000 to the Brooklyn Brewery to jump-start their $6.5 million expansion in Williamsburg.
The company, along with its signature Brooklyn brands of ale, lager and beer, is converting 13,500 square feet of vacant distribution space into a beer fermentation facility, and increasing brewing capacity from 8,000 to 50,000 barrels per year.
The plant is located at 79 North 11th Street.
The grant came from a competitive process, yielding a total first-round $7.8 million that will eventually total $35 million to revitalize the downstate area, and grow the job and tax base.
Municipalities, non-profits and businesses receiving the money also had to provide an ecological or green compnonent in their application.
“We are grateful to Governor Paterson and Empire State Development for this grant from the Downstate Revitalization Fund,” said Brooklyn Brewery Founder and President Steve Hindy. “Support like this is vital to growing manufacturing jobs in New York City. These funds will enable us to complete a six-fold capacity expansion, adding 15 full-time jobs with benefits, and further expanding the Brewery’s green initiatives.”
Garrett Is Guest Contributor At NoTakeOut.com This Week
If you’re like me then you don’t think about what’s for dinner until about 5 minutes before you call up for delivery. Certainly, the instant gratification that comes with having New York City’s multitude of delivery options is nothing to sneeze at. But it’s not the healthiest, is it. And it probably doesn’t have the lasting rewards that cooking your own meal provides. NoTakeOut.com aims to encourage folks to cook seasonal, fresh foods without having to do a lot of resesarch and prethought on the matter. Every day, NoTakeOut.com publishes a new menu and shopping list, minimizing your excuse for once again ordering a pizza.
This week, our very own Garrett Oliver has sent over beer pairings for each of their meals. Check them out today’s here.
Gov. Paterson Grants Brooklyn Brewery $800k for Brewery Expansion
Founder, Steve Hindy, GM Eric Ottaway and myself took a rewarding trip down the road to the Brooklyn Navy Yards, this morning. Governor David Paterson, Borough President Marty Markowitz and a host of other government leaders were on hand to dole out $7.8 million in Downstate Revitilazation Funds to various New York City small businesses, including $800,000 for The Brooklyn Brewery.
When asked to speak, Steve said, “As a small business owner, I watched with dismay as the federal government bailed out the big banks that were ‘too big to fail’ with hundreds of billions of dollars. Small business owners wake up every morning painfully aware that they are NOT ‘too big to fail.’ We are grateful that Governor Paterson, the NY Legislature and NY Economic Development Corp are awarding this grant to the Brooklyn Brewery. We are just starting a $6.5 million expansion that will increase our brewing capacity in Brooklyn by six times. The NY stimulus money will enable us to employ some green technologies, like solar panels, that we otherwise could not afford.”
Thank you, New York!
–Ben Hudson
Our Favorite Farmer Gets His Due
For the last year, Queens County Farm Director Michael Robertson has been dropping by the Brewery to pick up our spent grain to feed his animals with. He’s also been busy revitalizing the longest continually operating farm in New York. We’ve had fun collaborating with the farm on a couple events like the Fourth of July pig roast and campout. Look out for more Brooklyn Brewery events with the Queens County Farm and check out the New York Post go ga-ga for Micheal below.
From The New York Post
Hot for farmer!
City boasts bumper crop of urban agrarians
By CARLA SPARTOS
EATING local was never so appealing.
At a harvest dinner at the Queens County Farm Museum last month, several topics dominated the evening’s conversation: the quaintness of the candlelit barn, the deliciousness of the fresh-from-the-henhouse eggs and — perhaps most discussed — the hotness of the farmer responsible for all the bounty.
Meet Michael Grady Robertson — New York City farmer and the best thing to happen to the local organic movement since Whole Foods opened a beer room on Houston Street.
“He looks like Brad Pitt,” coos one young woman who’s married to a chef at a popular downtown restaurant.
Farmer Michael Grady Robertson has helped make over the Queens County Farm Museum. Since joining the Queens County Farm Museum last year, Robertson, 35, has been garnering lots of attention — and not just for his looks.
“Yes, he’s young and goodlooking and happens to be a pleasant guy that’s fun to hang out with. But he’s also interested in the history of farming [and] farming as an artisan craft,” says chef Daniel Holzman, who, along with former “Top Chef” contestant Camille Becerra, helped prepare last month’s feast showcasing citygrown grub.
Long a destination for gradeschool field-trippers from Queens and Long Island, the Queens County Farm Museum has been attracting a whole new demographic under Robertson’s watch thanks to sold-out harvest dinners, weekend cookouts and a Friday farm stand at the Union Square Greenmarket. (There’s also an on-premises farm stand selling eggs, produce and pork, open Wednesday to Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. through Oct. 31.)
“It’s really exciting to tell people about what we do out here,” says Robertson, who has been instrumental in transforming what was once a slightly hokey museum into a bona fide working farm with major plans for expansion. “There’s still a pretty big part of the population in the city that doesn’t know what we do — that we have livestock, an organic vegetable garden and that we’re a part of the community.”
