Tag: Brooklyn

Raw Wine Festival NYC 2023

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The Raw Wine Festival was held in New York City on November 12 & 13. It was one stop on an international tour this year that took them to Los Angeles, Toronto, Paris and Copenhagen.

The festival was held at 99 Scott Avenue in Bushwick, Brooklyn which is a repurposed brick commercial building now used as an event space.

Raw Wine is a “collection of natural, organic and biodynamic wine artisans” that have come together to showcase their products which are “pure, kind to the planet and possibly better for your health without the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides or fungicides”.

This event has been running for several years and always get a good, youthful crowd sampling wines from unconventional wine makers. Both the crowd and the winemakers were more Birkenstock and flannel shirts than suit and tie.

All the major wine producing countries as well as the smaller ones were represented at the tasting. This niche wine style has grown in the past few years and have toned down the earthy and pungent aromas that were a hallmark of these wines.

Some interesting producers:

Sequerciani, from Tuscany, besides having a pretty label, bottled wines made with obscure grape varieties such as Pugnitello, Fogia Tonda, Ciliegiolo and Aleatico.

Agri Segretum from Umbria poured an interesting trio of Sangiovese based reds labeled Freghino, Pottarello and Marocchio.

Cort Sant ‘Alda from Vento poured a trio of Valpolicella including an Amarone.

Chateau Guadel poured a couple of vintages of their Grand Cru Classe Bordeaux.

Domaine Amirault showed some Cabernet Franc based reds from the Loire Valley.

Pray Tell Winery poured wines from the Willamette Vally, Oregon.

Brooklyn Rum Fest 2023

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The fourth annual Brooklyn Rum Festival was held on August 12 and was held at the event space “The Monarch” located at 23 Meadow Street in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The event brought together rums from around the world to sample with the opportunity to ask questions from the brand ambassadors on hand.

Rum is a liquor made from distilled sugar cane molasses or sugar cane juice and comes in light, dark, aged and flavored versions. It made around the world but mostly concentrated in the Caribbean where the sugar cane was grown and processed.

It seemed like there were fewer vendors on hand this year than last, but they still had a nice selection of rums from big producers as well as from small, artisanal brands.

Bacardi had an interesting trio of 8yr rums aged in various types of barrels, Rolling Fork Single Cask had a rum from Barbados aged in four different barrels which made for an interesting side by side tasting. Appleton had a trio of 8, 12 and 15yr old rums, Barbancourt was well represented with its 8 and 15yr rums as well as another rum from Hati with a very artistic label. Plantation Rum poured their line of rums from various countries.

Other producers that I sampled from during the event included Rhum JM, Charman’s Reserve, Worthy Park, Myrtle Bank, Pere Labat, Dumas, Rum-Bar and Striped Lion.

Rib King NYC 2023

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The Rib King BBQ festival was held on Memorial Day weekend on Saturday, May 27.

It was another food event curated by Food Karma and Jimmy Carbone that have also hosted other foodie events such as Pig Island, Brisket King and Bowl of ‘Zole.

The event was held at Industry City at 220 36th Street in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. Industry City is a complex of warehouses on the Brooklyn waterfront that have been repurpose into retail and commercial spaces.

With many eateries, a brewery, a sake brewery and a distillery, there were many opportunities to have something to eat and drink and on this sunny holiday weekend. The complex was packed with all sorts of people including families milling around and enjoying the day.

There was no way better to spend the unofficial start of Summer than by strolling amongst the pitmasters with the smoke of cooking ribs in the air.

Ribs providers:

Blue Smoke

Kam Rai Thai

Sands Jerk Hut

Taste of Surabaya

Pig Beach

Big Bob Gibson

Smoke Sweats BBQ

Empire BBQ

Bears Smokehouse

Bloody Mary Festival 2023

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The Bloody Mary is an iconic drink, a staple of brunches. The origins of the cocktail are a little murky but probably originated sometime in the 1920’s or 1930″s.

A pretty basic recipe would be vodka, tomato juice, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and tabasco.

On March 18th I attended the 9th annual Bloody Mary Festival, a multi city tour which came back to New York City this year after the pandemic hiatus.

