This is not Pokemon.
But it is all about the journey and the friends that you make along the way …
… or something like that.
Our short (still dealing with the after-effects of the lurgy) tale this week is about the one that got away, but it is also about a delightful afternoon spent on the water and on the waterfront.
Those folk paying attention to last week’s post, may have noticed that I had updated the random cask entry in the scorecard section as a result of receiving a heads-up comment from Strong Rope Brewery; they were planning on putting a pin of their Petrini pilsner on the bar at the Red Hook location last Friday at or around noon.
Me being the lazy soul that I am, decided to hold off my visit to Red Hook until Saturday, with good reason; I mean, have you ever tried to get to Red Hook from uptown Manhattan, or anywhere in NYC?
Back in the day, and possibly again in the future, when the temperatures drop back into the reasonable 60s, I would have considered walking it: Google tells me I could do it in three and a half hours if I go over the Manhattan Bridge.
That route would also take me past Mei Lai Wah in Chinatown, the home of the pork-stuffed pineapple buns and darling of the Instagrammers; love me some pork buns.
Or I could take a train and a bus, or two different (any two) trains and a different bus, and toss in about twenty minutes walking, and get there in an hour and fifteen minutes if I made all connections.
The other option and my preferred one, would be to take two ferries, twenty minutes walking, and kill another thirty minutes at Pier 11 waiting on the connection, for a total time again of one hour thirty minutes.
That is a lot of effort, especially after work on a Friday evening, and especially after spending almost two weeks on my back.
So, Saturday it was then.
I had managed to do it that way on several occasions, and still got my hands and lips on the cask, so I was hopeful.
And it started off really well as there was a wee beastie of a cruise ship in port at Red Hook, and the clever folks who realized that they could get to the ship via ferry instead of Uber, all timed their cross-river hop to coincide with my own connection, making it full but late; no thirty-minute wait for me, and I managed to get from home to Strong Rope in just under an hour.
So, I bounded (ha!) into Strong Rope just before 1pm, expecting to have the place to myself for a few minutes (it is Brooklyn you know), and feeling confident that I would be seeing the pin parked on the bar.
Not a chance.
The place was already mobbed, which was truly surprising, but made me very happy.
The cask was long gone, which was initially disappointing, but also made me very happy.
I love it when I am in a bar or brewery, and I am not the only person drinking the cask ale.
So, did I slink out again with my tail between my legs?
No way.
I stayed for a good two hours, had three pints, starting with the draft instance of the Petrini and moving on to a couple of IPAs, Wolf Pack and Field Drinker (APA perhaps?), and soaked up the boisterous ambiance.
If I had more time and energy I would have explored Red Hook some more; I really have to do that as a day out one day.
But I ended up rushing out with one eye on the ferry schedule, blowing off Steve’s Key Lime Pies, hurrying once more right past the front doors of Widow Jane Distillery and coming within a block of Keg & Lantern Brewery again; I really need better time management skills.
I did catch the ferry back though, and once again lucked into an instant connection at Pier 11, to take me northbound and home.
I ended up getting out and back in under five hours, but that was enough for me this time.
The river and bay were beautiful though.
No new friends this week, except a couple of the four-legged variety encountered in Strong Rope, but the journey was indeed worth it.
Scorecard w/e 08/27/24
In the past week, The Cask Whisperer has enjoyed the following casks:
- Old Glenham Session Bitter @ Jones Wood Foundry
Upcoming Cask Events (Festivals and Otherwise)
9/7/2024: Noah Webster House Real Ale Harvest Festival, West Hartford CT
11/2/2024: 20th Annual Blue Point Cask Ale Festival, Patchogue NY
11/8/2024: Two Roads Cask Fest at Area 2, Stratford CT
Upcoming Random NYC Casks
- Sadly, no erratics have been identified 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
