A Nine-Letter Word That Gets You Drunk
Grimm is NY's Brewery of the Year and I slip into something ruby red
Because I’m an old soul, every morning, I wake up and eagerly fire up the New York Times Crossword app to work on each day’s puzzle. But, I have a beef. Yesterday, a beer term appeared in the Times’ crossword for the very first time. The clue? “Super-hoppy craft brew.” Nine letters. Surely, this is DOUBLEIPA, right? That’s not an answer I’ve seen in the puzzle before and it’s common enough that even some teetotaling crossword solvers would get it.
Nope. It was TRIPLEIPA. DOUBLEIPA has still not appeared in the puzzle, yet TRIPLEIPA — a style I’ve seen identified as such at less than five of the two hundred and twenty breweries I’ve visited this year and a style almost never seen on supermarket shelves — has now appeared in the New York Times Crossword.
For those curious, there are other beer style names that have appeared in the Times’ crossword lately. PALEALE has been used four times since 2016. LAGER and PILSNER have each appeared just twice in that same time period. STOUT has been in the puzzle six times since 2016, but only twice in the context of beer. PORTER has appeared just once. Like DOUBLEIPA’s omission, BROWNALE, KOLSCH, GOSE, LAMBIC, and SOURBEER haven’t found their way in. But in the same five-year period, IPA has appeared thirty-one times. I guess even Times Crossword constructors are INSATIABLE ANIMALS.
Grimm named Brewery of the Year at NYS Craft Beer Competition
Brooklyn’s Grimm Artisanal Ales took home a whopping eight medals and the title of Brewery of the Year at the annual New York State Craft Beer Competition, whose winners were announced late last week at a ceremony at Big aLICe Brewing FLX in Geneva. The professionally-judged competition, now in its fifth year, awarded 87 medals in 27 categories. 182 breweries across New York State entered over 1,100 beers, with the Hazy IPA and Light Lager categories getting well over a hundred entries each.
Grimm’s wins came in six categories, including sweeping the entire Fruit & Spice Sour Beer category, in which they won all three medals. Two other New York City breweries won multiple medals in the competition. Perennial medalist and previous Brewery of the Year winner Threes Brewing took home two medals, and Gun Hill won golds in both the American IPA and Stout category. Big Alice won gold in the Barrel-Aged Sour category, extending their streak to three years winning a gold medal for a barrel-aged beer. Newcomer Wild East won a gold medal in their first year, Brooklyn won their second medal in as many years, and Queens stalwart Bridge and Tunnel won their first medal in the competition.
Here’s a rundown of the medals that New York City breweries took home:
Category 1: Wheat Beer (American, Wit, Hefe) – 45 entries
Gold: Grimm Weisse - Grimm Artisanal Ales
Category 2: Amber and Dark Lagers – 59 entries
Gold: Cross Stitch - Grimm Artisanal Ales
Category 3: Golden/Blonde Ales (American, Kolsch, Cream Ales) - 63 entries
Gold: Regional Dialekt - Threes Brewing
Category 6: American IPA – 63 entries
Gold: Gun Hill IPA - Gun Hill Brewing
Category 7: Hazy Pale Ale – 52 entries
Gold: Lumen - Grimm Artisanal Ales
Category 10: Barrel Aged Sour – 16 entries
Gold: Rule of Honor - Big Alice Brewing Company
Bronze: The Dictator Is the People - Threes Brewing
Category 12: Belgian Farmhouse – 36 entries
Gold: Tra La La - Grimm Artisanal Ales
Category 16: Fruit & Spice Beer (sour) – 88 entries
Gold: Lilt - Grimm Artisanal Ales
Silver: Gathering Tart Cherries - Grimm Artisanal Ales
Bronze: Wimmelbilder - Grimm Artisanal Ales
Category 19: Stout (non-imperial) – 35 entries
Gold: Void of Light - Gun Hill Brewing
Category 22: Kettle and Simple Sours – 24 entries
Silver: Bunny and Bear Crew Sour Porter - Bridge and Tunnel Brewery
Category 23: Wild and Sour Ales – 16 entries
Gold: Contour Interval No. 2 - Wild East Brewing Co.
Bronze: Brooklyn to Tokyo Yuzu Sour – Brooklyn Brewery
Category 25: Hazy IPA – 115 entries
Bronze: Flower Record - Grimm Artisanal Ales
Two new venues on the Brew York Beer Map
My map of beer venues in New York City has two new additions this week:
Non Sequitur Beer Project has soft-opened their taproom at their forthcoming brewery at Wilson Avenue and Flushing Avenue in Bushwick. Tomorrow night, July 23rd, they’ll host Emo Night at the taproom and pour their new IPA, It’s Not an Industry.