The event was held at City Point, a venue in a Mall located at 445 Albee Square West in downtown Brooklyn and had over a dozen restaurants and cocktail mix producers vying for the title of the best Bloody Mary.

Each participant had their own versions of the Bloody Mary. There was some wiggle room with the ingredients used but the creativity came in to play with the garnishes used on the drink.

My favorite was the Bloody Mary from the Lobster Joint.

Some of the participants:

Bill’s Bar & BurgerBrooklyn Rabbit Bar & Grill
Lobster Joint The Wilson
Dos CaminosCrave Fishbar
390 SocialFever Tree
Toma Bloody MaryChela

Brooklyn Rum Fest 2022

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I missed the New York Rum Fest & Congress which was held on June 18th of this year. It’s the biggest rum festival in the city. Unfortunately (or fortunately for me) it was held on the same day as the Decanter Wine Encounter which was too good of a tasting to miss.

So, I was happy to see that the Brooklyn Rum Festival would be held on August 13th. The event was held at the Brooklyn Monarch, an event space in the outer reaches of Bushwick at 23 Meadow Street.

The great thing about rum is the shear diversity of the styles available. There are white rums, dark rums, flavored rums and rums of various ages. While the industry is concentrated in the Caribbean, rum is made throughout the world, and they were represented here as well.

Every producer poured several versions of their rums and even the mass producers such as Bacardi poured some limited production aged rums.

The event space is a huge warehouse with an outdoor area in the back which had a DJ spinning tunes. There was definitely a “Caribbean” vibe to the event which had about half the number of producers present than in the New York Rum Fest, but there were till more than enough rums to sample that afternoon.

Some of the rums I sample, every producer poured several different.

Dos MaderasRhum Barbancourt
BacardiTrans Continental Rum Line
Plantation RumRhum J.M.
Mount GayRhum Clement
Chairman’s ReserveTen To One
Dan QPasetto 8
EquinoCopalli

CiderFeast 2021

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NYC Cider Week was held on October 2-17. It was a couple of weeks of cider events throughout New York State. To kick things off on October 1, Jimmy Carbone’s Food Karma project held it’s annual (but cancelled last year) CiderFeast event. Food Karma Project is responsible for many foodie events such as Pig Island, Bowl of ‘Zole, Brisket King and 5 Boro PicNYC.

The event was held at Biba of Williamsburg located at 110 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and the event featured several Ciders plus lite eats

According to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, New York State is the 2nd largest producers of apples in the country with 29.5 million bushels produced. It’s not surprising that the State is home to many artisanal cider producers.

The event showcased many NYS producers but there were other regions and countries pouring as well. The amount of vendors at the event was noticeably fewer than at the last event a couple of years ago. That can be blamed on supply issues and skittishness about the virus. Still, they had a great crowd that were enjoying a sunny afternoon of cider and good company.

Something unusual that I tried at the event that I haven’t tried before was fortified cider. Ironbound Cider produced a trio of fortified ciders, Cherry Burdock, Golden Russet Orange and Lemon Beebrush that were very port-like and interesting.

Some of the cider producers that I sampled from, most poured several different versions of their cider:

Ironbound CiderHudson Valley Farmhouse
Orchard HillOmmegang
Barika Basque CiderAustin Eastciders
Original SinFerme de Romilly
Aval CiderIndian Ladder Farmhouse Cider

The Whisky X

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The Whisky X is a Whisky “experience” promoting “whisky, music, food and style”. It’s a traveling whiskey and concert event stopping in Chicago, Austin, Denver and Las Vegas.

On September 10th the tour stopped in Brooklyn. It was held at Industry City which is a huge arts and entertainment center near the waterfront in Sunset Park featuring “eats, drinks and play”.

There were 60+ whiskies and cocktails to sample at the outdoor courtyard and indoors with a good selection of American whiskies, Irish whiskies, Scotch whiskies and for some reason, a table of rum. If you were in the mood for haircut with your whisky, there were a couple of barbers on hand to give you one.

Unlike most of these events there was a live band performing later in the evening. That band that evening was “Guster” and while I didn’t stick around for the concert, they did have an impressive collection of musical instruments on stage.

