After months of anticipation, the 2010 installment of NYC Craft Beer Week has finally arrived!  So dust off your drinking shoes because it’s going to be a wild and crazy ride.
Aside from some of the hotly anticipated events such as dinner at Mas and home brewer apartment tours, one of the best parts about the next 10 days is simply visiting some new (or oft overlooked) bars participating in this year’s Passport.  As a public service to all New York imbibers, we’ve decided to publish our closely guarded and way-too-much-time-spent-on-developing …

Now that we all know just how important it is for everyone to participate in NYC Craft Beer Week, here’s exactly how to do it.  It’s simple really.  Just go online here or go to one of the participating bars to pick up one of these NYC Beer Passports:

At the frankly ridiculously low price of $10, you can’t afford not to get one.  Plus, most of the coupons in the Passport have offers which extend well beyond October 3rd, when NYC CBW ends.  But time is running out so hurry …

New York City is a tough place to make it… it doesn’t matter if you are a hard working indie rock band, an uber-talented pastry chef or a humble handmade pork dumpling shop.  Why is that?  First off,  there’s tens of thousands of people who are trying to do the exact same “thing” as you – no matter what that “thing” might be – and New York’s Darwinian culture only recognizes the most successful of the lot.  Second, to make matters worse, a clear hierarchy has been established in New …

“Preparing the winery for harvest is all about cleaning,” says William.  And just in case you didn’t believe him, here are some recent photos of his handy work to prove it.

William explains:
“Photo 1: basic sanitizing for the start of harvest.  For each tank it takes 1.50 hours to clean..  they only have 30 tanks to do and I still spent the entire week cleaning tanks.
Photo 2: lining the used barrels for cleaning and then selling them off.  With our barrel program at Patz & Hall, each barrel is only used …

Tonight, New York wines met The Piggery.  Yes, we’ve been getting The Piggery’s CSA half-hog share all summer long but tonight was the first time we actually paired their New York delicacies with local wine.  Shame on us.
TasteNY is a Twitter/blog event where wine bloggers focus on tasting through a flight of local wines and post their tasting notes, pairing recommendations and general musings.  This week, we had three offerings from Shinn Estate Vineyards.  And what better way to complement the Long Island wines than with some upstate pork from …

After spending a few months in Argentina’s varied wine countries in the north, one thing became crystal clear to us:  the quality of wines in San Juan, Cafayate and Mendoza at the $10-$15 per bottle price point is staggering.  Above that price, fine Argentinian wines definitely deserve a seat at the table of the best New World wines (if you want to read more about them, click here).  But even more impressive is that below $10, there are a remarkable number of accessible and tasty wines being produced.  Perhaps nobody has caught onto …

After having spent a few months exploring the local watering holes of Brooklyn, it’s clear that one tiny area has emerged as the go-to place for getting your drink on.  Tucked into a tiny corner of Greenpoint, the intersection of Greenpoint Ave and Franklin St has slowly emerged as ground zero of the Brooklyn beer revolution.  And with new bars being added seemingly every month or so, things are set to get even better.  Here is a Google Streetview of what we’re talking about:

In no particular order…
Brouwerij Lane – what …

Like white pants, summer beverages loose a bit of their momentum after Labor Day so we thought we’d share a few of our favorite summer bottles to help you plan for the long weekend.
Beer: Modelo Especial – in a can.
Yes, we’re excited about the big, heavy triples being back in season again but, let’s be honest: there’s nothing that screams summer like a Negra Modelo, in a can, in the sun. Pair it with corn on the cob (dressed with mayo, cayenne pepper and, yes, processed parmesan cheese), guacamole or, …