Bruery Event January 14.

Starting at 7 pm on Thursday the 14th, we'll have an impressive selection of beers that have made their way here all the way from the OC:

The Bruery Orchard White (Placentia, CA; $6/12 oz). Orchard White is an unfiltered Belgian-style witbier, spiced with coriander, citrus peel, and lavender. A spicy, fruity yeast strain is used to add complexity, and rolled oats are added for a silky texture. 5.7% ABV.

The Bruery 2 Turtle Doves (Placentia, CA; $7/12 oz). 2 Turtle Doves is the second in The Bruery's 12 Days/Years of Christmas series. The beer is based on "turtle" candy, with cocoa nibs, toasted pecans, caramelized sugar, and a lot of caramel malts. It's somewhere between a Belgian-style dark strong ale and an imperial porter. 12.0% ABV.

The Bruery Hottenroth (Placentia, CA; $6/12 oz). This tart German-style Berliner Weisse is The Bruery's strictly authentic version of a nearly extinct beer style. The brewers use lactobacillus and a hint of brettanomyces to sour this very unusual, low-gravity wheat beer. 3.1% ABV.

The Bruery Rugbrod (Placentia, CA; $6/12 oz). Brewed with three types of rye malt, this robust brown ale showcases the earthy, spicy character of dark whole-grain Danish rye ("rugbrod" means "rye bread" in Danish). It's complemented by bready, nutty barley malts and a hint of roast. Loosely based on the Scandinavian Christmas beer or "Julebryg" tradition, this beer is perfect for the colder weather of winter. 8.0% ABV.

These beers will all be $1 off all night, and we'll be giving out free tastings as well. Finally, we might be tossing around some free coasters, patches, and pint glasses, among other things. It's an event well worth your time.

Psst...

we just got a bunch of Pliny the Elder bottles in. Whether you've never had it, or you've already experienced its glory, come ASAP to grab one. It is our personal favorite beer of all time and a verifiable religious experience. The details:

Russian River Pliny the Elder (Santa Rosa, CA; $12/16 oz). This double IPA, brewed in tribute to the namer of hops, is a GABF and World Beer Cup gold-medal winning hop explosion. 8.0%.

And, as promised,

a keg of 2008 Goose Island Bourbon County Stout, which we cellared here for a year in order for it to gain even more complexity, is now on tap. The details:

Goose Island 2008 Bourbon County Stout (Chicago, IL; $9/8 oz). Goose Island has been releasing this highly anticipated beer once every year for the last sixteen years. The 2008 batch was aged for ten months in sixteen-year-old bourbon barrels. This adds intense charred oak, chocolate, vanilla, caramel, and smoke flavors. We picked up an extra keg of this last year and aged it here for 13 months. 13.0% ABV.

BrewDog/Stone collaboration beer now on tap!

We just tapped the extremely rare collaboration between the brewers at Stone and the brewers at BrewDog, bashah. It's an incredibly unique beer, and only a few kegs were shipped out to the States from northeast Scotland, so you should get your keister here ASAP to try it. The details:

BrewDog/Stone bashah (Fraserburgh, Scotland; $8/12 oz). This very special collaboration beer between Stone and the famed Scottish BrewDog brewery pushes style boundaries: it’s a black Belgian-style double IPA using five hops: Hercules, Magnum, Warrior, Centennial, and Amarillo. The beer smells like fresh hop pellets, and tastes strongly of liquid hops, followed by roasted malts. 8.6% ABV.

2008 Goose Island Bourbon County Stout

is coming on tap this Sunday, the 20th. We're just telling you blog and e-mail people about it. We've cellared the beer for a year, so it will be even more complex and glorious than it was last December. Make sure to stop by soon after we tap it, since it will certainly go fast.

Christmas Pig

is in effect at our bar again, after a brief sojourn in the South Slope. Come by to watch it flap away. Oh, it also talks to you inside your head and makes you do things.

