Fire Island Beer Company does Yelp!

We were on hand at Yelp's Golf Center event on Randall's Island last week to pour some beers. The event was an invite-only party for Yelp's Elite members, a five-hour extravaganza with music, games, food, and of course, Fire Island Beer. We were set up right next to our good friend Miki who runs Slice: The Perfect Food. Between her gourmet pizza and our beer, we had the crowd going a little bit wild. Drop by Slice Pizza on 535 Hudson for our pizza/beer pairing tomorrow night if you want a taste.

Over the course of the evening, we got to chat with some of the Yelp Elite (Yelperatti?) and they were definitely having a good time. Of course, if you can be in a giant tent full of free food, beer, and music and NOT have a good time, well then, you may need to come out to Fire Island for a couple days so we can help you get your priorities straight.

We managed to catch up with the purveyors of fine music for the evening, Roosevelt Dime, in between songs. Not only do they perform awesome music, they are well-versed in the ways of the Beer, and were happy to share a little insight or two.

We also had the opportunity to meet many a cool Yelper, and they had the opportunity to meet both our beers. By the end of the night, they had gone through a couple kegs of beer and the band, Roosevelt Dime, was in full swing. As was the party. People were dancing like there was no tomorrow. Words can't really do it justice, so we'll let FIBC President Jeff Glassman do the explaining:

All in all, it was quite the epic event. Kudos to Yelp for making it happen! Till the next time,

The guys at Fire Island Beer Company

Nature versus FIBC: A Day at Stone Barns

Road trip! Earlier this week, we took a little spin on the New York State Thruway up to the Stone Barns Center For Food & Agriculture in Tarrytown. We’re on the prowl for fresh local ingredients to include in our fall brew and couldn’t imagine a more scenic place to kick off our agricultural education. Housed on the former Rockefeller dairy farm, the impossibly elegant property was donated in memory of Peggy Rockefeller, a champion of farmland protection.

Berries, thyme, pigs, and hops, the list of possible ingredients grown at Stone Barns runs as long and deep as your love for our Lighthouse Ale. Stone Barns also plays host to Blue Hill Farm restaurant (yes, sister to the highly praised eatery in Manhattan) where the menu is dictated by the land. Mike Greenberg, the events planner, also oversees the restaurant’s beer offerings. We sat down with Mike to get sense of what’s typically available in late summer, and in what quantities. A conversation is all good and well but we couldn’t wait to commune with the earth and see the crops for ourselves. Mike gave us directions, drew a vague map in the air and set us loose.

We made ourselves at home and visited the animal pens, the greenhouses and the air-conditioned gift shop. We’ve got many ideas brewing (HA!) which means a lot to sort through before we settle on which ingredients and where to source them from.

Things were going really well, ideas were flowing, inspiration was running rampant. That is until we came across the chicken coup. Their inner hunter-gatherer took over and all bets were off; it was the Glassman brothers versus the chicks. Watch the video to see who won...

Stay tuned for the next step in our farming saga!

Shadfest 2010: What You Missed

Blue skies, views of the Hudson River, Lighthouse Ale, a chance to raise awareness about the declining shad population, Red Wagon IPA. Lots of good folks came out to Shadfest 2010 in Garrison, New York to get behind the movement to protect the disappearing shads.

We had fun, we poured lots of beer, we supported an important cause, we met great people. Come to think of it, why weren’t you there? While you should definitely plan on getting tickets to the event next year, it’s not too late to donate NOW!

Regretting you didn’t go? We’ve put together a little video showing…what you missed. You're welcome!

To That Couple Whose Names We Didn't Catch...

You're welcome! We had a sneaking suspicion that wherever Fire Island Beer went, good things followed. Last week, some folks from Team Fire Island Beer Company took a sunset spin aboard the Adirondack, an 80' schooner that sails out of Chelsea Piers. We've teamed up with the organizers to do three beer & cheese pairings over the course of the summer and wanted to preview the amazing trip ourselves.

Sometime after we sailed past the Statue of Liberty, our captain announced that two of our fellow seafaring friends had just become engaged.

