I discovered this somehow on the internet… http://www.beeronthepier.com
A day of beer sampling on New York City's pier 54 in the west Village.
It was advertised that 100 breweries would be there and restaurants around the city would be there with tapa style servings of their menu offerings for low prices. All this and a collectors sampling cup for $35.
I became excited at the idea after reading the list of breweries that would be there. There were some micros from the US some larger breweries from Europe. It seemed very appealing. I bought our tickets and waited in anticipation for a couple of months.
The event was rain or shine and when the day came the weather was not looking very good. A chance of afternoon showers threatened and didn't disappoint.
We arrived at Penn station and with a subway trip would be there just as the doors opened. The problem began when the homing pigeon in me got turned around and we headed east for a few blocks and before we realized my mistake had to back track through the busy streets… We were now about 45 minutes behind schedule.
When we finally arrived we were greeted by a line that stretched 2 city blocks. We were there for another 45 minutes cooling our heels… Judging the size of the crowd in the line and the already full event we ventured that there were anywhere between eight to twelve thousand thirsty people. That was about five thousand tickets too many in my mind…
We finally arrived after having to show our i.d , tickets and subject to a search… and we were handed our "collectors" sampling cup… it was a brittle plastic Dixie cup with a 2 ounce demarcation. It looked like one drop and you would be without a cup. I wondered aloud if we were going to get a replacement. Nobody was forthcoming with an answer.
When we got through the gates it was so packed that it was impossible to move… It was impossible to even see the beer tents.
Judging by the young age of the crowd and the intense crowding I began to get the feeling a riot was in the works…
The crowds were giving me a feeling of anxiety and I wanted to just leave. There are plenty of decent places to go in New York to sample beer. Carla insisted we at least find the Chimay tent. So we pushed our way into the crowd. Our first offering was exactly 2 ounces of now forgotten pale ale… it was not very memorable and we pushed ahead determined to try and sample as we went…
As we headed closer to the front we got into a rhythm.
Among the stand outs that we tried.. My biggest surprise was Tinkov… This was a Russian Pilsner. Very full bodied. It had a nice balance of hops and malt. The rep at the tent was one of the few people interested in talking about rather than spilling out his beer.
Languanitas (sp?) had a nice offering of Copper Ale, Pils, and an IPA. Also had someone working there who was more interested in more than just bartending. Schwelmer… Good brew unfortunately the person handing the samples was soused and I never got to try all of their offerings.. Carla was able to acquire a couple of bottle from them and I hope to sample their alt sometime soon.
Brooklyn Brewery as usual had several offerings that are typically always good.
The day was a challenge… We tried to sample things that we normally don't get to try. I have to say that there were some less than memorable brews there… over hopped, funky flavors.
I would say the overwhelming offerings were IPAs and Pale ales. I got the feeling that the variety was left at home for more discerning taste buds.
Eventually the rain came and the crowds thinned ever so slightly and we tried for a run at the porto sans. This was the only area that New York's finest could be found. Keeping peace at the toilets. Even that venture was poorly planned. We ended up standing on line for about a half hour or more.
We kept at our tour. Our grail was the Chimay tent. Which when we found was not offering Chimay, but some alternative. The "gentleman" at this tent was really nasty. I guess it was apparent where all the Chimay went to. We harassed him for a while and decided that there were greener pastures.
We sampled some Arrogant [censored] Ale. They were neither arrogant or [censored]. The ale was quite good in fact.
We made our way to the stage and watched the drunks and attention [censored] dance off the effects of the beer and had some laughs.
We finally made our way out after about 6 hours. The crowd had thinned and the beer had thinned even more.
It was definitely an experience. I don't know that I would want to re-visit this event. I am sure the only thing that stopped any rioting was that they never ran out of beer… It was the one well planned part of this event.
I have a feeling there were approximately ten thousand swollen heads the following day. I myself treated myself to a Spaten Optimator the next afternoon that we managed to add to our backpack of acquired samples.
I look forward to the next beer tasting… Perhaps without ten thousand of my closest friends.
Jimbo(san)