Chin Music Poetry December 17 at 7 pm.

Chin Music: The Poetry Reading Series @ Pacific Standard
Featuring Alison Hawthorne Deming, Joel Whitney and Ian Douglas

Thursday, December 17th 2009 @ 7:00 PM

Please join us for our 2009 'season finale' of Chin Music @ Pacific Standard. On December 17th, we are thrilled to feature three fine poets: Alison Hawthorne Deming, Joel Whitney, and Ian Douglas.

FEATURED WRITERS

Alison Hawthorne Deming's most recent collection of poetry, ROPE, was published this autumn by Penguin Books. She is the author of three previous collections: SCIENCE AND OTHER POEMS (1994, winner of the Walt Whitman Award), THE MONARCHS: A POEM SEQUENCE (1997), and GENIUS LOCI (2005). She has also published several books of non-fiction, and her poems and essays have been widely published and anthologized, including in THE NORTON BOOK OF NATURE WRITING and THE BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE AND NATURE WRITING. She is currently professor in creative writing at the University of Arizona and lives in Tucson.

Joel Whitney's writing and commentary have appeared in The New Republic, The Village Voice, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Paris Review, The Nation, The Huffington Post, Agni, New York magazine—and on NPR. He's an "insider" on Tina Brown's Daily Beast where he comments on art and politics. Internationally his work has appeared in several languages, including in France's Courrier; his January interview with David Frum appeared in Esquire Russia. Joel has done more than 30 interview for the magazine, including Nobel Prize winners, members of Congress, heads of state, Oscar-nominated filmmakers, and Grammy-nominated singers, from a dozen countries. For his poetry, he was awarded a "Discovery"/The Nation Prize by the 92nd Street Y and The Nation. He lives in Brooklyn.

Ian Douglas is a writer, photographer and designer living in Brooklyn, New York. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, the Literary Review, and other publications. You'll find his photographs in Time Out New York, Mouvement, and dance publications throughout the city. Occasionally you'll catch him (or one of his poems) yearning for the landscapes of his childhood and the West.

We just put up our Christmas tree

with a Sixpoint tap handle (and star) as the topper. We think it looks better than ever. Take a look:

Cal will face off against Utah

in the Poinsettia Bowl at 8 pm on December 23. Come by to watch two excellent teams go at it, and to cheer Cal on to continue its streak of winning bowl games, and smacking those Utahans down. And, psst, we may even reward those of you who have
stuck with us all year with some giveaway items.

We're open on Christmas Day

as we would be on a normal Friday, 12 pm-4 am. Come by if you're in town for a home-away-from-home experience, with sports and general shenaniganry. Oh, and we'll have an all-day-and-night happy hour--$1 off almost all drinks.

Pub quiz season recap

Just in case you weren't around for the finals, Toledo Despair defeated Gowanus Is for Lovers to win their first-ever title. Congratulations to them--a fancy party is theirs (plus Gowanus Is for Lovers gets a pretty fancy party too). See you guys around at our Weird and Big-Money quiz nights the next couple weeks.

Iron Santa Challenge returns!

As we did last year, during the months of December and January, we'll be staging an Iron Santa Challenge to encourage people to try our excellent selection of dark and winter seasonal beers. The challenge: drink a 16-ounce pint (or 12-ounce pint, depending on how we're serving a given beer) of six different winter beers in one day/night, and win a free Pacific Standard t-shirt (we have new varieties this year) and everlasting glory. The actual beers will change with our rotating tap selections, but will generally include beers like the Sierra Harvest/Celebration, Goose Island Bourbon County, Young's Chocolate Stout, and so on. Starting tonight, December 1, ask your bartender if you're interested in taking the challenge, and they'll provide you with a checklist of beers to drink over the course of an evening. Oh, and pace yourself. We don't want any messes.

