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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Next Cask Night at Deks: Oakham Bishop’s Farewell
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…
Beer Podcast: Those Summer Beers
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…
Beer Podcast: Captain Lawrence Brewing Company
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…
Re-Welcome Donavan Hall to LENNDEVOURS
You may have noticed that LENNDEVOURS’ contributing beer columnist, Donavan Hall, hasn’t been writing much for us lately. Don’t worry, he hasn’t vanished from the face of the earth. He’s just been busy. Like yours truly, he holds down a day job while exploring his passion for beverage writing in off hours. While I focus mainly on wine, the object of his desire is another fermented adult beverage-beer. This guy knows a lot about beer (I mean A LOT) and he even brews his own at home. From the sounds of it, he brews a lot of beer at home.…