"Patience is a virtue, possess it if you can,
seldom found in woman, never found in man."
Tastemasters, we had ourselves a hell of a weekend here at HQ. As many of you know, Brewmaster Eric celebrated his birthday this past weekend the way he always does - with 12 pounds of chili, 100 bags of fritos and 40 or so of his closest friends and well-wishers. Now if you do the math, you'd figure on everyone getting 2.5 bags of fritos and about a third of a pound of chili and a food-coma so severe that even the bei-est of rut's couldn't awake them from slumber. But numbers aren't everything, my friends. For some reason we pummeled the chili in two hours and were left with nearly 50 bags of leftover fritos (ps - if you guys want some fritos, I got the hook-up) - oh, and we rocked out til the wee hours with the good folks over at King's Head Tavern. As their website proudly bosts, you can reserve the entire back area for no charge and the manager Adam is a wicked cool Aussie who welcomed us with open arms and cash registers.
But that wasn't all, no sir, not by a long shot! Earlier in the afternoon, EVBC HQ opened its arms and cash registers to 30 or so well intentioned strangers for our very first hosting-spot on the Brooklyn Home Brew Tour organized by Josh over at Gut Instinct. Seeing as how Josh is a contributing author for such fine publications as TimeOutNY and New York Magazine, Brewmaster Marshall and I tried to put our best food forward in showing off what the East Village Brewing Company had to offer. There were laughs, there were hugs, and there was a well delivered homily on the history and meaning of the EVBC by a still sober Brewmaster Eric. Once the Avenue A-le and Stuy Town Nut Brown started flowing, the crowd sampled, judged, and - gasp! - approved! A general huzzah was pronounced for the amazing accomplishment of our fantastic light red ale, including such comments as:
"It's an ideal party beer."
"I really like the light taste, definitely different."
"My eyes are up here jackass."
"I give it a 7.5 or 8"
Using the power of rounding (and self-inflation), I thus proclaim we've created a unique light red ale that wowed the crowd with an 8 rating - on only our second batch! Holy crap!! After a furious 45 minutes of pressing flesh and slinging suds, B.M. and I were left with a Florida Gator's helmet full of pretzels, a stomach full of booze and a heart full of pride. Through our continued and shameless promoting of the EVBC name and our sweet new EVBC visors (not yet available on Cafe Press) we spread the home brew gospel in style.
I fully expected a ground swell of Facebook and Follower support here in the blogosphere...predictably I'm still waiting to reap the fruits of the seeds sown that fateful Saturday. Patience, as they say, isn't just a river in Egypt...perhaps the best birthday present I could really ask for isn't a hundred new Facebook fans or a few dozen more loyal Tastemasters to follow us here in blog-ville, but the dedication to continue honing our craft and to keep pumping out quality offerings like the Avenue A-le. Perhaps I'm best served reading more, learning more, and instead of worrying about getting fans I should worry about getting myself the skills it takes to be the best damn Brewmaster I can be.
Then again, I'd take those Facebook fans too - as the epically drunk Frank Sinatra once said, "May you live to be 100 and may the last voice you hear be mine."
seldom found in woman, never found in man."
Tastemasters, we had ourselves a hell of a weekend here at HQ. As many of you know, Brewmaster Eric celebrated his birthday this past weekend the way he always does - with 12 pounds of chili, 100 bags of fritos and 40 or so of his closest friends and well-wishers. Now if you do the math, you'd figure on everyone getting 2.5 bags of fritos and about a third of a pound of chili and a food-coma so severe that even the bei-est of rut's couldn't awake them from slumber. But numbers aren't everything, my friends. For some reason we pummeled the chili in two hours and were left with nearly 50 bags of leftover fritos (ps - if you guys want some fritos, I got the hook-up) - oh, and we rocked out til the wee hours with the good folks over at King's Head Tavern. As their website proudly bosts, you can reserve the entire back area for no charge and the manager Adam is a wicked cool Aussie who welcomed us with open arms and cash registers.
But that wasn't all, no sir, not by a long shot! Earlier in the afternoon, EVBC HQ opened its arms and cash registers to 30 or so well intentioned strangers for our very first hosting-spot on the Brooklyn Home Brew Tour organized by Josh over at Gut Instinct. Seeing as how Josh is a contributing author for such fine publications as TimeOutNY and New York Magazine, Brewmaster Marshall and I tried to put our best food forward in showing off what the East Village Brewing Company had to offer. There were laughs, there were hugs, and there was a well delivered homily on the history and meaning of the EVBC by a still sober Brewmaster Eric. Once the Avenue A-le and Stuy Town Nut Brown started flowing, the crowd sampled, judged, and - gasp! - approved! A general huzzah was pronounced for the amazing accomplishment of our fantastic light red ale, including such comments as:
"It's an ideal party beer."
"I really like the light taste, definitely different."
"My eyes are up here jackass."
"I give it a 7.5 or 8"
Using the power of rounding (and self-inflation), I thus proclaim we've created a unique light red ale that wowed the crowd with an 8 rating - on only our second batch! Holy crap!! After a furious 45 minutes of pressing flesh and slinging suds, B.M. and I were left with a Florida Gator's helmet full of pretzels, a stomach full of booze and a heart full of pride. Through our continued and shameless promoting of the EVBC name and our sweet new EVBC visors (not yet available on Cafe Press) we spread the home brew gospel in style.
I fully expected a ground swell of Facebook and Follower support here in the blogosphere...predictably I'm still waiting to reap the fruits of the seeds sown that fateful Saturday. Patience, as they say, isn't just a river in Egypt...perhaps the best birthday present I could really ask for isn't a hundred new Facebook fans or a few dozen more loyal Tastemasters to follow us here in blog-ville, but the dedication to continue honing our craft and to keep pumping out quality offerings like the Avenue A-le. Perhaps I'm best served reading more, learning more, and instead of worrying about getting fans I should worry about getting myself the skills it takes to be the best damn Brewmaster I can be.
Then again, I'd take those Facebook fans too - as the epically drunk Frank Sinatra once said, "May you live to be 100 and may the last voice you hear be mine."