Awesome tap list right now

including the debut of the brand-new Life & Limb, a collaboration between Sam from Dogfish Head and Ken from Sierra Nevada, the Pacific Standard debut of Southern Tier's excellent Phin & Matt's Extraordinary Ale, a very hard-to-get keg of Stone, and a rare cellared keg of Ommegang Obamagang (shh!). The details:

Ommegang Obamagang Inauguration Ale (Cooperstown, NY; $7/12 oz). This celebratory ale is a cross between a porter and a stout, with a bit of Belgian Kriek yeast and a touch of chocolate blended in, and an underlying cherry fruitiness. Ommegang will donate a percentage of sales to charities in the respective cities where the beer is sold. 6.7% ABV.

Sierra Nevada Life & Limb (Chico, CA; $6/12 oz). A much-anticipated collaboration between Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada, Life & Limb is a strong beer brewed with pure maple syrup from the Calagione family farm in Massachusetts and estate barley from the Grossman farm in Chico. The beer has a blend of both breweries’ house yeast strains, and is naturally carbonated with birch syrup from Alaska. 10.0% ABV.

Southern Tier Phin and Matt’s Extraordinary Ale (Lakewood, NY; $5/16 oz). This American style pale ale has a perfect balance of roasted malts and hops. Very light, crisp, and easy drinking. 5.4% ABV.

Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous (Vista, CA; $6/12 oz). This brew from Stone is a cross between an American strong ale and a Belgian dark ale. It’s chocolate brown in color, but has plenty of hops to take on the powerful roasted malts. A hint of honey sweetness balances out the finish. 8.7% ABV.

Chin Music Poetry December 3 at 7 pm.

Please join us for our next evening of Chin Music @ Pacific Standard. This Thursday, December 3rd, we are thrilled to feature three wonderful poets: Mónica de la Torre, Aracelis Girmay, and Boni Joi.

FEATURED WRITERS

Mónica de la Torre is the author of TALK SHOWS (Switchback Books, 2007) and PUBLIC DOMAIN (Roof Books, 2008). The book she co-authored with artist Terence Gower, APPENDICES, ILLUSTRATIONS & NOTES, is available on Ubu.com. She is co-editor of the multilingual anthology REVERSIBLE MONUMENTS: CONTEMPORARY MEXICAN POETRY (Copper Canyon Press), and edited and translated the volume POEMS BY GERARDO DENIZ, published by Lost Roads. Born and raised in Mexico City, she moved to New York in 1993. She is a 2009 NYFA fellow in poetry and senior editor of BOMB Magazine.

Aracelis Girmay is the author of TEETH, published in 2007 by Curbstone Press. The inheritor of Eritrean, Puerto Rican, and African American traditions, she writes poetry, essays, and fiction. Girmay holds a B.A. from Connecticut College and an M.F.A. in poetry from New York University. Her children's art book, CHANGING, CHANGING, was published by George Braziller in 2005. A former Watson fellow and Cave Canem fellow, she has published extensively in journals and literary magazines. Girmay leads community writing workshops in the Bronx & Brooklyn, & is on the faculty of Drew University's low-residency MFA Program.

Boni Joi received a M.F.A. in poetry from Columbia University, and has been nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize. Her poems have appeared in Arabella, Long Shot, Big Hammer, Mind Gorilla, The Brooklyn Rail and many other journals. She is part of Off the Park Press (www.offtheparkpress.com), a new poetry press that last year released the anthology NEW SMOKE: POETRY INSPIRED BY NEO RAUCH, and will publish VIVA LA DIFFERENCE, a collection of poems describing the painting of the same title by Peter Saul, in Spring 2010. Joi has read her poetry at numerous venues in New York City and elsewhere over the past 18 years.

Cal vs. Stanford in Big Game Saturday

Just so you guys know, even if DirecTV and Versus still have their dispute going on, we'll make sure we have a cable feed of the Big Game on Saturday at 7:30 pm. Go Bears, and, as we all know, Stanfurd sucks.

