Pilsners are the most ubiquitous beer style in the World. The invention of the Pilsner in Pilsen, Czech Republic, in the 1840s is often cited as the biggest revolution in brewing history. Before the Pilsner, beer was usually dark, murky, and a little sweet. The new Pilsner was gold in color, relatively clear in appearance, and it had a subtle spicy and floral flavor from the hops. People immediately loved this new and different beer style and it was quickly replicated all over the World.

Since the original excitement over this new beer style, large industrial brewers have started using adjuncts and lowering hopping rates. This has made the majority of the Pilsners very bland and watery. However, there are many skilled craft brewers out there making very exciting versions of the Pilsner.

Our next Styles Session event will be on June 8th. We will be going on a flight of 8 Pilsners, from the original Pilsner Urquell to the new and exciting variations that American craft brewers are creating. Learn about the good ones, avoid the bad ones.

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Tomorrow (5/21), the East Village Tavern will be having a Troegs Brewing Company event, which will include the very rare Troegs Hop Back Amber, dry-hopped, and on cask. The other brews on tap from Troegs will be the Nugget Nectar, Mad Elf, Sunshine Pils, Dreamweaver Wheat, Rugged Trail Brown Ale, and the Pale Ale. All beers will cost $5 between 7-9PM. The first 24 people there will get a Troegs glass.

Tonight there are two very special events. In Manhattan, today kicks off the Stone Brewing Company Week event at Rattle 'N' Hum. In Brooklyn there is the Night Of The Big IPAs event at Bar Great Harry tonight. Check out those beer lists.

Yesterday I journeyed to Queens for the opening day at Studio Square. In terms of square feet, this is the biggest beer drinking establishment I have experienced. According to the owners, the place includes over 100,000 square feet of beer drinking space with equally large area indoors and outdoors. With over 80 taps pouring, among others, Stone Brewing Company, Dogfish Head, and Captain Lawrence, this place is worth the trip to Queens. The outdoor area is full of row tables for communal liter consumption with a fire pit and a 5,000 square foot wrap around balcony for a bird's eye view of the whole scene.

Check out the beer selection

Photos:

Back In The Day
Before bottles and cans took over as the dominant container for off-premises beer consumption, people commonly used half-gallon tin buckets to transport beer from the local saloon to drink wherever they pleased. These tin buckets were commonly referred to as growlers. There is much speculation about the origin of the name, but my guess is the name came from the sound buckets made when bubbling with carbonation from a fresh pour of beer.

It was estimated that at the beginning of the 1900s, (roughly) two-thirds of beer sales at saloons went to off-premises consumption in growlers. Growlers were extremely popular because they were about half as expensive as drinking in the saloon and they allowed you the freedom to drink anywhere you wanted.

Growlers made beer drinking a very social activity. The large half-gallon size made them best for sharing. Men, typically during lunchtime, would hire children to fill up their growlers at the saloon, what they called "rushing the growler." Women during the day were known to have "growler groups" where they would socialize over a growler.

The saloon keepers resented growlers because they were not very profitable, but popular demand forced them to sell growlers until bottles and cans took over.


The Modern Growler
A modern reincarnation of the growler is becoming increasingly popular with the rapid growth of small craft breweries in the US. The modern growler is a half-gallon glass jug with a resealable cap. An increasing number of beer stores and bars are offering growler fills. We currently list the beer menus of 15 places that offer growlers, but there are many, many more out there.

People decided to reincarnate growlers, because growler beer is typically fresher and has a different taste from bottled beer. With bottled beer, you never know how long a beer has been sitting on the shelves in a beer store (some breweries date when their beer is bottled, many do not). In addition, many small breweries and small brewpubs hold off on investing in a bottling machine when they get started. Growlers enable you to buy beer from these "up and coming" breweries in a store.

Modern growlers typically last about one week unopened, or a few days once opened. With more and more places selling growlers, it's becoming more and more convenient to just pop in a store or bar to pick up a growler the day you want to drink some fresh beer, similar to the way it was "back in the day."

Growlers are still approximately half as expensive as drinking in a bar, and in NYC, growlers even compete with store-bought bottled beer in price. A typical six-pack of beer in a store costs over ten dollars and a typical growler costs about $10-$12.

Conclusion
Some beers are best bottle-conditioned, or matured in a bottle, and some beers are best served in cask-conditioned form. However, growlers are an economical way to drink fresh draft beer from some of the most exciting local and regional brewers.

Places on BeerMenus that offer growlers

We just finalized the list of 8 tripels for our next Styles Session.

The beers:

Westmalle Tripel
Chimay White
La Rulles Triple
Slaapmutske Nightcap
Victory Golden Monkey
Mikeller-Stone-AleSmith Collaboration
Captain Lawrence Xtra Gold
Brewer's Art Green Peppercorn Tripel

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For the next few batches of coupons, we will be announcing free beer coupons on our Twitter page and our Facebook page. We are doing this to give everyone a fair chance at getting a free beer.

Check out our most recent batch of coupons here.

Looking for some Mexican cuisine and craft beer tonight to celebrate the Mexican army's defeat of French forces in 1862?

Manhattan:
Check out Hop Devil Grill. The HDG provides an extensive menu of Mexican cuisine to accompany their big list of craft beers on tap.

Brooklyn:
Check out The Bell House They are hosting the Guactacular Invitational, where local restaurants will bring their best guacomole, which guests get to judge... for free. They also have a long list of craft beers, including a big variety of Captain Lawrence beers currently.

Westchester:
Check out Tomatillo. This restaurant has an impressive craft beer selection and a great food menu with Mexican cuisine.

A beer style traditionally brewed by monks in Trappist monasteries in Belgium, Tripels are light-bodied blonde ales that are deceptively strong. Once brewed exclusively in monasteries, the Tripel is now brewed by many breweries throughout the World. Join us for a flight of 8 of our favorite Tripels paired with some great cheeses.

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Check out photos from our last Styles Session event with Saisons:








Photos courtesy of Brendan McNamara.

Today through Sunday swing by the Brazen Head for the 18th 'Cask Head' cask festival. There will be over 30 cask ales to choose from with 12 tapped at all times and you can pay as you go with no entry fee. A special thanks to the Gotham Imbiber for this event.

The list of beers:
Blue Point Whiskey Barrel Aged Rye Beer
Brooklyn Brewery Coffee Stout
Captain Lawrence Expresso Stout
Chelsea Scotch Ale
Chelsea Imperial Stout
Chelsea Imperial Mild
Chelsea Rye's Up
Defiant Single Finger IPA
Heart Land Full Moon Barley Wine
Heartland Buffalo Boc
Hook Norton Bitter
Kelso St. Gowanus
KelsoPorter
Left Hand Milk Stout
Left Hand Jackman
Livery Bee Keepers IPA
Oscar Blues Dales Pale Ale
Oscar Blues Old Chub Scottish Ale
Oscar Blues Ten Fiddy Imperial Stout
Pioneer Double Bock
Ridgeway Foreign Extra Stout
Ridgeway Ivanhoe Pale Ale
Six Point Otis Wheat
Six Point Ginger Midge Wheat Beer
Sly Fox Benedin's Pale Ale
Sly Fox Brown Ale
Sly Fox ESB
Stoudt's Pale Ale
Stoudt's Double IPA
Voodoo Gran Met
Voodoo Pillzilla
Voodoo 4 Season's IPA Voodo Wynona Brown
Wyerbacher Old Heather