mets

Mikkeller NYC Opens at Citifield, or, How to Cope With a Mets Loss (Spoiler Alert, The Answer is More Beer at Mikkeller NYC)

So if we step into the way-back machine, you’ll remember the article I wrote about when Holly Kay and I found out that Mikkeller was going to be brewing two stadium beers for the New York Metropolitans at Citifield. At the time, I was excited to see more Craft Beer in my favorite stadium, which also happens to be 15 minutes from our apartment (too bad), and I should have known that something bigger was coming, but I’m not very good at math, so I didn’t, as the kids say, “put two and two together.”

A few months later, the news broke that Mikkeller was going to open a brewery AT CITIFIELD and call themselves Mikkeller NYC. Thanks to my buddy Justin Mendes, member of the 7 Line Army (the group of absolute madmen who go to every game possible, including away games), I found out a little bit sooner than I would have, and, being the hard-hitting journalist that I am (I’m tooting my own horn. Beep beep!), wrote this article about the announcement! HARD HITTING JOURNALISM.

That was July of last year, and here we are today. Mikkeller NYC on March 25, just a few weeks before Opening Day at Citifield. Almost 3 months before that, they released their first beer under the Mikkeller NYC monicker, a collaboration with Thin Man Brewing in Buffalo, called Filthy Flow. This was a super tropical Northeast Style IPA (#hazebros #juicebomb and you know, all those other #hashtags) that was brewed to be released in conjunction with the Winter Classic at Citifield, an outdoor hockey game between the NY Rangers and the Buffalo Sabres. Through Beer, all things are united. Even hockey rivalries.

Mikkeller NYC x Thin Man Brewery Filthy Flow, with amazing can art by Keith Shore, Mikkeller’s resident artist.

Holly Kay and I met up with our dear friend Brad (you know Brad? He’s great!) on Opening Night at the Brewery! We were lucky enough to get there on our way home from Long Island on Opening Day, so we arrived to the Brewery around 8pm (they were open until 9pm). I read a number of complaints about people being there for hours and having to wait a long time for Beer, but I don’t know what people were expecting on the Opening Day of a brewery for one of the world’s most popular craft beer brands (oh yeah, Mikkeller has over a dozen bars around the country and two other breweries, one in Copenhagen, Denmark, and one in San Diego, California). What were they expecting? I’m glad they had such a successful opening day (and they’ve since changed their policy and now only offer full pours, no tastings, which makes sense because they’re at a baseball stadium and game days are always busy).

There were still quite a few people when we arrived, but there was no wait to be served. The staff was (and in my few visits there since opening day, has remained) friendly and knowledgeable. Working in retail, I’ve come to master the art of being firm-but-nice, and these folks behind the bar have that down to a T.

I’m pretty sure this is a Tired Hands Alien Church IIPA in the stemmed glass, and a Mikkeller SD Lilla Regn in the taster (which Holly Kay and I picked up a bottle of a few weeks back when we visited Mikkeller SD)

The absolutely gorgeous brewhouse and seating area.

I’m sure you’ve seen other articles about the tap and bottle list, so I won’t go on about that here (it included bottles from Cantillon, probably the most highly sought after Lambic brewery in Belgium, and guest drafts from the likes of Hill Farmstead, Tired Hands, Brouwerij Boon, and many more). They’ve got 60 taps, and I’ll admit, even as a craft beer connoisseur (and a HUMBLE one at that), even I was overwhelmed. Holly Kay, Brad and I all got about 5 different small pours (I’m sad they’re not doing them anymore, but again, totally understandable), and tasted and shared everything. There were plenty of beers from Mikkeller EU and Mikkeller SD as well.

Holly and Brad can attest, it’s been nothing but wonderful each time we’ve visited. We spoke with Mikkeller NYC’s Retail Shop Manager (I forget the gentleman’s name, so dude, if you read this, reach out to me on Instagram and give me a virtual smack), as they had been wiped out of all the merch they had available (again, bummer, but of course they did! And good for them!), but he said they learned from their opportunities on Opening Day (behind the bar, at the retail shop, etc.) and would be ordering more merchandise for the future.

