Food + Drink
EVENT: Village Voice's Brooklyn Pour!
This past Saturday brought over 100 craft brews under one roof for Village Voice’s third annual Brooklyn Pour. Held at the spacious Skylight One in Fort Greene, the former Williamsburg Bank served as a great location for an afternoon filled with beer tastings, talks, food and music. The sold out event was packed with craft beer enthusiasts coming together to try different beers from their favorite breweries and opportunity to try new ones.
The hundred or so breweries lined the hall with rows and rows of different beers from around the country and Europe. Many brought their best sellers, along with a pumpkin or Oktoberfest in celebration of the fall season. The "beeristas" offered background into the flavors of the beers, the type of barley and hops they are made with, and information on the breweries themselves. Some vendors even brought hops and barley to the table for beer enthusiasts to smell.
[caption id="attachment_73803" align="aligncenter" width="660"]
Whole Foods Third and 3rd booth[/caption]
Most of the New York breweries were focused in the center of the hall and featured tastings from Brooklyn Brewery, Chelsea Brewing Co., City Island, Bronx Brewery, KelSo and Sixpoint, among many others. Brooklyn Brewery brought their esteemed Oktoberfest, along with their Cuvee La Boite Master’s Reserve which is a spiced Belgian beer only available from August until November. Kelso sgave samples of their Industrial Pumpkin, and Sixpoint brought four flavors including their Autumnation. Also set up in a decked out booth was Third and 3rd, Whole Foods' new Brooklyn store opening this fall which announced a rooftop tap room the day of the event. Their sampling included the Brooklyn Pumpkin Bean Brew, exclusively made for Brooklyn Pour. Consisting of Captain Lawrence pumpkin ale, mixed with Stumptown Nitro Cold Brew and garnished with coffee beans, it was a welcome variation to the rest of the beer tastings.
[caption id="attachment_73801" align="aligncenter" width="660"]
Dogfish Head Brewery[/caption]
Intertwined between the local breweries were beers from outside of the New York area including Founders, Goose Island, Dogfish Head, and Wolaver’s to name a few. Beers from Europe also made their way to the event, with Radegast and Weihenstephan from Germany, Tripel Karmeliet from Belgium, and the Greene King from England, all offering samplings from across the pond. Not only that, but wine was also sampled by Barefoot and sponsors like Vita Coco offered tastings of their coconut water flavors.
[caption id="attachment_73802" align="aligncenter" width="660"]
Whole Foods' Pumpkin Bean Brew[/caption]
While the beer samplings were occurring, there were “Beer Talks” held in the vault space throughout the afternoon featuring different topics that focused on social media and beer blogging, insight into the business of beer, home brewing, and a session with Untappd app founder Greg Avola. Also in the vault were additional beer booths and food vendors to soak up the day’s tastings. Mrs. Dorsey’s Kitchen teamed up with Jarlsberg cheese to create a signature grilled cheese sandwich for the day. Cuban sandwiches were served by Brooklyn’s own Yayo’s, along with Mexican dishes from Carino and hot dogs were featured from Los Perros Locos.
Between the hundreds of beer samplings, delicious food, and various talks, the festival not only offered the best in craft beer, but also a little more for event-goers. With their mantra for the day being “Drink beer, be happy, everybody wins,” Brooklyn Pour accomplished just that. So until next year, happy crafting.
