Brewing Beer Across from the New York Stock Exchange

My friends Dave and Mike are all about good ole home brewing techniques courtesy of Brooklyn Homebrew in Gowanus, so I visited Dave at his Wall Street apartment to get friendly with the ale they were producing. As we were listening to Less Than Jake's Hello Rockview (All My Best Friends Are Metalheads video below) and singing along like good bromances are, I saw their process (they had already brewed the combination of hops and malt and now it was time to sanitize and bottle).

They took out their large container filled with the good stuff, it smelled very sweet. I was informed that Homebrew has all sorts of kits to start people off. After sieving the gunk and sanitizing the bottles (which is very important), a simple syrup was made and the beer was transfered to a large dispenser to bottle once the ingredients sat for a bit.

I have yet to sample my small 12 oz. bottle, but maybe I will this weekend. Check out these photos in the meantime.

The Chris Cab-tion Contest 4.7.09 - Chris Cabin Stars In...

Congrats to Mike for winning the first Chris Cab-tion contest. Here's this week's edition. The winner receives...a free DVD of Encounters At The End Of The World either on standard or Blu-ray. Oh and a free beer from Trader Joe's: Simpler Times Lager.

Chris Cabin is our very own resident film critic. You can read his reviews here.

Bar Spotlight (St. Patrick's Day Edition) - Irish Haven

Irish Haven

5721 4th Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11220

Oh Irish Haven. A haven indeed, Scorcese used this crusty bar's bar to film several scenes in The Departed. I lived in Sunset Park for 2 years and this was the only bar around that I consistently went to (or the only bar for that matter around period, although later on we found several on 3rd avenue and Feeney's a few blocks away).

Go here tomorrow for some St. Patrick's Day Irish American grub (mounds and mounds of soda bread and corned beef....for FREE) and some delicious pints of Guinness, Smithwicks, and PBR.

The layout of this bar is very simple: you walk in to the near windowless abode (if you walk in after hours, you gotta knock and Tommy should recognize you) and the place doesn't really get hopping with Irish and Russian delegates until 3:30AM or so. A waft of smells hit you, but most prevalent is just the beer. A few high tables with stools, an old jukebox with tons of Johnny Cash and U2 and Chieftains and Pogues, a long, knocked about wooden bar with lots of whiskey behind it and some of the most awesome bartenders ever. The bathrooms, where friends have slipped hilariously before, are at the end of the bar, and an open kitchen that rarely gets used, if only for a sandwich, is to your right. It's like an old bar from someone's basement, if their basement had higher ceilings. You got your one TV, and through the back there is the pool table and just some open space for people to lounge around.

I have never been to a bar that has this kind of atmosphere. Maybe I haven't been to enough bars way out in Brooklyn, but you will rarely find a place that might be so dangerous feeling initially but then you realize everyone is here to have fun. Like everyone. I've never seen someone NOT having fun here. Tommy is super generous with his time of course (the man is always there) and all the bartenders are so nice and the beer flows so fast before you know it you're in 4 pints and hankering for more hilarity. The stories flow just as much, you basically can't go there without striking up a conversation, and it's a stop for the local Irish community, whether from Eireann or here in the U.S.

The Russians will feed you vodka here just because, and well, it's actually kind of a fun place to impress a date. No really. As long as they are into the darker bars.

The prices are very, very cheap, 4 bucks a pint (like Buttermilk) and 3 for what used to be Schaeffer's, now PBR, or maybe Schlitz, who knows at this point.

The advantage of Sunset Park is that it hasn't changed as much and Irish Haven benefits from that by feeling so untouched by the world around it. It's a hard bar with a lot of heart, and if you've had a few they'll love you even more.

Remember, tomorrow for St. Patrick's Day they bring out the free corned beef and soda bread, served by the loveliest elder Irish lady. Grab your food and a beer and head to the back to chat and be merry. Also check out all those 5 star reviews on Yelp.

Bar Spotlight (Football Season Edition): Reade Street Pub

The Reade Street Pub is a downtown/Tribeca establishment complete with neon red "bar" sign fairly centrally located and a provider of some of the best, most delicately tender burgers in the city. Their fries aren't my favorite, but the burgers more than make up for it. I try not to look beyond the apps when eating at the bar during the game; it's an unnecessary cost (I mean, you're already out and about when you could be home watching the game instead, you know, not spending money). The new TVs are fantastic and a huge improvement.

Oftentimes the pub isn't filled with much of a crowd, but the loyalty is unquestioned. A lot of downtown suits come here to relax and kick back, and it's decidedly an unattractive bar in a sense. However, it's one of the few bars that's lit so you can actually see the person you're talking to, a la Limerick in Chelsea, which is a nice change of pace and there's a warmth although it's not the most crowded place. The burgers were really the key, and the fact that it's not loud like the Patriot Saloon, has more bar space than Walker's, and less cheesy than Tribeca Tavern, and certainly more casual than any number of lounges in the area. The only real competition in the immediate area is something like Puffy's or Kenn Broome.

The one oustanding thing about this place is also the beer is as cheap as it gets; there are very few places that are always on the lookout with 3 dollar mugs and as far as I can remember PBR for dirt cheap, comparable to the Patriot, which is probably one of the top 5 cheapest bars in the city.

Back to the brand new large HD TVs that they have behind the bar at a low level so it's very watchable, they have 3 or 4 along the bar, the projection in the back, and a couple more along the walls (the space behind the bar isn't much so you can really get a homey close up with the games). There were TVs before but were replaced and now it's just actually a good pick to go for the games. The tables on the restaurant end in the back and off to the side are good but the bar is really inviting, everything is just more open here, less stiff. The food sits on place settings with the same old Gaelic ad/history bit, and no one here is afraid to start up a conversation with someone else at the bar. The 'tenders are fairly chatty but always attentive as well. Photos are all around of times gone by.

It's a hop skip to Brooklyn from here, accessible to the A,C,1,2,3 and R trains.

The official site isn't much, so might I suggest the Yelp page here for more info: Reade Street Pub on Yelp.