Books

Events

Beer Tasting & Tour Packages

JoshuaMBernstein-Packages.png

Need helping planning your next big beer adventure?
From birthday beer bashes to guided tastings and brewery tours, I have a trio of curated packages available.

The underground is always evolving. So many of my favorite homebrewers have gone pro, basement beer tomorrow’s bar best-seller. But! Know what’s also fun? Checking out the next generation at the @brewminaries fourth-anniversary party. Time, it goes on and on. And the beer gets better and better.
Fact: all business lunches are better with pizza and beer. And downtown Brooklyn’s stellar @circabrewingco has one of the best lunch deals in the city. Here, $15 buys a not-so-mini pizza, a heaping salad *and* a house-brewed beer like this dry stout. I foresee more, uh, “working” lunches here on future Fridays.
First day of spring means it’s time to break out the new shoes. To drink: @fortpointbeer Resonance, a saison blended with a bit of funky beer for a tart and rustic touch. Also: spring!
I call this one: Waiting for good news—portrait of a five-year-old inside a newspaper box.
Why yes, I did spend five minutes trying to get a picture of a glitter beer, failing miserably. These are strange beer times. Last week, everyone was crazy for a Lucky Charms beer. This week, there’s @duclawbrewingco’s Sour Me Unicorn Farts (!), a 🍩-inspired beer made with Fruity Pebbles and finished with edible glitter. For what it’s worth, it’s successful at what it supposed to be: a tart and sparkly sour ale that evokes cereal suited for Saturday-morning cartoons. Fun! At its core, though, the beer is tailor-made for our 2019 trend cycles, something to Instagram (“That’s so crazy!”) before moving onto the next beer. And there will always be a next. As the world gets crazier, folks seem to be gravitating toward beers that evoke childhood pleasures, finding comfort inside a can. At least, that’s my take. Got any opinions? #glitter #glitterbeer
Wrestling. Imperial stouts. Yeah, that’s a Saturday. Thanks for making the weirdness a wonderful thing, @otherhalfnyc. #pastrytown
Well, it only took six months of living here, but I finally got around to organizing my booze cabinet—original to the house from 1910. So, I guess, why not sip some @drinkhighwest Bourye, a spicy and sweetly luscious blend of bourbon and rye. Also: that plastic bottle on the bottom shelf is sweet potato booze, a Chinatown impulse purchase. Domestic Friday nights. Whoo! #boozecabinet #spirits #nightcap
No phrase strikes more panic into the heart of a parent than “half-day of school.” What do you do with all those hours? Well, you spend, uh, four hours in a playground and then bribe the kids with grilled cheese, checkers and crayons for drawing @covenhovennyc. A pint of @platformbeerco IPA and some @suarezfamilybrewery Saunter, an English mild, and all is right in the world.
It’s fun to break out of your bubble every once in a while. Spent the afternoon checking out the folks @sakebrooklyn, which will soon be two different sake breweries charting a course in NYC. (Story for a different future story.) There are fewer than 20 licensed sake breweries in America, a huge opportunity to make a mark in an underserved field of fermentation. Some of these rice-based brews are traditional, like this cloudy nigori, while others will be offbeat like the stout-style sake in the second pic. Fermentation! Never dull. #sake #sakebrewery #brooklynsake
Well! That has been a rather packed 36 hours. During that span, I accomplished the following things: I traveled back and-forth to Hershey, Pennsylvania, to help judge a #homebrew competition @troegsbeer; rode the subway home during the depths of rat-ridden despair known as Sunday at midnight; got four hours of sleep; helped get a kid ready for school; finished off a story draft; and led a three-hour private brewery tour across Brooklyn. Jason @strongropebrewery poured us tank samples of this fresh and festive dry Irish stout. Now: sleep? Maybe! I am a tired writer-judge-tour guide-parent trying to navigate this 21st-century hustle. #beertour #beerme #itsbedtime
Amtrak! Rail travel gets a bad rap in America, but lo, there is no finer way to traverse the Northeast from the comfort of a comfy seat, free to roam around, charge your phone and sip your choice of beverage, namely this 32-ounce crowler of fine export lager from @troegsbeer, where I spent the better part of the afternoon judging very, very strong homebrews. The downside (or voyeuristic upside): fellow passengers’ willingness to vocally reveal hopes and secrets on public phone calls.
It was one of those mornings when I woke up and thought, “Man, I’d really like to continue to turn our bedroom and living room into a jungle.” We spent many, many hours @brooklynplantology, one of Brooklyn’s widest ranging and most affordable plant stores. Now, eight hours and 18 potted plants later, I’ve so earned this @finbackbrewery / @interboronyc Fat Peach, a double IPA done up with its namesake fruit, sticky rice and a wee bit of milk sugar. It’s what you want to drink for dessert after eating a spicy Thai curry for dinner. And now back to removing all the🌵spikes from my fingers. #plants #beerme