Craft Contagion: Our Beer of the Week Comes From an Infectious Microbrewery

Barrier Brewing Company

In this column, we’re highlighting a local-ish beer worth drinking right now. Care for another sip? Check out our A Beer In The Headlights archives.

It’s damn near impossible to go online or turn on the nightly news these days without being bombarded by the same alarming headlines. Many might find it unsettling that we are unable to do anything to contain it, but like it or not: Barrier Brewing Company is here to stay.

The infectious microbrewery based out of Oceanside, Long Island, has stirred a fever amongst craft enthusiasts since opening in June of 2010. Undoubtedly, you would have already seen an outbreak of its unique brews within the watering holes of the city if not for one significant setback named Sandy. Nearly two years ago, the superstorm ravished the brewery, filling the facility with over four feet of saltwater surge.

After an outpouring of hot burning love from neighbors — $29,000 in relief was provided by a collaborative charity brew, named Surge Protector IPA — Barrier is back and stronger than ever. In fact, it’s more than willing to smother you in its own Hot Burning Love; it’s a 5.4 percent chili amber ale, brewed with fresh peppers, available in 22 ounce bottles.

Still, as sensationalized media reminds us, chances of encountering Barrier these days is extremely minimal. With a relatively small operation, areas affected by its distribution remain scant. There are several precautions you can take, however, to ensure safe consumption. The most direct path is the one that leads to their tasting room, conveniently served by the Long Beach branch of the LIRR. Open from Wednesday to Sunday, you can sample up to 10 selections on tap. Find your favorite and fill a 64 ounce growler to take home and spread among your unsuspecting friends and family. The brewery’s Lime Disease, for one, is difficult to resist. An extra pale ale brewed with actually limes, it has citrusy tang to humble those high-alpha hops.

But if Nassau just isn’t your thing, there are consistent Barrier sightings around town. Frequently on tap at the Pony Bar in the Upper East Side, and at Bierkraft in Park Slope, six-packs have also been reported at outposts as dependable as the Whole Foods on Houston. Expect to see more soon, Barrier is downright contagious.

Originally published in The Village Voice

Find more on twitter: @braphe

SF Craft Beer Festival Comes to Fort Mason This Weekend

• SF Craft Beer Festival Comes to Fort Mason

It’s always a great day to be a craft beer enthusiast in San Francisco. But Saturday, Oct. 18th, is an exceptionally awesome one for suds in the city. It’s the debut of the SF Craft Beer Festival at the Fort Mason Center and with an emphasis on regional breweries and fall-inspired expressions, the organizers hope to make it the event of the season.

Nowadays it seems as if every weekend offers some variation of a beer-centric festival—not that there’s anything wrong with that. But the folks responsible for Saturday’s two-session extravaganza have taken notable measures to distinguish themselves from the rest. Ken Weaver was tasked with curating a collection of 75 breweries and he’s certainly the fella for the job. Weaver is editor-in-chief of Rate Beer — the internet’s most visited site for malt hops and yeast — and also wrote the book on Northern California craft beer, literally. Or at least a book on the subject. His focus has been on bringing in regional standouts from smaller producers.

“I’m very much looking forward to showcasing some of our favorite breweries from The Northern California Craft Beer Guide: lesser-known spots like Dust Bowl, High Water, and Knee Deep,” says Weaver. “It’s been great to see [these] breweries growing — ditto for spots like Magnolia, Drake’s, and Heretic — and the goal is to just bring in a ton of those top-tier breweries and their most interesting releases.”

Just because they haven’t risen to mainstream prominence, however, doesn’t mean these upstarts have escaped the admiration of the cognoscenti. High Water, for example, recently took home gold at the Great American Beer Festival for their sensational Campfire Stout. Brewed with the ingredients of s’mores, it is quite simply one of the tastiest specialty beers on the market today. Knee Deep medaled last year at GABF with their Belgo Hoptologist, a hybrid infusing Belgian yeasts with the typical West Coast-style IPA. Speak to any self-respecting ale aficionado in the Bay and they’re almost certain to be well-versed in both brews.