Was it the sunset? The perfect weather? The beer? Their undying love for one another? Perhaps. But we like to think it was the happy-go-lucky, great things are on the horizon vibe we brought aboard that did the trick.

Fire Island Beer: 1

Cupid: 0

For your chance to get engaged, or just take in amazing views of Manhattan while sampling Fire Island Lighthouse Ale and Red Wagon IPA, visit http://www.zerve.com/SailNYC/Beer and use the promo code "Fireisland" to save $5 per ticket.

Dates are 6/15, 7/20, 8/17 with the sailboat departing at 6:45PM and returning at 8:45PM from Pier 62 on the West Side of Manhattan.

Fire Island Beer Descends on TAP-NY

What do you get when you stick thirty-six New York State brewers, hundreds of aficionados and one six foot plus guy in lederhosen in a Catskills ski resort fresh out of snow? The TAP-NY Craft Beer festival, of course.

Fire Island Beer made its first appearance at TAP, and we settled on in with a bang. For two days, we poured for a line of fans that never waned. And poured. And poured. 62 gallons of Lighthouse Ale and Red Wagon IPA, to be precise. At three ounces a pour, that translates to roughly 2,600 glasses of Fire Island Beer’s finest.

We were having so much fun we quickly forgot our booth was within smelling distance of the guys hawking seafood jerkey. What? Yes, that really exists.

Festival goers didn’t just guzzle up our brews, our swag was flying off the shelves. Were you there? Did we meet you? Miss out and have a hankering for a tshirt all your own? Pick one up here so you’ll fit in at the next event!

Season’s First…Craft Beer Festival!

We kicked off a long season of festivals and fun this past weekend at the Spring Craft Beer Festival on Long Island. Blue skies, over fifty fellow brewers and hundreds of guests packed into the lower level of Nassau Coliseum to carry around a 6 oz. tasting glass and swill over a hundred different beers.

Our booth snagged a lot of repeat visitors, and we’re fairly certain they weren’t coming back for our jokes. Everyone was getting riled up about our Lighthouse Ale and Red Wagon IPA! They were going wild, really. You could hear the crowd chanting for more all the way across the Sound in Connecticut. It was a veritable mosh pit in front of our booth, and no one would step down til their glass was refilled…

Ok, so maybe it wasn’t quite that biblical. But between the haze of the fluorescent lights and the line by our booth, it was hard to resist imagining that this is what it must feel like on stage at Madison Square Garden.

We had a blast and we‘re looking forward to the next festival. Weren’t able to make it to Long Island? Don’t get too down on yourself. This is the start of a long and exciting summer. Up next: TAP New York in Hunter, NY. See you there!

But How Does it Taste?

Anyone who’s been to a wine tasting is familiar with attention to “nose,” “clarity,” and “finish,” but what is the equivalent nomenclature for beer tasting? And how do you judge a beer? Is there a correct way to drink a beer without succumbing to the comic absurdity of Paul Giamatti nasally sniffing merlot in “Sideways’?

First of all, you need to get over some common beer myths and misconceptions. One of the biggest party fouls when serving good beer is over chilling it. Sure, a really frosty beer dripping with ice looks good on a beer commercial, but chilling a beer too much numbs your taste buds. Cool down your beer too much and you’re more likely to get the flavor of ethanol rather than the rich aromas and nuance of malts and hops.

Of course, this might be good if you’re swigging some cheap two dollar special at the local pub, but for a more nuanced craft beer like Fire Island Beer Company (FIBC) Lighthouse Ale you’ll want to taste what you’re drinking. As a rule of thumb, pale beers should be served at cooler temperatures than dark beers. Aim for around 40-50 F for light beers and 50-60 F for darker ones. FIBC Lighthouse Ale, for instance, should be served between 46-54 F to really bring out some of its more subtle flavors.

Once your beer has been chilled to just the right temperature, you’re ready to pour. When pouring tilt the bottle at a 45 degree angle until the liquid reaches the halfway point, then switch to a 90 degree angle. This will cause the beer to foam up at the top, producing delightfully perfect head (which, without dwelling on the subject too much, is generally a preferable in many aspects of life).

