For us, every single week in the year is CT Beer Week, but it’s cool when we really focus in on what we have here. And, what we have here is a growing, thirving community of brewers and hopheads who are keeping the beer scene active. So, whether you’ve been a hardcore supporter since the start, you’re just a plain ‘ol beer lover, or you’re new to CT beer or just beer in general, there are plenty of great things going on during CT Beer Week from November 15-21 (see some below). Continue reading
If you keep up with Connecticut Beer, then chances are you follow Will Siss in some form or another. Whether it’s his monthly “Beer Snob” column in the RepublicanAmerican, or via his blog beersnobwrites.com, he’s dropping beer knowledge bombs left and right. But, he’s added a new way to share about beer and his uberly descriptive reviews: a brand new book.
If you don’t own Connecticut Beer: A History of Nutmeg State Brewing by now, you’ll need to definitely pick up a copy at a local store, Amazon, or at some of the local events that He will be attending. We have a list below that Will shared with us, so read on for that. And, if you really needed a reason besides our love and admiration of this book, let’s drop some bombs of our own.
Connecticut Beer starts off with an impressive history of beer in CT, sharing things we both had no idea about (what? there’s a restaurant here that used to be a speakeasy?) From there, Will takes the reader through all the CT breweries that were in production before publication. And, each brewery section includes a history of the brewery, a run through of the beer offered, and a quick Q&A from the brewer or owner. He then wraps the book up with some breweries close to opening and a great guide to restaurants in the state that are known for having a stellar brew selection.
Two places that we love in Fairfield, Craft 260 and Harry’s Wine & Liquor, have teamed up to create a killer beer festival! Check out how sick this is: 18 Breweries from Connecticut will be bringing two casks each. The awesome thing about this is that each brewery will start with the same base beer, but both casks from each will be different with spices, hops, and other add-ins. So, it’ll be an interesting experiment to see how breweries can change the taste of a brew by just adding in different ingredients and methods.
On this last day of winter, we figured that it’d be pretty slick to pay tribute to all the great stouts that we tasted this past season that come from Connecticut breweries. Yes, we typically think of stouts and darker beers in the colder months, but we see nothing wrong with drinking these bad boys even if it’s warmer out. So, check out these brews and let us know which of these are your faves? If the one you’re in love with isn’t on the list, let us know so that we can try it!
Imperial Choconaut Porter limited release, Firefly Hollow
Numbers don’t lie (more on that below), but that’s not what Stony Creek Brewery of Branford, CT now believes. They started by producing their 203, 860, and 401 brews right at Thomas Hooker, so they never did have a place of their own. But, that’s soon to change as they get ready for a February/March opening of their brand new brewery in Branford. What will it be like, what changes have they made, and what kind of brews do they have planned? We found out all of those things when we had a nice talk with Sales Director Jamal Robinson who used to work at Blue Point . . . and we’re ready to share everything that we learned: Continue reading
We recently told you all about BeerConn, a new beer festival that’s coming to Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport on 12/13. As we noted, there will be over 50 breweries with more than 100 different brews to sample and taste. Tix are just $35 per person and that gets you into either the 12:30-4 session or the 5:30-9 session. And, now, you can get your tickets, so don’t delay because there are a limited number of them available.
As food bloggers here in Fairfield County, we’ve seen the food & beverage scene grow immensely since we started back in 2010. One of the biggest areas in the food and bev biz to kick some serious butt has been CT breweries! Just think, in 2011, we had just 16 breweries, in 2012 we had 21 breweries, in 2013 there were 23, and now, we have 30 in-state breweries that are open with 45 breweries slated to be open by 2015*. Doing the math on that, that’s current growth of a whopping 81.25% since 2011! And the best thing is, these breweries are not just about making beer for beer’s sake…they’re about making good beer that we can all be darn proud of! Which brings us to our point…
Not enough of the rest of the U.S. knows about all the great beers CT has to offer and it’s about time they did! Now, to be fair, some of this is due to limited distribution, although things are getting better. As example, The CT Brewers Guild has become a unifying force in putting CT beer forward as a whole with an all for one and one for all mentality. And, this past year has seen CT breweries take sizable steps into new markets like Two Roads pushing into NYC, MA, and Rhode Island, Half Full pouring out brews in Westchester County, Thomas Hooker bringing suds to MA, NJ, NY, and PA and Overshores even expanding distribution to Washington, DC.
Read on to find out how to earn this limited edition badge, but act fast…CT Beer and Restaurant week only goes until October 19!
2014 has been a great year for CT beer. There have been many brewery expansions, openings of new breweries, and breweries that have been working hard on opening a place of their own. Plus, not for nothing, but this is CT’s 2nd beer week in a year! The first was from May 12-18 and was designed to coincide with American Craft Beer Week and now we’ve got the 2nd Beer Week going down now from October 13-19.
And…here we go! A ton of things are going on in Fairfield County (and nearby) that you definitely need to be a part of. So, check those calendars, text your friends, and get out there! And, don’t forget about two more things: CT Beer + Restaurant Week is 10/13-19 and Chowdafest takes over Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk on 10/12.
Okay, getting drinking and eating…
10/11 Farmboys Smokin’ BBQ will be at Black Hog (a pair made in heaven!) in Oxford from 1-5. So, make a day of it: pound down some good brews and nom away on some awesome pulled pork, chicken sandwiches, coleslaw, and their killer smoked mac & cheese. How killer? Enough that we’d order that same dish two years in a row for Kristien’s birthday bash.
The first stages of the Half Full Mole Stout
Patience. Overwhelming, meticulous, and methodical patience. That’s what we discovered Jen Muckerman, Headbrewer at Half Full, has as we brewed a beer together. A serious scientific and orderly mind that moves her to create an arsenal of beer on tap at the brewery and for distribution. And, a nice little side effect was some of that rubbing off on us…yeah, we know: patience is a virtue and stuff.
It all started back at Dinosaur Bar-b-que after the Rare Beer Night on the SoundWaters boat a few months back. Jen said we should do a beer together so we were like…damn right, son! We talked about it for hours and hours. We didn’t want to do a standard kind of beer…it was going to be for Rare Beer Night after all: a monthly event highlighting nanobrews made by Jen, Jon, guest brewers, and the brew crew. Our immediate thought was to make it somehow food based, but still accessible and highly addictive. We settled on creating a dark stout made with typical mole ingredients, inspired by our favorite mole dish at Casa Villa in Stamford, CT.
Dan and Kristien Del Ferraro
OmNomCT 
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