And while uniquely flavored offerings such as these will flow readily from the tap, attendees on Saturday can also quench their thirst for knowledge with a series of locally-themed seminars and mini-tastings. Beerbybart.com’s Gail Ann Williams, for one, leads a discussion on sour beers. Certified cicerones will delve into sensory specifics, zeroing in on the nuances between taste versus flavor; what enters the nose, after all, profoundly affects what tickles the tongue. These enhanced experiences help make SF Craft Beer Festival more comprehensive than your standard beer pouring. They’re also sure to make the passionate devotees geek out — for lack of a better term.

• Craft Beer Seminars

Hand Crafted Tasting, the company responsible for producing the event, has assembled similar events in New York and D.C. with continued success. Saturday marks their first foray into the Bay. $55 tickets include admittance to one of two 150-minute sessions. The first is from 2-4:30 p.m., the second, from 7-9:30 p.m. Also included is a souvenir tasting glass, as well as full access to all the educational seminars. An additional $20 affords you VIP status, with an extra hour of drinking prior to either session. For a complete list of participating breweries, as well as ticketing information, check out their website.

Originally published in SF Weekly

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Here’s How to Win the Beer Lottery

• Tysun McMullan

Each year Kern River Brewing Company, out of Kernville, releases an extremely limited supply of their coveted Citra Double IPA. Consistently ranked as one of the premiere hop-heavy ales on the planet, the beer rarely makes it down to Los Angeles, and barely lasts longer than a few scant hours when it does. But this week, KRBC is offering a special lottery between now and Monday, Oct. 20.

• Kern River Brewing Company
• KRBC Brewpub in Kernville, CA

Entry is free thru this site, which includes all the details. Basically, you’re vying for the chance to buy 6 22-oz. bottles of the golden libation. Valued at $8 per bomber, plus tax and ticket fees, winners will be set back roughly $54 a head — a small price to pay for a beer that folks regularly line up for several hours to sample.

The lottery is free, so you literally have nothing to lose, but remember that you can only enter once. Trying to game the system is a surefire way to get shut out of the Citra sweepstakes.

Another important note: Winners will have to make their way up to the Kernville brewpub between Nov. 7 and 16 to pick up the bottles themselves. No exceptions, and they even advise you to stay out of the lottery if you’re not willing to make the roughly 2.5 hour trek from the heart of LA. Even worse, if you don’t make it up there, your bottles will be forfeited and that $54 is theirs to keep.

Seems like an audacious laundry list of stipulations, but not when you consider the object of all this affection. Citra, named for the hop varietal it’s built around, is a balanced gem. 8% in ABV, it goes down with merciless smoothness — with luscious mouthfeel and tropical aromatics dominating its alluring bouquet. And the finish, oh that finish. It’s a surreal blend of crisp dryness and resiny bitterness that will hypnotize your palate long after it vanishes from the bottle.

The clock is ticking on this rare opportunity. Hop to it.

Originally published in LA Weekly

Find more on twitter: @braphe

Herradura Scotch Cask-Finished Tequila Coming to L.A.

Scotch, meet tequila. Tequila, scotch. Things are about to get awesome. Later today, Herradura announces the release of its Colección de la Casa, Reserva. It’s a wordy title for the annual small-batch series, of which no more than 14,000 bottles are produced. The 2014 edition is an 80 proof reposado finished for two months in whiskey barrels from the Highland and Islay regions of Scotland.

A taste of the expertly crafted spirit reveals an ideal melding of styles. Herradura received wet casks from the (unnamed) whiskey distilleries, meaning that the essence of the scotch was still vibrant within. All it took was a mere 60 days for those unmistakable characteristics of oak, vanilla and peat to incorporate themselves into the smooth, vegetal notes of the fermented agave. In short, the Reserva is immediately recognizable on the palate as a tequila, but it finishes very much like a full-flavored scotch.

This particular expression is of note, as it could serve as an entry point for tequila enthusiasts interested in exploring the wide world of single-malt. Experimentation comes at a premium, however, as limited-edition bottles are set to retail at $89.99.