Apologies

we had no idea of the tiff between Versus and DirecTV, which has caused the Cal game not to be shown on our TVs tonight. Hopefully they'll resolve it and we'll be able to show football on Versus in the future.

Chin Music Thursday, November 19 at 7 pm.

Please join us for our next evening of Chin Music @ Pacific Standard. On November 19th, we are thrilled to feature three fine poets: Aaron Fagan, Stuart Greenhouse, and James Byrne. Other writers to be featured in Chin Music this season include Monica de la Torre, Alison Hawthorne Deming, Ian Douglas, and Aracelis Girmay.

Aaron Fagan is the author of GARAGE, a debut collection of poems published by Salt in 2007. Stuart Greenhouse’s chapbook, WHAT REMAINS, was chosen for a National Chapbook Fellowship and was published by the Poetry Society of America in December of 2005. James Byrne's second collection of poems, BLOOD/SUGAR, will be published in winter 2009 by Arc Publications.

Our famous mulled wine recipe is back

on Monday! So get ready for some hot, spiced holiday goodness.

Pub Quiz schedule for the holidays.

We have a few interesting pub quiz-related things going on for the holidays, plus a few weeks off. Here's the schedule:

November 15 and 22: Season VI ends with the semifinals and finals!
November 29: Thanksgiving weekend. No pub quiz.
December 6: Weird Quiz Night! Not part of any season, this quiz is the one we're saving all our wacky questions and rounds for. It should be a lot of fun, and we'll still be giving away free/cheap drinks to the top three teams.
December 9: Pub Quiz Team Appreciation Night/Mixer. On this Wednesday, we show our appreciation for our loyal quiz teams by giving all Season VI teams $2 off pints all night. It's a good chance to hang out with your fellow quizzers in a non-competitive setting, too.
December 13: Big-Money Quiz Night! This is the return of an old favorite; each player on each team will pay $5 in order to qualify for the quiz. The winner of the quiz will get 80% of the pot, and the second-place team will get 20%.
December 20 and 27: No Pub Quiz.
January 3: Season VII officially begins. Quiz will go back to being every Sunday, with an exception or two (Super Bowl Sunday, for instance).

Not to mention two excruciatingly rare cask beers.

Greene King IPA (Bury St. Edmunds, UK; $7/16 oz). Greene King IPA is now the best selling cask beer in the United Kingdom. It embodies all that is best about British beer, with its clean, fresh, hoppy taste and its distinctive tawny color. 3.6% ABV.

Rogue Sesquicentennial Ale (Newport, OR; $6/16 oz). Named for the 150th anniversary of the state of Oregon, this beer pours amber orange in color with a sweet malt background from the generous use of Munich malts. Willamette hops give the beer a nice citrus nose and finish. 6.3% ABV.

We have a bevy of brand-new tap brews

for your gustatorial enjoyment, including:

21st Amendment Back in Black IPA (San Francisco, CA; $6/16 oz). This black IPA smells of dark chocolate with a dose of piney hops. There’s plenty of malts for an IPA with a nicely balanced hop finish. 6.8% ABV.

Tröegs Javahead Stout (Harrisburg, PA; $6/16 oz). This seasonal beer contains a blend of locally roasted espresso and Kenyan coffee beans. The recipe is based on Tröeg’s original oatmeal stout recipe, with the wort being passed through a hop back vessel filled with the coffee grounds. The result is a lush oatmeal mouthfeel balanced with cocoa and subtle coffee flavors. 7.5% ABV.

Weyerbacher Heresy (Easton, PA; $6/16 oz). Weyerbacher makes Heresy by aging their Old Heathen Imperial Stout in bourbon barrels. The result is an extraordinary dark stout with aromas of vanilla, cocoa, and coffee. 8.0% ABV.

Phil Levine last Thursday

was awesome. Here's one picture we took:

Opening Early Marathon Day, Sunday, November 1.

