Filtering by Tag: Friday Froth,Beer Dinner

Friday Froth: Viva La Michelada

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James Gribbon October 10, 2023

Call it a "bloody beer," and I will have you flensed. An associate from Oklahoma calls them that, and his entire recipe consists of V8 and Gas Station Lite, like some sort of godless swine. I call it a michelada when I drink them, and you should, too. This sounds prescriptive, and it's intended to, because it's best to be forewarned and forearmed when we encounter a new specie.

I have long been a fan of the bloody mary - in fact, I credit her with saving my life many a time during the Great Patriotic Keg Wars of my early 20s, but 30 was stealing up on me like Trotsky's assassin before I was swept up in the red coup of the michelada, and I've been a member of the party ever since, comrade.

Mistakes were made along the way, of course. 'This is a recovery drink,' I remember thinking. 'A sort of tremens-drip for the drinking class. It stands to reason that the more vitamins, minerals and other assorted Earth-stuffs, the better, yes? V8 is packed with many of the vegetables I hate, ergo it's bound to be good for me/this drink.' Ice, hot sauce, salt, pepper and beer went into the glass with the red fluid from the colorful bottle, and the results more successful than The Great Leap Forward only in that no one actually died. It was like drinking carrot juice from a storm drain.

40+ Spots To Celebrate Oktoberfest In Connecticut 2023

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April Guilbault September 08, 2023

“Let’s get a drink”. “Come over for a drink!”. There’s nothing more convivial than sharing a drink together with a person or a whole group of favorite persons. And isn’t the ol’ saying -it’s 5 o’clock somewhere? Well, here’s a historical “reason” to raise your glasses high-Oktoberfest, the beloved, ancient event involving mouthwatering beers, so much (too much? never!) merriment and some fabulous lederhosen. Oktoberfest-ivities run pretty much the entire month of September and into October, so there are plenty of chances to raise that stein. And remember, we all put our lederhosen on one leg at a time. Prost!

Friday Froth: Mexican Lager, Made In Connecticut

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James Gribbon June 22, 2023

Despite expert credibility having recently taken several cannonballs below the waterline, and 60-degree sweater weather remaining in abundance, summer - they tell us - has officially arrived. The days are near their longest, and the months start with “J”, so we must grudgingly accede they have a point. This time each year, in a migration as timeless and majestic as the great herds of the Serengeti - Nutmeggers can be seen dragging our coolers to beaches and backyards. What are we drinking? Hard seltzer! NO! I mean, yes, but also: shut up.

We are drinking:

Very cold.
Easy drinking.
Usually Mexican lager. Corona, Pacifico, Modelo, ET C.

Why do we drink these? Because 1&2, but also... it’s what we’ve always done. Why are you thinking about this?

BECAUSE I’ve been noticing Connecticut brewers have been trying out the style in increasing numbers, they are delicious, and more people should know, which has always been the entire point of this column.

Friday Froth: Beer Dinners at Little Pub- Featuring New England Brewing

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James Gribbon February 18, 2022

Anyone who's ever hit happy hour and subsequently remembered they hadn't eaten dinner while staring into a beer at another location sometime around midnight can probably feel the pain of the next morning right now, as you're reading this. Remember that? Well, let's not let that happen again, or allow ourselves to slap late night drive-thru - the FlexTape of Shame - over the leaky bucket of our decisions.

What we need is food with our beers, whether we're adding plates to pitchers and pints at the taproom, or exploring flavor combinations at home. Inspiration struck while I was at my first beer pairing dinner in over two years at The Little Pub in Fairfield, hosted by Greg Radawich, director of brewing operations at New England Brewing Company in Woodbridge. I'll get into what you can have from the brewery and pub, plus a few more ideas to serve as springboards for your own dives into brews and foods.

And if you missed this beer dinner, Little Pub will be hosting another beer pairing dinner with Fat Orange Cat brewery at Little Pub, Fairfield on Tuesday, March 1.

Friday Froth: Stewards Of The Land Farm Brewery in Northford

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James Gribbon June 26, 2020

One of life's principle joys is an unexpected bulldog. There you are, mind preoccupied and steps ahead of whatever you should be paying attention to in the moment you're actually living, and boom: giant smiley meatball of joy out of nowhere. How could that not improve any day? Last September, in the Before Times, I went to a Connecticut farm to find out about hop growing, and discovered a newborn brewery instead. At the time, Stewards Of The Land in Northford wasn't finished, not quite ready yet for the outside world. So now, just as the eyes of the world are cautiously blinking open again, I returned to sit on the farm brewery's patio and, yes, there was a bulldog.