Seriously, who’d have guessed there was such a lovely green oasis tucked among the condo developments of Floral Park?
“He seems to be putting them on the map for a lot of people [but] it also could just be the zeitgeist. Local food and urban farming is all the rage . . . He probably comes at a very good moment,” says Ben Hudson, marketing manager of Brooklyn Brewery, which has partnered with the farm for events like a Labor Day weekend campout complete with kegs and chicken barbecue. (The brewery also supplies the farm’s heritage pigs with spent brew grains to eat.)
In other words, if it seems like a stretch to have a farmer in NewYork, it’s not.
Since 1980, CMJ has ushered thousands of bands to New York City every Fall for their Music Marathon. Here at the Brewery we’re psyched to welcome the new-music festival into our own home as well as to the brand spanking new Knitting Factory, down the street here in Williamsburg. See details below. CMJ Badgeholder Happy Hour @ The Brooklyn Brewery, Friday, Oct 23, 4pm – 6pm The AV Club Day Party @ The Knitting Factory, Saturday, Oct 24, Noon. FREE. Not to brag (okay, to brag), but Brooklyn Brewery has a long history (stretching back to 1988) of helping to support those organizations that improve the lives of our community in New York and beyond. A new friend of The Brewery, Acumen, has an exciting mission aimed at using entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty. Checkout the video above of a fundraiser we teamed up with them on. From AcumenFund.org On July 30, 2009, Young Professionals for Acumen Fund (now New York for Acumen (NYfA), Acumen’s official New York volunteer chapter) partnered with the Nuru Project on DIGNITY: a photo auction and benefit for Acumen Fund. The event was planned in a 2-month period by over 40 volunteers. 30 prints were donated by renowned photographers for the event. $25,000 was raised on the evening. To get involved, visit http://community.acumenfund.org To learn more about Nuru Project, visit http://www.nuruproject.org Brewmaster Garrett Oliver will be on hand for the six-course event Chai’s Lounge & Tapas (462 King Street) announced an upcoming beer dinner with a very special guest. On Tues. Oct. 20 at 6 p.m., The Brooklyn Brewery’s longtime brewmaster Garrett Oliver — an authority in the United States on the subject of traditional beer and an acclaimed celebrity in the craft beer world — will be on hand to personally present six of his brewery’s lagers and ales with a six-course feast prepared by Executive Chef Derek Falta. Oliver is the author of The Brewmaster’s Table and an avid and lecturer. He regularly hosts beer tastings and dinners, and he’s internationally recognized as an expert on traditional beer styles and their affinity with good food. In a recent summer issue, All About Beer magazine described Oliver as “the Beau Brummel of the brewing community … best known for bringing media attention to the pairing of beer and food.” The menu, posted on the Brooklyn Brewery site, looks quite rich and colorful. Appetizers of pâté, pickled carrots, cucumbers, and “maple chicken lollipops” are paired with the Brooklyn Lager. Shrimp dumplings with two sauces come served with the Brooklyn Sorachi Ace. Spicy sweet potato bisque with buttermilk marinated cornmeal oysters accompany the Brooklyn East India Pale Ale. The main courses include wreckfish and blue crab succotash with the strong Brooklyn Local, and braised pork belly in pumpkin with collard greens and jalapeño corn bread with the popular Brooklyn Brown Ale. The dessert course features chocolate bread pudding with coffee ice cream alongside the mighty Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout. Reservations are available for $65 per person (plus tax and tip). Limited space is available. Tags: Beer, Dinners, Brooklyn Brewery, Chai’s, Chai’s Lounge & TapasBrooklyn Brewery & CMJ Form Supergroup
We’re opening our Friday Happy Hour early for the rock fiends who have gotten the Music Marathon badge. Special acoustic performances by Brooklyn bands, La Strada and Drink Up Buttercup. Free admission for badge-holders. The first 150 badge-holders receive a complimentary beer.
We’re teaming up with the purveyors of cultural knowledge and criticism over at AV Club NY for some afternoon music and day drinking at The Knitting Factory. If you haven’t been to KF’s new space, this Saturday will be an excellent opportunity to get your first taste of their great new space.
Some words about the music from The A.V. Club:
Frontman Rick Froberg sounds reenergized on I Blame You, the Sub Pop debut by his new group, Obits. The fact remains, though, that Obits sounds a hell of a lot like the bands that made Froberg so loved by angry nerds worldwide: Drive Like Jehu and Hot Snakes. Of course, that’s a good thing—especially when guitarist Sohrab Habibion of the underrated ’90s post-hardcore outfit Edsel is along for the ride.Another Delicious Baked With Beer Concoction From @MisoHungry
NYC Group, Acumen, Raises $25k To Fight Global Poverty
Brooklyn Beer Dinner in Charleston, S.C.
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