I love Mikkeller NYC so much (can you tell?), and have been back a few times since then. The first time I went back was on a day off from my Big Boy job, and I was riding high from being recognized at the Queens Zoo (which is right across the LIE, BTW) for Benedict Beer Blog, when Jim Raras, Executive VP of Mikkeller NYC approached me and said “Hey, don’t you have a beer blog?” I was a bit flabbergasted, and flattered (again, aren’t I so #HUMBLE??), that he even recognized me in the first place, and that he took time out of his busy day to thank me for my support. It was above and beyond, in my opinion. Oh, I was also thrilled to see my favorite neighborhood restaurant, Unidentified Flying Chickens, on the menu! I had two Korean-style empanadas with my Beer, which were a delight.

Our next visit was after a Target run (wait, did I tell you that Mikkeller NYC is 15 minutes from our apartment? I did. But, did you also know, that Mikkeller NYC is also 5 minutes from our favorite Target? Yeah, yeah, it is. It’s really too bad.) and we had just bought a beer fridge, because Holly Kay loves me so much/was fed up with our fridge being filled up with Beer. Sorry Holly/I love you so much! We shared a Pat LaFrieda Burger and some tater tots. Oh yeah, they have tater tots. Too bad, huh?

Our next next visit was our first Mets game of the season, we had an outing with the fine folks from Big aLICe Brewing, and it was also the aforementioned Master Justin Roger Mendes’ birthday, so we all celebrated with a bottle of Side Project Brewing Saison Du Fermier, a Missouri Oak Foudre aged saison, which was outrageous, and you should be jealous about that.

Have I mentioned that the brewery is outrageously gorgeous? Imma stop gushing now, but I’ll end with a few more pictures for your eyeholes. Enjoy, drink them in with your EYES.

Until next time!

Cheers!

Hunting for Henry Hops, or, How The Mets Were Down by 5 Before We Even Found Our Seats…


#LGM

Holly Kay and I love Citi Field.  It’s 20 minutes from our apartment, has amazing food, cheap seats, a great, local craft beer selection, and, you know, sometimes (just, like, sometimes…) the Mets play some good baseball.

A few weeks ago, I saw an article by Mikkeller Beer, that said they would be brewing and canning two exclusive beers for Citi Field (I’m not sure what the connection is, or why they didn’t get an NYC brewer to do this).  

Mikkeller is a Danish brewery run by Mikkel Bjorg Bjergsø, who, like his brother Jeppe, owner of Evil Twin Brewing, contract brews his beer with different breweries all over the world.  

The two beers feature Mikkeller’s mascots, Henry and Sally, as “1980’s era baseball cards”.  Henry Hops is a malt-forward IPA, clocking in at 6.5% ABV and Say Hey Sally is a floral, crisp Pils, a great low ABV option at 4.6%.

We bought Holly a really cute Mets beanie outside of the stadium, and headed into the stadium for some amazing Mets baseball.  

I had heard that these Mikkeller beers were a bit hard to find, and Holly and I were very hungry, which complicates things (you wouldn’t like us when we’re Hangry…) 

We stopped at the first Craft Beer stand we came across as we tried to find the best route to our seats (we got some amazing tickets on the Coca-Cola Corner, the artist formerly known as the Pepsi Porch, which is a great decision for Citi Field because Pepsi is garbage and Coke is the truth), and both Henry Hops and Say Hey Sally were listed on their signage, but when I asked for one, the bartender said “Not today!”, which made me nervous, thinking perhaps the WHOLE STADIUM RAN OUT ???…

As I settled on the fact that my trek to find Henry and Sally might not pan out, we looked at the scoreboard as our hunger pangs grew stronger, to find that the Mets pitcher Robert Gsellman (that’s got to be a fake name) gave up 5 runs in the first inning.  At this point, we knew what we were in for.

