Last week I joined The Beer Friends as a guest on their podcast to discuss a new craft beer related business path that I've started to wander down. This is going to be a dual post to announce that Beer Karma is shifting gears to become a Bottle Shop and Tasting Counter in Williamsburg Brooklyn in a family owned space and to recap some of the beers I tasted with Paul, Phil and Graham. Most details of the store are going to be revealed in the coming weeks as well as on the podcast once it is released.
As far as the recording itself, I had never met any of TBF but I had reached out to them and pitched the idea of recording a podcast in the space I plan on using for the store with the intention of them seeing it in the infant stages and then doing a follow up recording once the store was up and running. I brought a few beers with me to taste along the way and I talked about what Beer Karma has been and how I hope that experience translates to the way the store operates and influences it's success.
My lineup of beers went from super light and easy drinking to some aggressive IPAs and some funky stouts. I even made a last minute switch up because had intended up opening a bottle of Daddy Warbucks from Barrier Brewing but we had already drank quiet a bit on empty stomachs so I opted to skip it and jump right to the sour stout
Extra Dry: This is a fun new take on a saison from Stillwater Artisanal Ales brewed with sake rice. It's a bit lighter than a traditional saison but it's perfect for summer drinking. It drinks more like a crisp lager but that could have been the rice presence with a bit of spice from the saison yeast. This style is generally agreeable and this happens to be a more agreeable than most.
Fierce: Berliner Weisse's are all the rage right now and this is one of my favorite new ones. Lots of lemon from this one and tart enough that you know it's a sour but not mouth puckering. I'm glad I was able to find this sour from Off Color to have something from this genre without killing everyone's taste buds.
Who You Callin' Wussie: Stone, or Arrogant Brewing's new dry-hopped pilsner is the perfect example of where the American craft beer tastes are going. A style that is meant to be light and crisp that becomes amped up with additional dry hopping. This was tasty but definitely not the best version of a hoppy pilsner I've had to date but I was happy with the way the this one came out from Stone. Easy drinking with enough citrus hop flavors to scratch the itch of any hop head.
Double Mosaic Dream: I wanted the back end of the tasting to be local beers so I brought this heavy hitter from Other Half which lead to some good conversation about hops and how brewers are using different varieties. OH has been making great beers for the better part of two years at this point but in the last six months some of the beers they have released have been out of this world and this is definitely in that bucket.
B5: This stout fermented with brettanomyces was exactly what I needed for the last beer of the official tasting. It's definitely a strange beer being that it's a bit tart and funky but still contains the roasted coffee and chocolate notes you would expect from a stout. Definitely not a beer I would reach for every week but I've come to trust Transmitter's use of brett for funk and all of their other sour beers.
We kept it quiet on the recording but towards the end of the evening we opened a ! from Other Half which was just the cherry on top of a great lineup of beers. All in it was a great evening and I had a ton of fun recording with Paul, Phil and Graham. I look forward to seeing them all at future beer events, at the shop and anywhere else in between.