Half Full Brewery Winter Beer Garden To Open in Stamford's Mill River Park December 7th
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Filtering by Tag: Beer
CTBites' James Gribbon Gives Fall Road Trip Picks on CTStyle
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CTBites' own beer writer and food critic returned to WTNH's "CTStyle" on October 30th to discuss how breweries and fall road trips go together. Leaf peeping, orchard visits, whatever gets you out of the house, autumn is a great time to get to places you haven't been, and many of those out of the way places have a great brewery to visit. One of the spots mentioned in the segment was 5 Churches Brewing Company in New Britain, and you can watch the whole interview on CTStyle right here.
CRUSH: Norwalk Now Presents 5 Days of Beer, Wine, & Spirits Themed Events October 16-20th (Yass!!!) sponsored post
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NORWALK NOW presents CRUSH, A 5 Day Celebration of Beer, Wine, and Spirits Tuesday thru Saturday, October 16-20, 2018 (*Sunday Bonus – DETOX Run/Walk/Bike/Yoga).
CRUSH comes to Norwalk! This 5-day schedule of thirst-quenching events celebrating the beer, wine, and spirits world is being presented by Norwalk Now’s talented group of businesses and special guests from the beverage world. Visit the CRUSH calendar page for the complete schedule. New events are being added every day, and reservations are suggested for all events.
Podcast: An Interview with Patrick DiCaprio of Full Pours Podcast
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When Ken Tuccio first launched Food & Drink one of the things he wanted to do was a series of "With …" episodes. Episodes where he shared a meal or drinks with someone and had a conversation … not so much an interview, but more of a real chat. This is the first episode in that conceptualized sub-series. Ken sits down and has "Beers with" Patrick DiCaprio, the co-host of the Full Pours podcast. They discuss beer festivals, the boom of the CT beer scene, the new trend related to "one off labels" showing up in the market and more. Listen here.
Friday Froth: An ESB Or Three?
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This week we're going to look at some beers which could be confused for the country's least glitzy style, the Extra Special Bitter, or ESB. Most people who had access to beer, legally or not, in the Cro-The problem with taste sensations is their inevitable ubiquity. Like a new song quickly overplayed into agonizing repetition, the new hotness becomes common as mud or lobster mac and cheese. Bloody Mary gimmicks are an excellent example.
Magnon craft beer era of the 1990s will remember Red Hook ESB. It was a good touch bitter, with a sharp roast and a twinge of sweetness to its malt-forward profile. English inspired bones fleshed out by a toddling American craft beer industry, it sold a ton as a delicious change of pace from Bud/Miller/Coors/Molson/Corona, and was to be one of the first brands bought and ruined by "Big Beer," in this case Anheuser-Busch.
Friday Froth: Kent Pils, Two Roads Spills on Area 2, And A Hazy IPA That Kills
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This week in Friday Froth we're going to toss back a beer in the middle of a trend, a new creation in an old style, and some brewery news which leads us to an aged beer.
And now, as another James May say, the nyeewws:
I recently was among the first few dozen civilians to ever see the inside of Two Roads' new mixed fermentation secondary brewery, Area 2. First announced in 2016, this new on-site facility in Stratford will focus on sour, barrel aged, and wild ales - all the little organisms bursting with possibility, and voted most likely to make your wine or Bud Light drinking friends say "This is beer?!?"
Podcast: An Interview with Tribus Beer Co.
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It was a long road for Tribus Beer Co. to become a reality. One of the founders of Tribus, Sean O'Neill, sits down with Ken Tuccio to tell the story about how he and his partners got together, took their idea and turned it into one of the most anticipated brewery openings in the state. Listen here.
CTbites' James Gribbon Talks Beer on CT Style: Best CT Breweries For An Outdoor Drink
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You never know where you're going to see CTBites. This past week our own food writer and "Friday Froth" beer columnist James Gribbon was invited to make a guest appearance on Channel 8 afternoon talk show CT Style to talk about great spots to have a beer outside. Summer may be winding down, but there's still plenty of time to enjoy a drink in the fresh air.
Some of his favorite spots included the beer garden and hop yard at Two Roads in Stratford, The Hops Company beer garden, the yard at BAD SONS in Derby (with a nod to take out wings from nearby Dew Drop Inn), and road trips to OEC brewing in Oxford, and Kent Falls farm brewery.
Watch the whole video below, and keep an eye out for James appearing on CT Style in the future.
Sneak Peek at Tribus Beer Co. Opening In Milford
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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.
An Interview w/ CT's Thomas Hooker Brewing Co
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You can't understate the importance of Thomas Hooker Brewing Co. in the history of Connecticut beer. However for a while they got lost in the shuffle. Then, with a beer called #NoFilter, they had a bit of resurgence within the Connecticut craft beer community. Ken Tuccio sits down with Jonas Griggs, the head brewer of Thomas Hooker Brewing, to talk about Hooker's spot in the CT beer scene, the importance of #NoFilter to the growth of the company and his plans for the brewery moving forward. Listen here.