The third release in the Colección de la Casa line was informed by the palate of Herradura’s own Maria Teresa Lara — the world’s only female Master Distiller of tequila. A small allotment will make its way to Los Angeles, available at BevMo, Total Wine and Hi Times, by the end of October.

David Chang Gripes About Expensive Beer, Charges $100 For Fried Chicken

Clarissa Wei

This fried chicken will set you back more than $100

This week, Momofuku impresario David Chang made a splash on the internet afterpenning a column about why he loathes craft beer and its devotees. The thrust of his argument is that beer should be easy to drink, devoid of passion and flavor, and generally remedial in every manner possible. Notably, he characterizes craft beer fans as opinionated, neck-bearded slobs with far too much time on their hands to overanalyze the heritage of hops. “Beer snobs,” he claims, absent of irony, “are the worst of the bunch.” Does that bunch, I am forced to wonder, include fried chicken snobs?

For a paltry three figure sum, a New York diner can be treated to what I’m told is a delectable feast of deep-fried poultry at Chang’s popular chain of eateries strewn about the city’s countless epicenters of hipness. I’ll have to continue to rely on the word of affluent friends, however, as I’m wholly unwilling to lay down the better part of a full day’s paycheck (I’m a writer, unfortunately) to taste food specifically engineered to be as economical as the palate would allow.

In all honesty, I’m sure his gourmet-ified soul food rendition is stupendous. I just find infuriating beyond measure that a dude who made a career out of overcharging for and complicating what is supposed to be the most simple of comfort foods is now airing his grievance with a product that has become too highly elevated and pretentious for his own specific tastes. Give me a $10 pint filled with “high-brow” brew over a $100 battered bird any day. Because no matter how good that chicken might be, it ain’t gonna give you the same buzz as the IPA I’m sipping on right now. I promise you that.

So I dedicate our beer of the week to one befitting the palate and appropriate budget of Mr. Chang and his entirely egalitarian empire. With basketball and hockey season rapidly approaching, the Man of Momofuku can find solace in the spritzy, lifeless suds on tap at Madison Square Garden. There you will find the single most overpriced small pour of Budweiser in all of professional sports. Earlier this year, it was priced at just over $.77 per ounce for that lovely, flavorless fluid (that’s a $9.25 bottle) — more than $.12 more than anywhere other venue in our fine land. While that gouging is relatively insignificant relative to what you’ve managed to command for your floured, feathered fare, the point is still the same: Mr. Chang…this Bud’s for you.

Us, we’ll be sipping something better somewhere else.

Originally published in The Village Voice

Find more on twitter: @braphe

Chef Walter El Nagar On His Upcoming Restaurant Barberia

• Walter el Nagar
• chef Walter el Nagar

To tell the full story of how chef Walter el Nagar found success in Los Angeles requires access to a world atlas. The abbreviated version: After bouncing around from kitchens in Italy, Norway, Mexico and here in this town with his Barbershop pop-up, el Nagar officially settled down in August after announcing he had teamed up with Adam Fleischman’s AdVantage Restaurant Partners to start Barberia. The brick-and-mortar is scheduled to open in DTLA by spring 2015.

It was an improbable collaboration, considering the duo’s first encounter. According to el Nagar, Fleischman made reservations at his Abbot Kinney pop-up and cancelled last minute. “That little accident put everything in motion — and here we are, a step away from having our first restaurant together.” All’s well that ends well, and as recent pop-up previews of Barberia suggest, it appears as though this story has a happy (and tasty) ending. El Nagar shared a few words about his nomadic journey and what to expect at his new, permanent address.

• Walter el Nagar
• el Nagar’s uni sponge

Squid Ink: What initially attracted you to the pop-up concept?

Walter el Nagar: I decided that it was best to try to open something on my own than to try to change all the bad behaviors in the Italian restaurants in town. For me it was difficult to deal with chefs using heavy cream to finish a risotto, for example. Or restaurateurs that accept precooked pizzas on the menu.