Citi Field is awesome because, when the Mets begin to lose (which tonight, happened almost immediately), there are many distractions!  Like the pretty planes flying out of Laguardia!  Look at that pretty plane!  Every time we see a plane, Holly says “I wish we were on that plane, and flying some place tropical!”

We decided to walk to find how to get up to our seats, and figure out what food we wanted to eat.  We passed by an Empire State Craft beer stand, and I saw a glimpse of Mets orange through the frosted glass of the refrigerator…  Sally, the ol’ girl, was nestled snugly between the LIC Beer Project Dutch Kills Kolsch and the Queens Brewery Lager.  We snagged it as quickly as we could, and I wondered if we’d ever reunite Sally with her beloved Henry…  (I’m turning this into a love story because I don’t know Sally and Henry’s relationship.  Also, it makes things more dramatic, right?)

Sally was feeling lonely…

Holly suggested I ask where to find Henry Hops (I’d heard Henry was a lot harder to locate than Sally), so I asked, and the bartender said “You’ll find Henry over there, right past the nachos.”  Any directions that include nachos are my favorite directions.  So we followed those directions…

By the by, we still haven’t eaten.  Does this highten the drama?  It does, doesn’t it?

We looked to our right, and saw the nachos stand, still not knowing if we were being led astray…  Our hunger growing deeper.  Should we stop and munch on some delicious, gooey, cheesy nachos?  No, we must push on…  With each step, the dream of Henry Hops seemed further and further away (is this heightening the drama?)

Just past the nachos stand was a beer stand with 4 Blue Point Brewery draft lines, and a lineup of cans…  I caught a glimpse of Mets blue in that lineup, and I knew we’d found him.  Henry Hops…


“Reunited, and it feels so good…”

We heard some commotion, and saw some Mets fans spinning a wheel to win merchandise.  We signed up, and Holly spun and won a Mets hand towel (HAND TOWEL!) and I won a magnetic Mets Calendar (MAGNETIC METS CALENDAR!)

Holly had claimed Sally as her own, because Say Hey Sally is the perfect baseball beer.  It’s an amazing crisp, light, refreshing pils with some beautiful floral hops, that will pair with any food, without having to think too much about it.  It was delicious.


#gorgeous

Henry Hops is a malt forward IPA with some piny, bitter, citrus hops that changes as it warms.  When the beer is cold, the bready, biscuit malts dominate the palate, but as the game progressed, and the beer got warmer, and the Mets continued to lose (?), the hops started to dance their mango, lemon, pineapple tango we all know and love.  


#handsome

The Mets were down by 5 runs in the first inning.  We’d found the exclusive Mikkeller beer.  We were starved.  Skies were gray.  We were at a baseball stadium.  We found the Coca-Cola Corner…


Come on, could my wife be any cuter?

We decided since we were so hungry, we’d stop at the food stand on the Coca-Cola corner.  Holly got a Nathan’s Hot Dog (NATHAN’S HOT DOG!) and fries, and I got Chicken Tenders (CHICKEN TENDERS!) and fries.

Our cousin Billy texted that he was at the game as well.  We found him using technology and celebrated.  It was very merry.  He had won a hand towel as well (HAND TOWEL!)

#love in the time of the Mets losing


#Holly and #Sally, when Circle of Life came on at the stadium

Bathed in the stadium lights…

We found our seats.  We ate our hot dog (HOT DOG!) and Chicken Tenders (CHICKEN TENDERS!). We drank a delicious Pils, and a malt forward IPA.  Sally and Henry.  Holly Kay and Patrick.  Billy from afar.  Mets baseball (who cares if they’re losing).  We ate, we drank, we chanted, we got loud when the megatron told us to get loud.  We kissed even though we never ended up on the kiss cam.  We spotted Mr. Met.  We didn’t get a tee shirt from the tee shirt cannon.  I dropped my phone.  It was a GREAT Wednesday night.


We’re in love (also how cute is that beanie??)!!

Until next time, y’all.

Cheers!