On marathon day, Sunday, November 1, we'll be opening early, at 9 am, to host people who want to watch the marathon, which runs right by our bar. You can watch the leaders and the pack (go Mike Romanos!) pass by out of our big windows and enjoy the fact that you're not running 26 miles, via beer. We'll also have a barbecue station on the sidewalk outside, so you can grab some cheap hot dogs and burgers, or bring meat/veggies of your own to grill. Finally, we'll have our usual Marathon Marys for for $7 per pint glass of goodness.

Poetry Thursday!

Chin Music: The Poetry Reading Series @ Pacific Standard Bar
Featuring Roddy Lumsden, Jynne Dilling Martin, and Farnoosh Fathi

Thursday, October 29th, 2009 @ 7:00 PM

Please join us for our next evening of Chin Music @ Pacific Standard. On October 29th, we are thrilled to feature three excellent poets: Roddy Lumsden, Jynne Dilling Martin, and Farnoosh Fathi.

FEATURED WRITERS

Roddy Lumsden’s poetry collections include YEAH, YEAH, YEAH (Bloodaxe, 1997), RODDY LUMSDEN IS DEAD (Wrecking Ball Press, 2001), MISCHIEF NIGHT: NEW & SELECTED POEMS (Bloodaxe, 2004), and THIRD WISH WASTED (Bloodaxe, 2009). Lumsden has worked as a freelance writer, editor, teacher, and writer of puzzles and quizzes for newspapers. He also composed a poem, “Bloom,” on the set of “Flowers for Kate”—a photo shoot of the model Kate Moss for V magazine. He was born in St. Andrews, Scotland, and lives in London.

Jynne Dilling Martin's poetry has appeared in Kenyon Review, New England Review, TriQuarterly, Indiana Review, New Orleans Review, Southern Review and elsewhere. In March, she was one of four winners of the 92nd Street Y "Discovery" Poetry Contest. She lives in Brooklyn.

Farnoosh Fathi recently received a Fulbright Fellowship to travel to Brazil and write poems. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Denver Quarterly, Fence and Boston Review. She currently lives in New York City.

Fiction tomorrow!

The Pacific Standard Fiction Series

featuring Victor LaValle and Robert Lopez

Tuesday, October 27th, 7:00 p.m.

Books available on-site!

Drink specials selected by dartboard!

Come see why New York Magazine named us "Best New Literary Event of 2008!"

*

Victor LaValle's second novel, the newly published BIG MACHINE, has given The Wall Street Journal and Mos Def something they can agree on (sort of: the former likened the book to Ralph Ellison and Thomas Pynchon, where latter name-checked Edgar Allen Poe and Gabriel Garcia Marquez). His previous book, The Ecstatic, was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. LaValle is also the author of a story collection, Slapboxing with Jesus. He has earned a Whiting Writers' Award and the key to the city of Jamaica, Queens.

Robert Lopez's second novel, the newly published KAMBY BOLONGO MEAN RIVER, is "disturbing and inspiring and at all times hypnotic," writes Bookslut. His previous novel, Part of the World, garnered numerous comparisons to Samuel Beckett. Lopez's fiction and poetry has appeared in Bomb, The Threepenny Review, and The Mississippi Review. He teaches at The New School.

Dick Danger Ale

now back on tap, FYI.

No jokes, please

but Dick's Brewing, a great Washington brewery, has just come out to New York City. We now have their flagship beer on tap:

Dick’s Brewing Dick Danger Ale (Centralia, WA; $6/16 oz). Dick’s Brewing’s flagship beer has a large percentage of black malts, giving it a dark brown color and a slightly roasted flavor. Magnum hops provide a backbone of bitterness, and large additions of Mt. Hood hops come through in the finish. The result is a drinkable dark ale which bridges the gap between pale and porter. 4.5% ABV.

If you're in New York for Thanksgiving

we'll be opening early, at 12 pm, to show the football games and celebrate the holiday. We'll also have an all-day-and-night happy hour ($1 off almost all drinks). So if you're in town and want to watch some football on our big screens and enjoy some Thanksgiving camaraderie on the cheap, come by anytime.

