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Posts Written ByDonavan Hall

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By Donavan Hall, Beer Columnist The next Firkin Friday at DEKS is coming up soon; it’s this Friday, the 18th. A firkin of Green Flash Hop Head Red is on its way from Vista, California for our cask conditioned drinking pleasure. Hop Head Red is "a deliciously full-bodied and appropriately hoppy ale," according to Celebrator Beer News. It earned the silver medal in the American-Style Amber/Red Ale category in the 2007 Great American Beer Festival, the USA’s oldest and most prestigious craft beer competition. As far as I can tell, this may be Hop Head Red’s Long Island premier (in…

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By Donavan Hall, Beer Columnist It’s happening again: DEKS American Restaurant in Rocky Point is having another cask night. This time there will be an entire firkin (that’s a little more than 10 gallons) of a special edition from the York Brewery in England. York Brewery has been experimenting with different varieties of hops and has been releasing ales that use only a single variety. The advantage of this for the person interested in developing their beer tasting skills is that single hop beers make it possible to focus on the flavor coming from only that one hop. The hop…

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By Donavan Hall, Beer Columnist Last year I attended the Long Island Real Ale Festival with my beer writer hat on. This year, I’ll be there as a brewer. On January 6, my brewing buddy, Mike Voigt, and I mashed-in and brewed up a batch of an English-style Mild that we’ll be proud to serve at this Saturday’s Long Island Real Ale Festival held annually at the Blue Point Brewery in Patchogue. The beer has been fermenting away at Mike’s house for the last couple of weeks and earlier this week it was ready to transfer into the firkin.  We…

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By Donavan Hall, Beer Columnist A firkin of Oakham Bishops Farewell has just arrived in the US.  This particular firkin is reserved for thirsty Long Island beer enthusiasts. It will be tapped at Deks in Rocky Point on Friday, February 8. For the last few months Deks has played host to a series of cask nights instigated by the nascent Long Island Malt and Beer Enthusiasts, an organization devoted to the promotion of craft beer culture on Long Island.  I was very happy to see Lenn at the last cask night. (That cask night is also the subject of the…

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By Donavan Hall, Beer Columnist A little over a month ago I told you about the first "Firkin Friday" at Deks in Rocky Point. We had a good turn out of local beer enthusiasts to sample a Long Island-brewed, cask-conditioned ale. I snapped this pic of my brewing colleague, Mike, taking the first sip of the first pint of Blue Point Oatmeal Stout at our first Cask Night. That’s the back end of the firkin on the right. Dean and Kevin (the owners of Deks) are going to host another Firkin Friday on the 9th of November. Mark your calendar.…

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By Beer Columnist Donavan Hall Put this on your calendar! Firkin Friday at Deks in Rocky Point will feature a firkin of cask conditioned Oatmeal Stout from Blue Point Brewing Company. The cask will be tapped at 9 p.m. on Friday, September 28, 2007.  If you never had cask conditioned ale, now’s your chance.  If you love cask conditioned ale already, come on out and join us. Cask conditioned ale is a young beer. The brewing process for the ale is the same, but just as the primary fermentation slows, the beer is transferred from the fermenter to a cask…

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By Contributing Columnist Donavan Hall Show notes: On today’s show, let’s talk about summer beers.  Right now I’m drinking Shoals Pale Ale from Smuttynose.  Okay it’s not a Long Island beer, but  I picked this up at Big Z’s in Huntington along with some other summer beers.  My idea of a summer beer is one that is thirst quenching, light on the alcohol, and has a dry finish (tartness is a bonus). Speaking of summer beers, I brewed a hefeweizen last Sunday.  It’s fermenting away right now.  I brewed this beer from extract (a prepared malt syrup) instead of starting…

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By Contributing Columnist Donavan Hall I’m back this week with more reportage on the Long Island beer scene. For the whole story, you’ll have to listen to the podcast (links below), but I’ll give you a quick overview of what to expect. On today’s show, I take a trip to out to Big Z Beverage in Huntington (1675 East Jericho Tpk., 631-499-3479) and talk to the new owner, Mark Tuchman.  He took over the business a little over two months ago and he’s been reshaping his beer store into a craft beer destination. In the Long Island Beer Round-up, I…

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By Contributing Columnist Donavan Hall I’m soloing it again, but Rich will definitely be back on the show soon. On this installment I pop open a Blue Point Hoptical Illusion. It’s a fairly hoppy IPA. IPA stands for India Pale Ale. It’s a style of beer invented in England, but has been adopted by Americans and turned into a completely new beer. The English version was a Pale Ale that was more alcoholic and more highly hopped. The hops act as a preservative to keep the beer fresher tasting over the long voyage from England to India (hence the name).…

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On today’s show I tell you about my trip to Mr Beery’s in Bethpage to try Moo Thunder!  I hopped on a train and made it to Mr Beery’s just in time.  The beer club at Mr Beery’s had almost drained the keg before I got there.   Next on the show, I take the whole family on a trip out to Legends in New Suffolk.  Legens is a sports bar was some really excellent food.  They have about 30 or so taps and an extensive beer list that advertises more beers than they actually keep in their cellars.  …

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