The final goal of the pop-up is to get the chance to experiment and do things your way, with no commitment to anybody besides you. It’s great and painful at the same time. But you also get a lot of visibility among potential costumers, investors, press, etc. With Mario Vollera now successfully running his popular pizza joint in Venice [Southend], I started the Barbershop restaurant pop-up series. We have been the first Italians to do something like it in the States.

SI: What can we expect at Barberia?

WEN: Barberia is a space for creation, a space of familiarity and surprise, a space scented with new odors and amazing flavors. A countertop facing an open kitchen, an interchange of knowledge between costumers and cooks, craftsmanship showcased in front of your eyes. My ultimate goal with this project is to create a world class Italian restaurant, a destination to come celebrate food and culture. Not too seriously, but rather ironically and joyfully. Lots of seafood and pasta too.

SI: One dish that strikes me as particularly inventive is your “uni sponge.” Can you describe it for us?

WEN: There is a concentrated tomato broth on the bottom, then a “1-minute” sponge cake made with Santa Barbara uni, which is deep frozen in liquid nitrogen, then steeped in uni cream. First you eat the frozen uni and then wash everything down with the tomatoe water! Fresh, ocean-y and delicious.

SI: What makes your approach to cooking unique?

WEN: Respect. For myself, for the people that work with me, for the costumers, for the ingredients, for tradition and innovation. That is what I think makes my approach with food different from most of the Italian restaurants in town. I don’t consider it bravery to serve contemporary Italian food in L.A.

SI: Because diners here tend to be more adventurous these days?

WEN: L.A. is a perfect place to open a modern restaurant because it’s a multicultural melting — the abundance of different flavors and all the influences you can blend in your own cuisine.

SI: What are some of those blends you’re currently working with?

WEN: I definitely appreciate Mexican, but I already chose what to discover next: African flavors, starting from [L.A.’s] Little Ethiopia.

SI: How are you able to convey your own discoveries and experiences to the folks you cook for?

WEN: It may be difficult and will take a little longer to explain, but it makes way more sense than serving outdated dishes. Italy has changed in the last 30 years. Now we have so many incredible chefs providing us with great examples of ways to reinterpret our culinary heritage: I chose to follow them.

• el Nagar’s linguine alle vongole

 

Originally published in LA Weekly

Find more on twitter: @braphe

10 Best Negroni Cocktails To Try In Los Angeles

 

The Original Gangster at Fishing with Dynamite

The Negroni is hardly a new concoction: An Italian-import invented nearly a century ago, it’s been a bartender’s mainstay for nearly as long. And in recent years, as the American palate has gone more in the direction of bitter cocktails, the Campari-laced drink has enjoyed a rise in prominence. But contemporary bartenders are always looking for what’s next, beyond the textbook, gin-based Negroni. An exploration of some of the city’s forward-thinking bar menus reveals a number of noteworthy tweaks on the familiar classic. 

Negroni Three Ways #3 at Three Clubs

10. Negroni Three Ways #3 
One of the most sensible variations on the Negroni involves subbing the juniper-imbued essence of gin for another equally-pungent botanical: agave. At Three Clubs in Hollywood, bartender Michael Neff harnesses the vegetal tang of Suerte Tequila Blanco as a base for his Negroni Three Ways #3. As an added twist, he also enlivens the drink with a splash of grapefruit juice, a natural accomplice to Campari’s unrelenting bitterness. 1123 Vine St, Hollywood; (323) 462-6441.

The Oaxacan Negroni at NEAT

9. Oaxacan Negroni 
For a full-flavored smoke monster, head to Neat Bar in Glendale, where Aidan Demarest is infusing his drink with Mescal. Named for the Mexican region responsible for it, the Oaxacan Negroni sticks to the classic recipe — save for the smoked agave spirit where the gin would normally be. There is profound satisfaction to be found at the intersection of smoke and bitter. Mescal imparts such an overbearing flavor, it’s a testament to the power of Campari that it actually can compete for attention on the palate here. 1114 N Pacific Ave, Glendale; (818) 241-4542.