A brand-new bottled beer from beautiful Walnut Creek, CA

the birthplace of Mr. Rauschenberg:

Black Diamond Jagged Edge (Walnut Creek, CA; $7/12 oz). A zesty, straw-colored IPA with smooth, well-balanced flavors and plenty of hops. 7.3%.

Chin Music on October 22 at 7 pm with Phil Levine.

Chin Music: The Poetry Reading Series @ Pacific Standard Bar
Featuring Philip Levine, Steve Gehrke, and Jason Koo

Please join us for our next evening of Chin Music. On October 22nd, we are thrilled to feature three excellent poets: Philip Levine, Steve Gehrke, and Jason Koo. Other writers to be featured in Chin Music this season include Monica de la Torre, Alison Hawthorne Deming, Ian Douglas, Aaron Fagan, Aracelis Girmay, Stuart Greenhouse, Roddy Lumsden, Jynne Dilling Martin, and Akilah Oliver.

FEATURED WRITERS

Philip Levine's new collection of poetry is NEWS OF THE WORLD,
published this autumn by Knopf. He is the author of sixteen
collections of poems and two books of essays. He has received many
awards for his poetry, including the National Book Award in 1980 for
ASHES and again in 1991 for WHAT WORK IS, and the Pulitzer Prize in
1995 for THE SIMPLE TRUTH. Mr. Levine divides his time between
Brooklyn, New York, and Fresno, California.

Steve Gehrke has published three books of poems, most recently
MICHELANGELO'S SEIZURE, which was selected for the National Poetry
Series. His poetry has earned him a grant from the National Endowment
for the Arts and a Pushcart Prize and has been published in numerous
journals. He holds degrees from Minnesota State University, University
of Texas at Austin, and the University of Missouri. He has previously
taught creative writing and literature courses at the University of
Missouri and Seton Hall University. He is currently Assistant
Professor in the English Department at Gettysburg College.

Jason Koo is the author of MAN ON EXTREMELY SMALL ISLAND, winner of
the 2008 De Novo Poetry Prize. The recipient of fellowships from the
National Endowment for the Arts and the Vermont Studio Center, he has
published his poetry and prose in numerous journals, including The
Yale Review, North American Review and The Missouri Review. He earned
his B.A. in English from Yale, his M.F.A. in creative writing from the
University of Houston and his Ph.D. in English and creative writing
from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He currently lives in New
York, where he teaches at NYU and Lehman College and serves as Poetry
Editor of Low Rent.

The first Beer Nation episode

is now available here:
http://gobohd.com/shows/BeerNation/

Two brand-new, specialty Speakeasy brews now on tap!

These two super-rare beers are now on:

Speakeasy Wet-Hopped Big Daddy IPA (San Francisco, CA; $6/16 oz). This special version of Speakeasy's famous Big Daddy pours a pale color, with strong hop aromas. The taste is dry and crisp, with the emphasis on bountiful additions of Pacific Northwest hops, including a wet hop addition. 6.5% ABV.

Speakeasy Mickey Finn I.R.A. (San Francisco, CA; $6/12 oz). This brand-new, one-off Imperial Red Ale has flavorful caramel malts, and a resiny aftertaste that's very mellow for a beer with such a high alcohol content. 9.5% ABV.

Just so you know...

the official start time of the Beer Nation premiere party tomorrow is 7:30. And we'll have $3 Sweet Action pints all night. In other words, we're gonna kick a keg in about six hours. So come as early as you can. Check out the intro to Beer Nation at the following web location:

www.goboHD.com/BeerNation

Charity movie nights on October 14 and 21.

Coming to our taps today

for the first time, eminently awesome beer from Moylan's Brewery in Marin County! The details:

Moylan's Moylander Double IPA (Novato, CA; $7/12 oz). Here's the nice brewery description: "Moylander Double IPA is fat and resiny, with aggressive and excessive hops swinging on on an enormous malt backbone like naughty monkeys on a vine. Double malt, double hops--do the math, it’s academic." 8.5% ABV.