I'm not just making an allegory here: Guinness (that's the name he came with, give head brewery Alex DeFrancesco more credit for creativity than that), was cooling off on the stone patio, set with chairs outside the New England tavern style brewery, above a field of sprouting row crops - the hillside and lawns swaying here and there with bluish stalks of heirloom rye. I squatted down and scruffled Guinness' huge head behind his ears. He had it right. This is a place to stretch out and relax.

Friday Froth: Can Anything Be The Same?

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James Gribbon May 29, 2020

The bar where my initials were once carefully poured into the foam crown of a Guinness every time I called, with a place setting waiting both in case I wanted a snack, and to save my favorite spot, is gone forever. It was my first local, a place close by where reliably stopping in and not causing too much trouble develops into an earned mutual welcoming. The place feels like a friend's living room - you know where to sit, they know what you like, and everyone slips easily back into the conversation you shared last time you stopped in. The whole experience, whether as a relief from the day, the glow of alcohol, whatever brought you back through the doors - it just feels warm. Like I said at the start, it's gone now. The place I mention hasn't been open for years, but what about your place? What about so many of these shared environments whose doors we'll never walk through again? What will it be like at the old regular tables and spots we used to take up now the ones who lived through America's epidemic experience may reopen? "Everything's changed," they tell us - but can anything be the same?

Stamford's Winter Wonderland Market & Beer Garden Opens Dec. 6th

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CTbites Team November 30, 2019

Half Full Brewery and Mill River Park Collaborative announced today the return of Winter Wonderland Market & Beer Garden to Stamford, Conn.’s Mill River Park. The Winter Wonderland is intended to celebrate and unite local residents and professionals through a diverse and expanded slate of programming, which will run from Friday, Dec. 6 through Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2020.

Beer... It's Not Just For Beer Drinkers Anymore: Meet The Brut IPA

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James Gribbon April 05, 2019

Beer: it's not just for beer drinkers anymore. Seriously. New or casual drinkers can steer themselves safely away from anything resembling what would have been considered an actual beer even five or six years ago, and still be paralyzed with overwhelming options. Wine drinker? There's a chance I've already converted you through the deft application of a gose made with grapes, or a raspberry lambic. Are most beers too: bland/malty/hoppy/bitter, or sour for you? No problem! Because brewers can load your pint with so much lactose they call it a milkshake, and you can drink actual donuts. That's between you and your pancreas.

Brut IPAs - the actual champagne of beers - are a very new, entirely American style. They're sweet and dry, beginning to show up all over the place, and I thought this week I'd do an explainer and review a few brewers' early efforts. Drinkers of the bubbly, drinkers of the murky, and Connecticut craft beer fans in general: you may just be about to have a new summer fling.

East Rock Brewing Company Opens In New Haven

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James Gribbon January 24, 2019

Pull back the hour hand on the clock of geologic time and the land in what was once New Haven begins to fill in. The sandstone rises up, glaciers come and go again in reverse, and the scenery levels off. The view across the water isn't Long Island - the glaciers pulled that land back with them - it's what will become Morocco. Now spin the clock forward again. The continents drift - ice, then not ice again - and the land erodes away until something seems to rise up again: the traprock scarp we know as East Rock. There's a lot of history here, and the newest bit to crop up is East Rock Brewing Company.

Sneak Peek at Tribus Beer Co. Opening In Milford

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James Gribbon August 10, 2018

Like oncoming headlights appearing out of a foggy night, genetics are indicators which don't tell the whole story. Heredity may lay out a path, but time and observation tell where it leads. Phil Markowski helped launch New England Brewing Company in 1989, and decades later did the same as the master brewer at Two Roads. In the last Froth I talked about how NEBCo's dandelion head was spreading seeds all over Connecticut - from new beers under their current brewer, to Counter Weight Brewing in Hamden from his predecessor, and a tip about the inaugural tapping of beers from Tribus in Milford, the newest offspring of the ancestor brewery. This week, for the first time anywhere, we'll take a look at Tribus and its beers to see where this is all headed.

