Shacktoberfest 2011

Last Friday, CT and I decided to head down to Madison Square Park for dinner. We enjoyed the latest incarnation of Mad. Sq. Eats. and wanted to try some more delicious foods that we didn’t get a chance to on our last visit. We also wanted to check out this year’s Shacktoberfest at Shake Shack. Quite the conundrum… not really since we could do BOTH! Unfortunately MSE has become too popular so it was quite hard to walk around, let alone try to get seating. However, we did end up getting a delicious Cheddar Truffle pretzel from Sigmund’s to tide [...]

Earth Bread + Brewery: Philadelphia

Some towns are simply beer-drinking towns. There may not be much else to the place, but there’s almost no way to avoid finding a good beer in most every corner pub or divey-looking bar. I kinda feel that way about Philadelphia. Sure, the cheesesteaks and roast pork are phenomenal, but I just feel… dirty in most of the city. But I keep going back, to join friends in afternoons and evenings of eating and imbibing at our favorite establishments. Earth Bread + Brewery, located in Mount Airy, surely stands above all others with my drinking friends and I from New [...]

Blue Point Oktoberfest

After a bit of a departure the last few weeks, I’ve returned home for this week’s beer of choice. Plus, it’s finally autumn, so why not start reviewing a favorite beer style of the season? Straight out of Patchogue, on Long Island, Blue Point brewery has been bringing beer to me in New York City for well over a decade. I shamefully admit I’ve never tried their fall seasonal Oktoberfest till this week, and I present it to you this first October Friday. I remember Blue Point for its excellent, malty Toasted Lager and a strikingly bitter pale ale, with [...]

Bell’s Oarsman Ale

Quite a number of beer styles have been brought back from the brink of extinction in the last few decades. Belgian Witbier, for example, would possibly be a footnote in history if it weren’t for Pierre Celis’ efforts in creating his eponymous brewery in Texas; now there are scores of American versions, both good (hello, Ommegang Witte) and mediocre (sorry, Blue Moon). Porter had almost disappeared as well, but craft brewers here kept it alive as a style, and it’s firmly cemented once again. The important part is that the style wasn’t allowed to die. Today’s beer style had merely [...]

Sunswick 35/35

I’m not in Queens very often, and when I am it’s typically food- or beverage-related. So when I can combine the two, well, heck, why not, right? One place that doesn’t let me down has a rather easy address to remember, and it’s easy to find its corner of Astoria. Sunswick 35/35 is situated at the corner of 35th Avenue and 35th Street, just a few short blocks from the subway. If it looks dark inside, that’s because it is; I apologize in advance for less-than-stellar photographs as a result. Rotating up to 25 taps, Sunswick is generally regarded as [...]

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