Beer Nation Premiere Party Tuesday, October 6, 2009.

As many of you know, our buddies Seth Wright and Mike Winn, with the help of Dakoit Pictures, have been developing a web-based series of short movies called Beer Nation that explores the craft beer revolution. After months of production, the first episode of Beer Nation will premiere on Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at Pacific Standard. It features Sixpoint Brewing and Pacific Standard, natch.

Please join us for a rambunctious premiere party, which will culminate in a screening of the first episode. We're planning on showing the episode at 8:30 and 10:30 pm, but we'll play it by ear--basically, you'll be safe if you show up around 8 pm. In the meantime, stay updated on all things beer by visiting the Beer Nation blog. Also, if you're a member of Facebook you can join the Beer Nation fan page or group.

Finally, psst--for the Beer Nation premiere, we'll be giving away some of our Sixpoint/Pacific Standard mashup t-shirts, among, perhaps, other things. It's a Tuesday that's definitely worth your time.

Tentative NFL Schedule for Sunday.

The same caveats as last week apply--this is just a guess, and as usual, we will honor our first-come, first-served policy. We're just trying to avoid any potential conflicts by giving you a heads-up as to what people will probably want to watch on our two screens. So here we go, for

Sunday, October 4:

1 pm: Baltimore vs. New England
1 pm: NY Giants vs. Kansas City
4 pm: Denver vs. Dallas
4 pm: San Francisco vs. St. Louis
8 pm: Pittsburgh vs. San Diego

GABF Awards for Beers We Serve Here.

Apparently the judges at the Great American Beer Festival, the biggest beer festival/awards ceremony in America, like a lot of the beers we have on tap. Here's a short list of beers we regularly serve here that won much-coveted GABF awards last week. Flying Dog, in addition to the beer awards you'll see below, won Mid-Size Brewing Company and Mid-Size Brewing Company Brewer of the Year! As you might expect, we'll continue to have their great stuff on tap.

Category: Session Beer, 27 Entries
Bronze: Bam Biere, Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Dexter, MI

Category: Out of Category – Traditionally Brewed Beer, 82 Entries
Silver: Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen-Weisse, Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn, NY

Category: Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer, 110 Entries
Silver: Barrel Aged Gonzo, Flying Dog Brewery, Frederick, MD

Category: German-Style Pilsener, 48 Entries
Bronze: Troegs Sunshine Pils, Troegs Brewing Co., Harrisburg, PA

Category: German Style Märzen, 45 Entries
Gold: Dogtoberfest, Flying Dog Brewery, Frederick, MD

Category: Bock, 40 Entries
Gold: Troegenator, Troegs Brewing Co., Harrisburg, PA

Category: German Style Kölsch, 43 Entries
Gold: Kolsch, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA

Category: American Style Pale Ale, 108 Entries
Gold: Sweetgrass IPA, Grand Teton Brewing Co., Victor, ID

Category: American-Style Strong Pale Ale, 70 Entries
Gold: Racer 5 IPA, Bear Republic Factory Five, Cloverdale, CA

Category: American-Style India Pale Ale, 134 Entries
Gold: Union Jack, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA
Silver: Sculpin IPA, Ballast Point Brewing Co, San Diego, CA
Bronze: Blind Pig IPA, Russian River Brewing Co., Santa Rosa, CA

Category: American Style Amber/Red Ale, 78 Entries
Bronze: Hop Head Red, Green Flash Brewing Co., Vista, CA

Category: Brown Porter, 38 Entries
Bronze: Black Butte Porter, Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR

Category: Robust Porter, 57 Entries
Silver: Mocha Porter, Rogue Ales, Newport, OR

Category: American-Style Stout, 22 Entries
Silver: Troegs Dead Reckoning, Troegs Brewing Co., Harrisburg, PA