Jackson Heights, Queens has a new beer bar: Queens Beer Factory opened earlier this month on Northern Boulevard at 87th Street, featuring 20 taps of beer from local, regional, and international breweries and beer-friendly food with some Latin twists, like Carne Asada, Entraña with Chimichurri, and Yuca.
Someday Bar catches up with first and second anniversary
Someday Bar has had a rough go for their first two years. The bar opened the summer before the Covid-19 pandemic, carefully trying to navigate the ever-changing rules from the city and state. Owner Megan Rickerson was inspired to choose the path of activism to deal with the challenges of operating a bar during the pandemic. With the city crawling back to a new normal, Someday Bar is now catching up on some milestones. Their first anniversary came and went last summer without any fanfare, so last weekend, they celebrated with special kegs from The Bruery, Rare Barrel, Goose Island, and more.
Just one week later, like the past year and a half never happend, they’ll celebrate their second anniversary this Saturday starting at 5pm. Enjoy some very special kegs, cocktails, and food specials while you’re there. Here’s hoping the next two years will be much easier.
Brewery Tracker
Total brewery count: 2,294
New breweries in 2021: 220
Breweries visited in New York: 234
Rank of New York among all states: 2nd (1st: California, at 239)
Brewery Visit of the Week
Brewery #1946, Steuben Brewing Company, Hammondsport, New York (Visited 20-Jul-2020)
It feels like my trip to the Finger Lakes last summer was half a decade ago at this point, but I still bask in the memories of a very relaxing pandemic-era trip where I spent nearly every waking moment outdoors. Steuben Brewing was recommended to me by Jason Sahler at Strong Rope — a fellow New York farm brewery. Its setting alone made it worth the visit, with the building perched on a hillside with a deck overlooking the Keuka Lake valley. But the beer is befitting of this beautiful venue and view, with a focus on local ingredients, reaping the benefits of their location in a hotbed of agriculture.
The 60:40 Pilsner Hallertau:Saaz was my first beer here — one in a series of beers that celebrates the current New York law that requires that 60% of ingredients be sourced from New York State at breweries with a Farm Brewery license. 60% of the hops are Hallertau sourced from the Empire State, and the remaining 40% Idaho Saaz hops. The malt is similarly split between the two states. A good, clean Pilsner is hard to find, but this beer delivered, especially on a warm day with the sun beating down on the lawn behind the brewery. Speaking of Pilsners, I next moved to the Cab Franc Pils, a wine barrel aged sparkler that beat down my skepticism with delightful oaky wine notes in an otherwise crisp lager.
I wanted to spend an entire day here, and I easily could have given that several of their beers were in the 5% ABV range and most of them were even lagered. Sure, I had an IPA I enjoyed, but when you’ve got several pilsners at your disposal and a view like this one on a sunny day, what else do you really need?
Beer of the Week
Ruby Red Kolsch
Genesee Brewery (Rochester, New York)
Kolsch with Fruit Flavor
4.5% ABV
On a quick trip up to Buffalo earlier this week, I spotted this can in the cooler from across the room at Fattey Beer Company, a neat little bottle shop and bar downtown. As a rule, when I see this beer in Western New York, I have to have it. This grapefruit-flavored Kolsch is quickly becoming a summertime staple in the region in just its fourth year as the heritage brewery’s summer seasonal. It’s especially popular among beer industry folks in this neck of the woods, and for good reason: it goes down easy, it’s pretty crisp and clean, it’s cheap, and it’s downright delicious. To me, it’s simply liquid candy. Sure, adding grapefruit flavor to a Kolsch pays little respect to its German roots, apart from the Kolsch Stanges on a kranz (tray) appearing on the label. But I’ll happily take this little treat on a sidewalk in Buffalo as a substitute this summer for a Reissdorf in a brauhaus in Cologne.
Long Read of the Week
Is beer concentrate in our future? At Scientific American, Noah Lederman examines the technologies that already exist to concentrate beer to reduce carbon footprint in transit. Shipping a liquid like beer isn’t cheap nor environmentally-friendly… so this is a reminder to support your local brewery and transport their beer by foot, bike, transit, or simply directly down your gullet.
One More Thing
Anyone have any brewery recommendations in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia? Share them in the comments, if you can. I’ve been to exactly one brewery there: O’Connor Brewing in Norfolk, back in 2012 (it was brewery #107). I’ll be there this weekend, so your advice may steer my trip as it happens!
Cheers,
Chris
Happy for Grimm's wins and that they are a 10 minute walk from my place. Bridge and Tunnel doesn't get a lot of press, good people and beer. I had a nice grapefruit Kolsch at Fifth Hammer today.