NYC Tastes

It's New Brew Friday and to celebrate yet another snow storm in the books, we're opening up a Goose Island Bourbon County Reserve Stout 2017. The base for this beer is the original Bourbon County Stout which has been aged in eleven year old Knob Creek Bourbon Barrels.  This has all the wonderful qualities of a regular BCBS, loads of bourbon, chocolate, oak and vanilla, but with a slightly less sweet, more powerful barrel finish.  This beast of a beer clocks in at a 14.8% and is best enjoyed next to a crackling fireplace.  Cheers to the weekend! Goose Island Brewery Chicago, Illinois

Hope you find something Rare today :) Goose Island

It's almost time to go shopping...

I totally missed New Brew Friday so here's a Sunday edition that's seriously worth the wait- the 2013 Goose Island Bourbon County Stout. Let's start with the aroma....good lord I could honestly just sit here and smell this beer all day.  Boozy notes of bourbon, raisin, plum and toffee with some nice roasted malts.  The taste is big on bourbon followed by vanilla, cherry, oak and coffee.  It's complex and rich yet smooth and silky with a chewy mouthfeel.  The 2012 release was great but this blows it out of the water for me. This is just an exceptional beer.  Cheers! Goose Island

It's time for the weekend and this Friday we're talking about a mammoth, hard to find, incredibly delicious and complex beer...the Cherry Rye.  Goose Island took their regular Bourbon County Brand Stout, dumped it into rye whiskey barrels and added a ton of Michigan cherries. This beer pours jet black with very little head and huge aromas of bourbon.  You don't get much cherry on the nose at first but when you taste it...WOW...you get the full flavor of cherries up front, then rye, followed by a smooth, slightly hot vanilla end.  It's big (13.7%), bold, and absolutely fantastic. This beer has only been brewed once so the possibilities of finding a bottle right now are almost impossible.  But take a quick trip down to Top Hops right now and they have it on draft from their Goose Island event.  I got to enjoy it in all its wonder last night so hopefully one of you can enjoy before it all runs out.  Happy Friday! Goose Island Top Hops

Everyone knows the main dining room at Gramercy Tavern offers a fabulous tasting menu every night, but did you know the Tavern also offers a tasting menu with totally different items and at a much lesser cost.  Mr T and I were intrigued by the most recent one titled A Celebration of Craft Beer. We began with a Roasted Oyster amuse bouche from the chef. This was phenomenal.  I loved how roasting gave the oyster a warm smokiness that was surprisingly perfect with the brine...even Mr. T enjoyed this and he is not an oyster fan.  Onto our first course Shrimp & Mussels in a Carrot, Coconut and Quinoa Broth. The combination of  flavors in this dish were lovely.  It had a thicker broth than one would imagine, much earthier from the quinoa but then the coconut gave it an Asian spin and really lightened it up.  The pairing with a crisp Peekskill Simple Sour was spot on too.  Second course Smoked Sweetbreads with Grilled Asparagus and Toast...