Some whiskies (and an outlier rum) that I sampled:

Calumet: small batch blend, straight bourbon, 15yr bourbonHudson Whiskey NY: Do the rye thing, bright lights big bourbon
Blackened: Kentucky straight rye, whisky blendWoodinville: 100% Rye, straight bourbon
Roe & Co: Irish whiskeyThe Irishman: Single malt
Busker: Single grain Irish whiskeyTeeling: Single batch Irish whiskey
McConnel“s: Irish WhiskeyJim Beam: Kentucky straight bourbon
Basi Hayden’s: Kentucky straight bourbonKnob Creek: Kentucky straight bourbon
Whistle Pig: Piggy back 6yrClyde May’s: Straight rye, straight bourbon
Gosling’s: Old rum, papa sealLegent: Bourbon

Beer, Bourbon & BBQ Fest 2021

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On July 31st and August 1st, the 11th annual Beer, Bourbon and BBQ festival was held in Brooklyn at the Expo Center, a venue space located at 72 Noble Street in Greenpoint.

It’s a year long traveling BBQ festival with tour dates in Virginia, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland and of course, Brooklyn, New York.

It’s a big party with pitmasters cooking up their specialties with an abundance of whiskey, beer, cider and a lot of hard seltzer which seems to be the new spirit trend in the country this year.

The even was held on Saturday afternoon and evening and on Sunday afternoon. I attended the Saturday afternoon session because the afternoon sessions are usually less crowded and more manageable than the evening sessions and at that time they haven’t run out of any particular spirit.

There was an outdoor seating area with vendors, games and a DJ that quickly filled up with people relaxing with their whisky and cigars.

I did attend a seminar for Garrison Brothers whiskey from Texas. At the event there was a nice selection of American whiskey and local beers and as I mentioned, a larger than usual selection of hard seltzer.

If one thing stood out for me at the event was that I was a little disappointed in the food served compare to the last time I went to this event in January of 2020. Maybe some of the pitmasters were still jittery about traveling

Some of the Whiskey I sampled:

George Dickel: 8yr sour mash, 12yr sour mash

Four Roses: Small Batch, Single Barrell

Virginia Distilling Co.: Single Malt Whisky

Balcone’s: Texas 100°, True Blue 100°, Lineage

Evan Williams: 1783

Markers Mark: Cask Strength, 46, 101 Limited Release

Basil Hayden’s: Straight Bourbon

Knob Creek: 15yr Bourbon, Kentucky Straight Rye

Excelsior: NY Straight Rye

Coppersea: NY Straight Rye Malt Whisky

Brisket King 2021

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On April 21st I attended the 9th edition of Brisket King NYC. It was another food event presented by Jimmy Carbone and Food Karma Project which are responsible for many fun foodie events including Pig Island, Pozole & Mezcal and CiderFeast.

The event was held at Pig Beach, a BBQ restaurant located at 480 Union Street in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn with an outdoor patio overlooking the beautiful Gowanus canal.

This BBQ event focused not surprisingly, on Brisket which is one of the least tender cuts of beef. That means low and slow is the way to go.

All the pitmasters had their own proprietary spice rub that they used on their Brisket. A couple of interesting outliers were a “Jewish Style” brisket stew and a brisket sandwich made with donuts instead of bread. Surprisingly it worked well since the sweetness of the donuts paired well with the rich fattiness of the brisket.

On this chilly Spring afternoon, storm clouds looked like they might pour down rain on the outdoor event but the BBQ gods smiled down upon us and the event went on rain free with plenty of people enjoying food, drink and good company.

Participants

Avellino Family BBQCentral City BBQ
Blue SmokeChef Jesse Concepts
Carlitos TacosFriends of Firefighters
Juicy Lucy BBQHill Country BBQ
PulkiesSmokehouse Tailgate Grill

Beer & Cider

Bronx BreweryIndian Ladder Farms
Austin EastcidersRomily

Spirits

Knob CreakJim Beam
LaphroaigOld Overholt
Bowmore

Coney Island, Brooklyn

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Coney Island is the world famous beach resort and old school amusement park. It’s located on a peninsula in southwest Brooklyn.

It’s home of the original Nathans hot dog stand and of the Cyclones, a minor league baseball team.

During World War II it was the largest amusement area in the United States.