Beer For Beasts
Posted in Food and Drinks on March 28th, 2011by Elizabeth
Tags: Beer
On Saturday, I attended the afternoon session of Beer for Beasts – a fundraiser for the Humane Society. It was at The Bell House in Park Slope and featured a large variety of Sixpoint beers and food from around Brooklyn.
There was a large crowd of people who were enjoying the festival, but it was not so packed that it was difficult to move around. The program provided listed the beers on tap and where they could be located. Staff members were very helpful and could answer questions and help you find what you were looking for. Although some of the beers ran out early I think it was a generally well organized and successful event.
My favorite beers were Nessie’s Revenge and Das Doppellsticke. Nessie’s Revenge is a Scottish Ale infused with distilled scotch. This was delicious and I really hope to be able to find it again. Das Doppellsticke is a wood aged double altbier. It was very rich with a nice finish.
The food was amazing and I especially enjoyed the Weisswurst & Sauerkraut on Homemade Pretzel Roll from Prime Meats and the pizza from Pizza Moto.
There was a performance by Jersey Fresh Burlesque. I’d never seen a burlesque performance before, so I was curious about what to expect. It was a lot of fun, and I had no idea anyone combined geekery and erotica outside of fan fiction.
I had a great time and I was very impressed that I got such great food and beer and entertainment for the price of my ticket – a portion of which went to charity! I will definitley be on the lookout for Sixpoint beers from now on and a trip to Pizza Moto is probably in my future as well.
March 28th, 2011 at 9:04 am
gotta love sixpoint!
I really enjoyed the Mexican Lager one, it was very similar to a more flavorful Corona, and the beer brewed with Hawaiian Punch was pretty tasty as well.
March 29th, 2011 at 10:38 am
I went to the afternoon session as well – the food was great, and the pouring portions were generous (perhaps too generous, I’m used to 2 oz. tastings) and burlesque? No complaints there.
My issue was with the “exclusive” beers, which seemed a little too wildly experimental. For a company of Sixpoint’s size, releasing 2 or 3 new beers in a year would be a feat – so how did they come up with 12+ new beers for this event? I suspect that they were actually trying out some experimental beers made in small batches – note that the program listed which Sixpoint employee thought up each new beer. I think we were “guinea pigs” in an inter-company competition.
And did they “run out” of these beers, or just stop pouring them an hour early? I bet they were saving some for the evening session – in which case, maybe they shouldn’t have filled the cups so much in the afternoon. Either way, it’s a bit of poor planning, or else they oversold the event.
I left an hour early, since most of the taps were shut off. It turned out to be a smart move – as a beer festival veteran, I just see a couple ways that the event could have been planned a little better. Hopefully next year they work out some of the kinks.
March 29th, 2011 at 7:39 pm
Hi John! If I recall correctly, the cups had a two ounce line on them. Some of my pours were up to the line and some were to the brim of the cup.
I thought it was really fascinating that they were trying so many different things. The Knockout Punch, for example, wasn’t my favorite but I can’t say I’ve ever tasted anything else quite like it. It made me think about all the possibilities that craft beer has, and I felt really excited about being there to experience it. I guess that’s what it means to be an enthusiast, or geek if you prefer. My friends and I were wondering if they had partnered with even smaller brewers/breweries to come up with the variety that they offered.
I believe this was Beer Advocate’s first even in the New York area, so they might be getting into the swing of things. I agree that they could have been a little more organized when it came to crowd control but it wouldn’t stop me from attending another event.