Lambretta No. 2 from Big Bar

8. Lambretta No. 2
Bartender Aaron Alvarez cuts a gentler tack at Big Bar. His Lambretta No. 2 relies on Lillet Rosé and a touch of orange juice for a gentle, floral finish. Not nearly as strong as some of its liquor-heavy counterparts, it’s criminally refreshing, particularly as a respite from 90+ degree heat. 1929 Hillhurst Ave, Los Feliz; (323) 644-0100.

Carioca Negroni at Copper Still

7. Carioca Negroni
Another quenching rendition, exotic and yet somehow familiar, is the Carioca Negroni — fashioned by Nancy Kwon at Copper Still. Her offering supplants the gin and the Campari with Avua Prata Cachaca and Luxardo Bitter, respectively. It’s a significant departure, to be sure, but it stays close enough to the trodden trail of the original to warrant the name in its title. 4493 Beverly Blvd, Mid-Wilshire; 323-661-1985.

Outsider at City Tavern

6. The Outsider
At City Tavern, the clientele is so fond of off-centered Negronis that bartender Ryan Hughes maintains two “FrankeNegronis” as permanent menu fixtures. The Outsider, built around Nolet’s Silver Gin, is armed with an herbaceous blast thanks to the addition of Fernet Branca and Cardamaro — a digestif made with cardoon and blessed thistle. If that seems too off-the-rails, Hughes has something to appease even the traditionalists, not to mention the altruists. I Love Boobies begins life as a classic Negroni before being spruced up with a 1/4 oz. of Georgia Peach Shrub. Its PG-13 moniker is a nod to the Keep-A-Breast foundation, which raises awareness for early detection and prevention of breast cancer. A dollar from each cocktail sold goes to the fund. No matter how you take your Negroni, everyone enjoys drinking for a good cause. 9739 Culver Blvd, Culver City; (310) 838-9739.

White Negroni at Son of a Gun

5. White Negroni
The bar at Son of a Gun is one of the only places in America still serving Suze, an aromatic French aperitif with an Old World flair. Beverage Director Helen Johannesen wraps her Negroni variation in its warm, floral embrace, omitting the Campari. The result is a delicate sipper that initially evokes a Vesper, but finishes with slightly more bitterness. 8370 W. 3rd St, Melrose; 323-782-9033.

The Original Gangster at Fishing with Dynamite

4. Original Gangster
It’s lineage predates the Negroni, yet the Boulevardier is commonly mistaken as a Negroni variation. It’s an easy error to make, considering that the recipe is identical, save for the bourbon standing in for gin. Although the Original Gangster at Fishing with Dynamiteis technically a twist on the Boulevardier — using White Dog whiskey — it exists very much like a grittier Negroni. It’s an alluring, dynamic drink with the placid sweetness of Aperol tamed by a few dashes of grapefruit bitters. 1148 Manhattan Ave, Manhattan Beach; (310) 893-6299.

The Components of a Genever Garner

3. Genever Garner
The Dutch spirit of Genever inspired the English to invent gin. Using it as a replacement in a Negroni brings the evolution full circle at Harlowe Bar, where barkeep Chris Amirault mixes up this malty cocktail with a playful name. He incorporates a distinct style of vermouth known as Cocchi Torino; it brings a touch of chocolate tones into the background, which are intensified by a pinch of salt. Easily the most savory Negroni sendup in the city. 7321 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood; (323) 876-5839.

The Smoky Negroni at Hakkasan in Beverly Hills

2. Smoky Negroni
The bar staff at Hakkasan takes their Negroni to the next level by introducing smoke into the mix — literally. Using a device known as the “smoking gun,” actual  smoke from Grand Marnier-soaked wood chips is blown into a decanter containing the cocktail, before it’s sealed shut. As it makes the journey from bar to table, the liquid is imbued with the smoke — and the nostalgia of sitting around a childhood campfire. Each sip, smoky in the nose, bitter on the tongue, evokes a memory. 233 N Beverly Dr, Beverly Hills; (310) 888-8661.

