As another new year begins in Whispering Acres, we once again celebrate that end of year/new year tradition, the crappy head (nose, throat, chest) cold.
Not to be confused with those more less popular seasonal alternatives, flu and covid, this particular experience is associated with a single individual, namely me.
It is usually good at nobbling me for a week or two, confining me to the aforementioned Whispering Acres, and reducing my alcohol intake during, what is for most folk, a period of celebration; no sparkling fizz for the Cask Whisperer, just a single slowly sipped hot toddy this year.
It took until this past Saturday to feel vaguely decent again.
Decent enough that I was finally up for a beer.
And fortunately, this past Saturday happened to follow the first Friday in January, which was celebrated at Brouwerij Lane with the tapping of a fine cask of the Bewildered Smoked Porter from Wayward Lane.
Heads up to the NYC Cask Crew for alerting me and other folks who follow them on Instagram.
If you are living anywhere in the Northeast and are into cask, and you are not following NYC Cask Crew and NERAX on Instagram, you are doing it wrong.
This blog may be good for the long-term cask event information, but these two Instagram accounts will give you the very best early warnings.
Saturday was cold but it was also dry and clear, so I bundled myself up and set off for the ferry, planning on walking to deepest Greenpoint from Long Island City, after a quick swing by Fifth Hammer of course.
It would have been easy to terminate my expedition at Fifth Hammer, as I have done many times in the past, but I was determined to push on and brave the freezing hump of the Pulaski Bridge.
So I had just the one cider as the cask is currently unavailable; the handpump had needed to be repaired and they ran out of cask ale in the meantime.
Not that a lack of cask ale would have curtailed a Fifth Hammer session for me, but it was the promise of a rare cask offering from Wayward Lane that spurred me on to Brooklyn.
So onward I forged, and despite a total lack of exercise for over a week, and despite the biting, brisk conditions above Newtown Creek, I crossed effortlessly from Queens to Brooklyn, and soon found myself pushing open the door to Brouwerij Lane and stepping into possibly the most unique beer store in the city, certainly the one with the most eclectic draft list.
I started with something from that draft list (Trillium Fort Point) while I waited patiently for the cask to be retrieved from the cold room and brought back to a suitable drinking temperature.
It took a while, which was just as well, as I sipped my way through the hazy pale ale; as much as I enjoy a NEIPA or NEPA, I find that I cannot hurry them, which is a shame because the hazy styles really cry out to be slugged to get the full juicy experience.
What can I tell you?
I am a bitter man.
Huh?
I had no trouble downing the smoked porters; of course I had two.
Opaque deep mahogany, with a faint foamy head which quickly dissipated and a prominent roasty smokiness; it wasn’t subtle, but it wasn’t in your face either.
If bacon could be described as mellow, then this was liquid mellow bacon.
Described as a robust porter, the robustness here comes from the solid roasted malty body, not the alcohol content, which was a respectable 5.5%.
And as with every other Wayward Lane beer that I have sampled (cask and otherwise) it was a fine example of the style; these folks really make the effort to perfect their brews.
Rumor has it that Wayward Lane have installed a beer engine in their farmhouse brewery upstate in Schoharie NY.
I am going to have head north to check it out.
As soon as I chase off this crappy head cold.
Scorecard w/e 1/7/25
In the past week the Cask Whisperer has enjoyed the following casks:
- Wayward Lane Bewildered Smoked Porter @ Brouwerij Lane
Upcoming Cask Events (Festivals and Otherwise)
1/17/25: RIF-RAF Rhode Island’s Finest Real Ale Festival (session 1) @ The Guild, Pawtucket RI
1/18/25: RIF-RAF Rhode Island’s Finest Real Ale Festival (session 2) @ The Guild, Pawtucket RI
2/1/25: 9th Annual Caskiversary @ Strong Rope, Red Hook, Brooklyn NY
3/21/25: Two Roads Cask Fest @ Two Roads Brewing, Stratford Ct
4/2/25 – 4/5/25: 26th Annual NERAX will be held in Boston MA. Save the dates!
Upcoming Random NYC Casks
- Nothing so far this week.
NYC Cask Venues
Known Operational/Active Beer Engines
- Jones Wood Foundry (x2)
- Fifth Hammer
- Wild East
- The Shakespeare (x3)
- Cask Bar & Kitchen
- Drop-off Service
Occasional Pins (worth a follow on Instagram)
- Strong Rope
- KCBC
- Tørst
- Blind Tiger Ale House
- Threes Brewing
- Brouwerij Lane (First Friday Firkins)
- The Owl Farm