Beers & Bites August 15th Tickets On Sale Featuring Skinny Pines & Chef Geoff Lazlo

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Stephanie Webster August 01, 2018

Half Full Brewery and CTBites are beyond excited to bring you this year's most creative and collaborative food and beer-pairing event series. Not to be missed, "Beers & Bites" 2018 pairs limited release beers from Half Full Brewery with totally off-menu food items from some of Fairfield County's best chefs and food truck operators. Tickets for our August 15th event with Skinny Pines pizza truck & Chef Geoff Lazlo are going fast, so get your tickets now!

Friday Froth: Bell's Brewery and Bees in CT

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James Gribbon July 13, 2018

Friday Froth: Astronomy On Tap At BAR New Haven

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James Gribbon June 08, 2018

Have you ever looked down into the swirling foam at the top of a freshly poured beer and thought "that looks like a galaxy"? Ever had your mind blown by a Carl Sagan quote? Do you like New Haven pizz- OK, unless you're a CAPTCHA-bot, of course you do. The point is, whether you've watched the original Cosmos ten times, or you just wonder how far away the stars are, BAR in New Haven has re-started Astronomy On Tap, where beer, pizza, and cosmology come together.

Astronomy On Tap is a a global event series where professors, PhDs, and grad students talk about their areas of expertise at bars full of anyone who's interested, and it's free.

Friday Froth: 12 Connecticut IPAs And A Sweep At The 2018 Blind Beer Awards

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James Gribbon April 27, 2018

Being a beer writer, as you'd expect, has its perks. For a few years one of these was being chosen to serve on a panel of expert judges at the Connecticut Blind Beer Awards, a competition between a dozen local beers which takes the popularity contest aspect out of the equation by serving each from unlabeled, color-coded taps. The event is held each year at the Blind Rhino in South Norwalk, and while brewery representatives are on hand in case their brewery wins one of the awards, they are sequestered away from public view in the bar's basement to bottle share, play beer pong, and perform impromptu interior decorating with some cans of spray paint they found, until the Experts Choice and People's Choice are handed out. I had no formal connection with the awards this year, attending instead as a civilian, and drank all twelve of the CT beers on tap. Here is how that went.

Nibble: CT Food Events For April 29- May 6

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Emma Jane-Doody Stetson April 25, 2018

The 5th Annual Ridgefield Gone Country BBQ Festival in Ridgefield starts Saturday May 5 at 11am and runs through Sunday 5pm. The Event will be held at the Historic Lounsbury House at 316 Main Street. Tickets: $10 for adults and $5 for students. Children under 12 are FREE.

Sunday, April 29th, Half Full Brewery is hosting a pig roast with Hoodoo Brown BBQ. Doors open at 12:00 for beers, starting at 1:00 Hoodoo will be serving up BBQ Wings (tossed in Red Bee Honey Sauce), and a Pig Roast that will feature a whole hog, apple-vinegar slaw, slider buns, cornbread, and mac and cheese. Reserve tickets here.

Tickets for The Schoolhouse at Cannondale’s Farm to Fork series go on sale May 1. Each evening includes a cocktail hour, a farm tour, and four locally sourced courses under the stars by Chef Tim LaBant. It takes place at Millstone Farm in Wilton, CT.

On Monday April 30, head over to Terrain Garden Café in Westport for “Dishing Local.” CTbites and the Westport Farmers Market welcome foodies to a food-focused evening and open forum in the terrain Garden Cafe. They’ll gather with some of the local food community's leading talents to discuss the latest trends, everyday eating, and tips and secrets from farmers and restaurateurs. This event is free and open to the public. Food and beverage available for purchase.

On Tuesday May 2, Fairfield Cheese Company presents “Cheese 102: Beyond the Basics with Arethusa Farm.” The class will expand on the basics and delve into cheese making, history, science, and more. Plus, taste plenty of cheeses and complementary wines. Tickets are $50 and the class runs from 7-9pm.

CLASP Homes 14th TASTE OF WESTPORT will take place on Thursday May 3 from 6-9pm at the Westport Inn. Enjoy samplings of specialty dishes from Amis, Harvest Wine Bar, Hummock Island Oysters, Pearl at Longshore, Saltwater, Bobby Q’s Cue & Co., Tablao, and more. There will be plenty to drink as well! Tickets are $75 prepaid, $85 at the door.