The Makings of a Harajuku Cocktail at Hinoki & the Bird

1. Harajuku
When it comes to modern takes on the Negroni, Hinoki & the Bird flies high above the rest, devoting an entire section of their menu to tweaked offerings. Although head mixologist Brandyn Tepper’s rum-based Kingston is worthy of significant praise, his Harajuku wears the crown as the city’s best alternative Negroni. Built around Japanese single malt whiskey and Byrrh — a 19th Century French aperitif recently reintroduced to the States for the first time since pre-prohibition — the balanced drink finishes with a hint something else. It’s the chocolate mole bitters, which meld effortlessly with the exotic florals of Gran Classico. The only drawback? One is simply not enough. 10 W. Century Drive, Century City; 310-552-1200.

 

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Zwanze Day Arrives in New York

 

It’s here. It’s beer. It happens once a year. This Saturday, September 20, marks the release of the venerable Zwanze. And although it sounds like some sort of infectious disease to be desperately avoided, craft beer connoisseurs line up by the thousands to experience this rare Belgian lambic produced annually at the legendary Cantillon Brewery on the outskirts of Brussels. A sort of Halley’s Comet for the craft community, it makes a brief appearance at only a handful of select bars across the globe, flashing brilliantly before vanishing as quickly as it came. Tapping at just 23 locations in the United States, New Yorkers are fortunate enough to have two options for tomorrow’s big day: Alewife in Long Island City and Spuyten Duyvil in Williamsburg.

Here’s a quick bit of background for the uninitiated: Founded in 1900, Cantillon Brewery remains the world’s preeminent source of lambic — a sour style of beer, made by way of open-air fermentation, oak-aging, and meticulous blending. Traditional beer relies upon domesticated yeast in a closed system to maintain consistency; all of the major variables are tightly controlled. With lambic production, fermentation occurs spontaneously, using whatever organisms are available in the air at the time. This results in a liquid that is typically tart, and somewhat unpredictable from batch to batch. To keep the flavor in line, master blenders combine one- to three-year-old vintages that have been aging in oak, before bottling the mixture in a process not unlike the Méthode Champenoise used to make Champagne. The bottles are then stored for a year, as the active yeasts inside continue the magical alchemy known as conditioning.

If you’re still reading this, then you are precisely the type of person that might consider queuing up on a Saturday morning for the opportunity to imbibe a precious brew which isn’t even tapped until 3 p.m. But amazing things come to those who wait, and there’s a compelling case to be made for patience here.

Zwanze Day launched in 2008, when fourth generation Cantillon brewmaster, Jean-Pierre van Roy decided to take his passion, his very birthright, and translate it into a worldwide event. He readied a very exclusive lambic, aged with rhubarb, and allotted enough to distribute kegs to two dozen of the more prestigious beer outlets peppered across the planet. To enhance and unify the global camaraderie of such a singular experience, van Roy requested a specific moment — across all time zones — for the kegs to be tapped and a universal toast to lambic to be raised. And with this simultaneous ode to spontaneous fermentation, a tradition was born.

Six years later, Zwanze Day is more popular stateside than ever before, as the American palate continues to bend towards sour suds. At the center of it all in this go-round is Cuvée Florian — a slightly bitter, gently tart offering that is of special significance to the brewmaster. With the next generation of Cantillon preparing to take charge, van Roy utilized a recipe influenced by his son. On the heels of the kid’s 18th birthday, this year’s Zwanze bears his name.

Prepping for their second straight year of participation, Alewife (5-14 51st Avenue, Queens; 718-937-7494) has opted to make the event un-ticketed. Instead, it will be available to the first 80 diehards to make it in after their 11 a.m. opening. But for everyone else, a spectacularly curated list of equally-impressive Cantillons and other assorted wild ales will be served throughout the day. Not to be outdone, Brooklyn’s Spuyten Duyvil(359 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn; 718-963-4140) boasts an equally gobsmacking array of Belgian lambics to accompany their keg of Zwanze. It’s a smaller space than Alewife, though, so your chances of making it through the door here are lowered dramatically.

Perhaps tasting the beer itself is secondary — the event is truly built around community. If you count yourself among the swelling ranks of craft beer enthusiasts, take note of the time tomorrow afternoon. At the strike of 3 p.m., regardless of what’s in your glass, raise it high to good grog. The whole world will be toasting with you.