Went to a retailer's beer tasting the other night with new lady love (shiny!) and another bartender from the restaurant she manages.
First we stopped off at a decent BBQ joint in Bayshore named Smokin' Als to line our stomachs. I had the St. Louie Ribs and they were just ok. The chili, however, was fantastic. Real smoky (how did they do that?) with chunks of chorizo in it. Delicious! The rest of the stuff was just decent. Nothing to write home about.
We then proceeded to the beer tasting. Only restaurateurs, bar owners and beer distributors and their guests were invited. Got to meet a lot of interesting folks whose main interests were beer, beer and more beer. My kind of people.
There was one guy from Arcadia Ales somewhere in the Mid-West who had a fabu selection of English-style beers. His Double IPA (with a picture of The Green Man on the front) was terrific as was his Scottish Ale and London Porter.
I'm going to screw up the name of this one, but Unibroue (sounds like Uni-brow?) from Canada also was a hit with our crew. They make La Fin Du Monde and Maudite, so some of you may know of them. Great stuff! So were all the beers from Ommegang Brewery in upstate NY. They are owned by Duvel in Belgium and they make all high-quality Belgian-style beers. Our favorite was a Grand Cru (actually made by Duvel) that was of the Flemish sour variety. Awesome!
There was also this great, light, crisp pilsner from the Czech Republic called BurgerBrau. I could see sitting down and drinking 3 or 10 of them one hot afternoon. Let's not forget PBR. That's right...Pabst Blue Ribbon, bee-yatches! They represented as well. Our friend, Brett, got the coolest PBR wristband you ever saw from the sales rep. I'm jealous to death!
We ended up with a decent buzz and a ton of free swag including about two cases of various beers. Sweet! I so dig dating a beer goddess!
6 comments:
My guess...liquid smoke. It's a strange thing really. We had it once at the restaurant I work at for a feature called the Smokey New York (10oz striploin). Apparently it's edible even though it came with it's own WHMIS sheet (Workplace Harzardous Materials Information System).
And La Fin du Monde and Maudite! I didn't think they'd sell Quebec beer in the States. I haven't had that beer in a dog's age. The labels kill me though. Particularily Maudite. It's about the closest thing to a warning you're going to find on a booze label. Here's the meaning...
"Maudite has a typically Quebecois name that is reminiscent of the legend of the Chasse-Galerie (the legend of the Flying Canoe). Legend has it that a group of lumberjacks struck a deal with the devil to fly home in their canoes, guided by Satan himself, to make it home in time for Christmas."
wow, you finally made it to smokin' al's! Thanks for calling me, DICK!
i've been there a few times.... it's pretty good. Is the cute hostess who's on the website still working there? She is a real hoot to chat with..
glad to hear you had a good time in NYC... i like the nickname you decided on (shiny!) - shall i ask where that came from?? too cute!
so i quickly read through some of your little blog entries and realized that i am yet to make an "appearance" in any of them. i even noticed my bro got props even though he's from friggin' jersey! unfair!
take care of this...
:):)
Ahhhh...discochic stories! Where would I begin?
Gonna have to do some miind editing here and share with the rest of the blog community.
Have fun at Emily's b-day party! I'm sick...sniffle.
Soup. Soup and no beer. Then you will be good as new - and shiny too.
Feeling better today...may have to go out for MNF for a few. Hehehe.
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