SAVOR-Y, 2013 Edition

That song never gets old.

Thanks to the Craft Brewers Conference, SAVOR, an annual festival that pairs American-made craft beer with food, has moved to New York City, where it's having a bit of trouble selling out. So a colleague and I decided to have some fun over at DCBeer.com, letting New York know that the District appreciates good beer, and that we brew our own.

many breweries... claim to be in New York City, but brew elsewhere. Brooklyn Lager and other flagships? Utica, New York, home of the steamed ham. Sixpoint’s cans? Scranton, Pennsylvania (see below). Bronx Brewery’s many pale ales? Pawcatuk, Connecticut. The only major New York City brewery that doesn’t do some contracting is Kelso, which has enough capacity that it has contract brewed for Sixpoint. Take a bow.

Garrett Oliver, Brooklyn Brewery's brewmaster, even took time to comment on the post, and we had a good chat.

We also posted the DCBeer.com consensus top 25 beers of SAVOR. It's hard to pick just 25, but there was a fair amount of overlap between our choices. Here are my 25, in alphabetical order. Compare with DCBeer's.

Allagash FV13, American Wild Ale - Just an excellent sour beer.  

Avery Odio Equum, American Wild Ale - Just an excellent extremely sour beer.
Ballast Point Habanero Sculpin IPA  - The best IPA in America, spicier! 

Bayou Teche Cocodrie, IPA  - This brewery has done some interesting stuff, so it's telling that they waited this long before doing an IPA. Come see how they did. 

Bell's Black Note, Imperial Stout - This beer is highly-sought after, for good reason. You could drink a lot of this beer. You shouldn't, but you could. 

Bell's Raspberry Wild One, American wild ale - A little tart, a little funky.

Bull & Bush Brewery Tunip the Beets, Field Beer  - I might want 2 oz of this, which is what SAVOR is for. 

Boulevard Saison Brett - Perhaps the best example of this style.

Crooked Stave Surrette, Saison - Well, maybe this one. 

Yazoo Brett Saison - Or this one.

Choc Brewing Signature Gose - Choc is single-handedly responsible for resurrecting grazter, a smokey, hoppy, Prussian wheat beer. They found a recipe, found the yeast from a Polish homebrewer, the smoked malt from a German producer, and brought it back from extinction. Their gose will be similarly authentic.

Full Sail LTD Bohemian Pilsner

Firestone Walker Pivo Pilsner - Not one, but two breweries are bringing Czech-style pilsners. Fans of American IPAs may be pleased with the hop bite these two bring.

Hops & Grain Brewing Bourbon Barrel aged ALTeration - A barrel-aged alt? 'Murica!

Kane Bourbon Barrel Aged Solitude, Belgian-style dark ale - Kane is new to NJ and they're bringing out the big guns at SAVOR with this beer. 

Lost Abbey Deliverance, American strong ale - "A blend of bourbon barrel-aged Serpent’s Stout and brandy barrel-aged Angels Share." I think there's going to be a line at this table. 

Lost Abbey Saints Devotion, Belgian pale ale - The reason people geek out over this brewery is because of beers like this.

Schalfly Kolsch - I'll put this here every year. Also, it's now available for purchase in NY. 

Schalfly Single Malt Scottish Style Ale - Beer that tastes like scotch, and beer. It's so good I devoted an entire post to it. 

Shorts Goodnight Bodacious, Imperial American Black Ale - It's from Shorts, so you'll know you'll want 2 oz of it.

Spring House Brewing Co. Big Gruesome Chocolate Peanut Butter Stout - Dessert is served!

Starr Hill Monticello Reserve Ale, wheat beer - A little bit of history in a glass, brewed using Thomas Jefferson's "recipe." 

Three Floyds Zombie Dust, Pale Ale - It's in your head, it's in your heaaaad, citra, citra, citra-a-a-a!

Three Floyds Tiberian Inquisitor, Belgian-style pale ale - Aged in Chardonnay barrels, this one could be a keeper from a brewery that know what they're doing.

Yazoo Embrace the Funk Series “Wild Child,” Smoked Porter - This is a collaboration with a beer blogger, which is every beer blogger's dream.

In addition, SAVOR bills itself as "an American food and beer experience." We thought these pairings would hit the mark. Personally speaking, here's what I went with, in no particular order.

Founders Brewing Company Rubaeus  • Table Group 5
Paired with Shortbread Biscuit with Stilton and Pear  

Denver Beer Co. Rauchbier  • Table Group 8&
Paired with Eggplant Caponata on an Olive Oil Financier  

Terrapin Beer Company Side Project 19 Mosaic • Table Group 2
Paired with Bitter Chocolate Bon Bon with Passion Fruit and Mesquite Salt  

Santa Fe Brewing Company Freestyle Pilsner  • Table Group 3
Paired with Tomato Rasam (Southern Indian Stew) with Coriander and Cumin over Lentils  

Willoughby Brewing Company Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Porter  • Table Group 12
Paired with Black and Tan Brownie with Butterscotch and Pretzel Bite  

Captain Lawrence Brewing Company Smoked Porter  • Table Group 6
Paired with Pulled Chicken Taco with Black Mole

The Bruery Sans Pagaie  • Table Group 1
Paired with Tart Apple and Brie in Puff Pastry  

Brooklyn Brewery Black Ops  • Supporter Circle
Paired with Chicken Liver and Chocolate  

Cigar City Brewing Jose Marti  • Table Group 12
Paired with Glazed Short Rib of Beef with Soft Polenta and Crispy Leeks  

Burnside Brewing Company Sweet Heat  • Table Group 11
Paired with Jumbo Lump Crab Cake with Corn, Sweet Pepper and Citrus  

Bonus pairing! 

Upland Brewing Company Dantalion Dark Wild Ale  • Table Group 10
Paired with Demisphere of Grape Wrapped in Goat Cheese and Pistachio

A full list of beers and beer pairings is here. Check back next week to see how we did.

Cheers.

In older SAVOR news:
http://beerbrarian.blogspot.com/2012/06/savor-2012-wrap-up.html
http://beerbrarian.blogspot.com/2012/04/savor-y.html
http://beerbrarian.blogspot.com/2011/06/savor-wrap-up.html