Recap: Beers & Bites at Half Full Brewery with Knot Norms and Hapa Food Truck

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Andrew Dominick April 05, 2018

Did you ever hear the one about the food truck chef and the restaurant chef at a local brewery?

Wait, that’s a real thing. There’s no punchline.

What I’m talking about here is the first ever Beers & Bites event that was held on April 5, 2018 at Half Full Brewery in Stamford. Beers & Bites is a collaboration between CTbites, Half Full Brewery, local food trucks and chefs.

The idea behind Beers & Bites is to team a food truck chef and a restaurant chef to collaborate on a menu that gets paired with Half Full’s thirst-quenching brews. Think of it as a beer dinner where you won’t leave feeling overstuffed; it’s just enough food and drink. For $50 you get four-courses, four beers (refills were common so it’s a little more than four), a commemorative Beers & Bites snifter glass, and a damn good time in a non-pretentious, not overcrowded taproom.

Nibble: CT Food Events for April 2-9

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Emma Jane-Doody Stetson March 29, 2017

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford hosts A Taste of History 2017 on Monday April 3 at 5pm. The evening begins with a premier reception at 5pm and culminates with a food tasting, a cocktail tasting, music, a tour, and art inspired activities.

Fermented beverages are prevalent, but what about fermented foods? Learn about them and their health benefits at the Barrel Room in North Canton, CT on Monday April 3. The class will cover foods like water kefir, milk kefir and kimchi.

Connecticut Hops For Hope returns for its second benefit, Beers For Brittany, on Sunday, April 23rd. The event will be held at the brand new Counter Weight Brewing in Hamden, and 100% of ticket sales, in person donations, and on site raffle ticket sales will benefit Brittany Vellucci, a young woman fighting through brain cancer. Tickets go on sale tonight at 7p.m. RIGHT HERE.

Nibble: CT Food Events for Week of March 20-27

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Emma Jane-Doody Stetson March 17, 2017

On Monday March 20, Mikro Beer Bar in Hamden invites you to a Kent Falls Brewing Beer Dinner. Chef Mike Fox will create a four course dinner to complement craft brews. The event is limited to 50 people, so get your tickets soon.

Which is better: beer or wine? The question is difficult and divisive… but Fairfield Greenwich Cheese Company will help you decide! Beer and wine will go head-to-head alongside a cheese plate to see which makes for the best pairing. Join them at the Greenwich location on March 21 from 7-9pm and the Fairfield location on March 23 from 7-9pm. It costs $50 per person.

On Wednesday March 22, Cask Republic South Norwalk and Allagash Brewing Company are teaming up for a beer dinner. Chef Carl will prepare a five course menu that will be paired with six Allagash beers. It costs $85 per person and advanced reservations are recommended.

Friday Froth: Strong Drinks...Black Hog, Two Roads Brewery & Litchfield Distillery

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James Gribbon February 01, 2017

The shadows seem to be growing this January. Winter daylight is all too brief, darkness glooming in through a window you swear was sunny the last time you walked by. It suddenly feels like it's gone dark all the time now. Maybe you feel it, too. And how long to go before the next sunrise? Ugh. The days ahead seem so stretch on to the invisible horizon. Maybe you could use a drink, a 16oz. weight to hang from time's pendulum to speed those dark hours on their way. Make it a strong one, because maybe we can clip off some of tomorrow's darkness while we're at it. Gravity shapes space, as we all know, and space is tied to time, so let's grab a few high gravity beers, and bend the long arc.

Friday Froth: Stone Brewing's Enjoy After 10.31.16 Comes Of Age

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James Gribbon November 04, 2016

Fresh beer isn't always the best beer. As arguments for freshness go, you could make one for juicy, resinous IPAs, and you certainly don't want to drink any hot can of Busch Light which rolls out from underneath a car seat, but as the American craft beer industry matures, it's beginning to make beers meant to do the same. Stone, the Escondido, California brewer of undeniable arrogance, will shy away from claims of being the first to put "born on" dates on their bottles and cans, but they were the first to use "Enjoy By" as the actual name of a beer. The Enjoy By series of IPAs (followed by a date on each) was to be taken so seriously Stone would come and retrieve any unsold beers from retailers.

This is why it was so interesting when Stone Enjoy After 10.31.16 hit shelves - in 2015. This week I opened the bottle I bought over a year ago. Here's what happened.