Friday Froth: Roadtrip To New England Brewing Company
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We're taking Friday Froth on the road this week, and making the trip to New England Brewing Company in Woodbridge. You can practically hit NEBCo from the Merritt Parkway if you had a t-shirt cannon or severely misjudged your speed upon taking exit 59. You should do this (not overcooking the exit, I mean - and standing on the highway firing large projectiles is probably some sort of Nanny State "offense," come to think of it), but you should nonetheless take the drive because the beer at the end is, as anyone living in the state for more than three weeks can attest, quite good.
Friday Froth: Bell's Brewery and Bees in CT
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Friday Froth: Astronomy On Tap At BAR New Haven
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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.
Food & Drink Episode 4: Johnny Kraszewski from Armada Brewing
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Ken Tuccio sits down with Johnny Kraszewski from Armada Brewing in this week's episode of Food & Drink, but the conversation isn't just about beer or the Connecticut beer scene. It's a conversation about marketing, promotion, the challenges associated with self-employment and more. Ken is also joined during the monologue by Patrick DiCaprio from the Full Pours Podcast and Ken gives Pat the rundown of his experience with cruise food last week. Have a listen here.
Bethel’s Broken Symmetry Offers San Diego-Inspired Burritos in Brewery Setting
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We are happy to share this exciting burrito news from Connecticut Magazine.
The opening-night crowd filed into the postcard-worthy red building that was once a railroad station but had just officially become Broken Symmetry Gastro Brewery. Eight-hundred pints of beer were poured as people thronged around tables, overflowing into the aisles and then outside onto a patio area.
Many, like me, were intrigued that a new brewery had opened in the Greater Danbury area. But that wasn’t the only reason we left work early and endured long lines and unintentional, mosh pit-like jostling.
We were there for the burritos.
Friday Froth: 12 Connecticut IPAs And A Sweep At The 2018 Blind Beer Awards
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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.
Friday Froth: Taking New England Out Of Hazy IPAs
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Lately I've been doing some studying up on hops, which is - naturally - why I'm going to start this week's column off by being mad at yeast. I am comprehensively sick and tired of unfiltered IPAs; exhausted and at my wit's end trying to find an existing beer I can rely on to not look like milky pond water upon its exit from the can. Unsightly floating clumps, and my beer burning my throat, aren't even the biggest irritations. The worst is the style has had, until just now, "New England" in its name. Thankfully this week the Brewers Association has officially renamed it "Hazy or Juicy IPA." The BA's Beer Style Guidelines are effectively the AP style book of beer writing, and they've relegated the defacto descriptor of juice-bombs to the backseat. Hooray for the BA, and death to trub, amen.
Friday Froth: Hanging Hills Brewing Co. Proves Rock And Roll Means Well
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Small Brewers Become Big Business In Fairfield County
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This just in from Norwalk Daily Voice...
If you're a beer lover, you're in luck. Each day it seems another brewery or beer pub opens its doors in Fairfield County, catering to residents with creative hops (Harlan Haus in Bridgeport) and carefully curated snacks (shout out to Shelton's The Drunk Alpaca).
In a short period of time, the Connecticut craft beer scene has exploded, tapping into the county's thirst for flavor, variety and fun.
Many of these businesses were started by local folks with a passion for home brewing. All of them have helped elevate the area's craft beer experience.
Not sure where to go? We've done the research for you -- and yes, that may (or may not) have included sampling a few pints of amber brews.
- Aspetuck Brew Lab, Bridgeport: This two-year-old brewery and tap room are the dream of a husband-and-wife team (see Daily Voice story HERE ) who care as much about the community as they do good, local beer.
- Broken Symmetry Gastro Brewery, Bethel: This craft brewery and casual dining spot, in the old Bethel Train Station, is hoping for a late January/early February opening. Stay tuned by following them on Facebook.
CTBites On The Boat: Grace & Darkness Oyster Stout Release And Oyster Roast At Half Full Brewery, Jan. 21
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We'd left the dock in South Norwalk in utter darkness to harvest oysters in one of the oldest, most productive oyster fisheries in America. Jordan Giles of Half Full Brewery in Stamford shucked a few on the steps of the Grace's pilothouse and handed one to me. The Copp's Island oyster had been at the bottom of the Sound minutes ago.
The "Why" is tripartite: I've always loved oysters (and can apparently add them to skiing and air travel on the list of things I'll wake up at an evil hour for), I had never been on an oyster boat, and Half Full brewery will host their second ever Grace&Darkness oyster stout can release and oyster roast on Sunday, January 21 at noon. These oysters were to be the main attraction.