With your beer now poured, raise it up and look at it. As the bubbles slowly rise up from the bottom and moisture gathers around the glass, take a moment to appreciate the beer and evaluate its color. Is it dark or light? A golden amber or a stout so thick you can barely see through it? The color of a beer is important, and it’s one of the first things that brewers use to describe a beer. While you examine your brew, be sure to note how the beer fizzes, or sits sad and lifeless. Little things like this can profoundly affect the taste of a beer.

Now that you’ve evaluated the beer’s color, notice the aroma, or “nose,” rising up from the glass. Just don’t be a snob about it! There’s no need to go swishing your beer about, poking your nose in the foam. With time and practice you’ll be able to distinguish the aromatic layers built into a beer as you pour it. These include a wide variety of smells, from lighter caramel finishes like the one in FIBC Lighthouse Ale to floral bouquets, malty infusions, and even subtle roasted scents.

Just remember that it’s what you smell, not what some expert says you should smell, or what the label on the beer says. So don’t go around pawning off some so-called expert’s description of a beer’s “nose” if you don’t actually detect anything. After all, would you repeat an expert’s opinion that praised a steakhouse that actually produced stuff that tasted like donkey meat? Of course not! Beer tasting is a decadently selfish venture: it’s all about how it tastes to you.

Ok, so you’ve poured the beer, you’ve looked at the beer, and you’ve smelled the beer-- there’s only one thing left to do. It’s time to taste the beer! Because taste and smell each contribute to the sensory experience of the other, many adjectives used to describe flavor are very similar to smell. A beer can have fruity flavors, be sharp, malty, sour, sweet, stout, bitter or anything in-between.

Think of a beer as having a personality. Is the beer you’re meeting a bitter old man? Soft and sweet like a young lover? Harsh like a demanding boss? Or coy and mysterious with hidden layers of flavor like...well you get the idea. Just don’t be shy about describing your beer, because the best description is the one that conveys the essence of what you’re tasting. If you describe a beer to a friend and they snap their finger’s in an epiphany of understanding, you’re on to something. If not, keep trying and tasting. You’ll find the right words.

It’s also important to try a beer more than once before you giving it a full evaluation. Beers are like people: sometimes the ones that seem bad at first may reveal more positive aspects on a second or third meeting, while others that seem sweet and alluring are doctored concoctions that turn out to be just plain nasty. Sure, there’s always love at first sip, but sometimes the best beers need time to grow on you.

Now, before I get to the last component of a proper beer evaluation, everyone who used to be one of those kids that made snide remarks in the back of the class needs to leave. Really. Just leave the room. Because we’re adults, right? And if you’re not, what are you doing on a beer site? Get out of here kid, before I tell your parents! So, this next one’s called “mouth feel”… and it’s, well, kinda like it sounds. How does the beer feel in your mouth? Light, smooth, and slightly bubbly, or thick like flat soda pop and hard to swallow? Hey! I told some of you to leave the room! We’re talking about beer here. God, the deer on Fire Island are more mature. Honestly… So yeah. Mouth feel. How it feels in your mouth. Got it?

So that’s it. You’re equipped with the basic things to focus on when evaluating and describing a beer: color, nose, flavor, and mouth feel. Yet no matter how many words, similes or metaphors you use, or how poetic you wax on barley and malts, there will always be something missing in your description of a beer for someone who’s never tried it. It’s just a fact of life. It’s like sitting on a dock in the Pines at sunset, or walking along the soft surf of Ocean Beach at dawn-- no amount of words can ever really substitute for the real experience.

Come to think of it, all of this talk about beer has gotten me thirsty, and I think it’s about time for me to head off and get a Fire Island Beer Company Lighthouse Ale. It’s a beautiful craft beer with a light golden color, a toasty round body, and a gently carbonated caramel finish that— wait. What am I saying? You shouldn’t be listening to me! Get off your computer and try it yourself!