Category: Imperial Stout, 56 Entries
Gold: Gonzo Imperial Porter, Flying Dog Brewery, Frederick, MD
Silver: Yeti Imperial Stout, Great Divide Brewing Co., Denver, CO

The first in a series

of guesses as to what we'll be showing on Sunday, NFL-wise. We want to emphasize that this is just a guess, and as usual, we will honor our first-come, first-served policy--if you come first, and ask us for a game, we'll put it on and keep it on for you. We're just trying to avoid any potential conflicts by giving you a heads-up as to what people will probably want to watch on our two screens:

Sunday, September 27:

1 pm: NY Jets vs. Tennessee
1 pm: San Francisco vs. Minnesota
4 pm: Pittsburgh vs. Cincinnati
4 pm: Denver vs. Oakland

We're extending the Sixpoint Challenge!

Because a valiant few of you drank nearly 12 Sixpoint beers, but came up a few short at the end and couldn't make it up given the beers we had on tap then, we've decided, in our infinite forgiveness, to give you a second chance to finish and earn your limited edition Sixpoint/Pacific Standard t-shirt. Here are the details:

--If you drank nine or more Sixpoint beers during the course of the week, you still have until October 1 to get to 12 beers and earn your shirt.
--You can drink any Sixpoint beers you want, even if they're repeats of beers on your list, or each other. For instance, if you have 9 Sixpoints already on your list, you can just drink three Sweet Actions to get to 12, or a Sweet Action and two Brownstones, etc., etc.

Those of you who have completed the challenge but haven't picked up their shirts yet can come in any time to do so. Hope to see you 9+ people soon and reward you justly for your efforts.

Football update.

Cal beat Minnesota 35-21 last Saturday (with your gentle owners present and yelling themselves hoarse at the stadium), moving them up to #6 in the country, and setting the stage for two incredibly important Pac-10 games: at Oregon this Saturday at 3:30 Eastern time, and at home against USC the following Saturday at 8 pm ET. We'll have both games on our big screens, of course, and a hearty contingent of fans. We also donate a portion of game proceeds to Cal scholarship programs, so your drinking will do some good for some bright young students. In other news, we're showing plenty o' NFL games and lots of other college football action, without the madness and frattiness of other sports bars. Go Bears, and see you around soon.

Next Chin Music October 1.

Chin Music: The Poetry Reading Series @ Pacific Standard Bar
Featuring Wendy Mnookin, Farrah Field & MC Hyland

Thursday, October 1, 2009 @ 7:00 PM

Please join us for our next evening of Chin Music @ Pacific Standard.
On October 1st, we are excited to feature three excellent poets: Wendy
Mnookin, Farrah Field, and MC Hyland. Other writers to be featured in
Chin Music this season include Monica de la Torre, Alison Hawthorne
Deming, Aaron Fagan, Steve Gehrke, Aracelis Girmay, Stuart
Greenhouse, Jason Koo, Philip Levine, Roddy Lumsden, Jynne Dilling
Martin, and Akilah Oliver.

FEATURED WRITERS

Wendy Mnookin's most recent book, THE MOON MAKES ITS OWN PLEA, was
published by BOA Editions in 2008. Her other collections are WHAT HE
TOOK and TO GET HERE (BOA Editions), and GUENEVER SPEAKS, published by
Round Table Productions. Wendy is the recipient of a book award from
the New England Poetry Club and a fellowship from the National
Endowment for the Arts. She teaches poetry at Emerson College and at
Grub Street, a non-profit writing program in Boston, and lives in
Newton, Massachusetts. You can learn more at her website:
www.wendymnookin.com.

Farrah Field's first book, RISING, was published by Four Way Books in
early 2009. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in the
Mississippi Review, Margie, Chelsea, The Massachusetts Review, Harpur
Palate, Typo, Harp & Altar, 420pus, Cortland Review, Pebble Lake
Review, Another Chicago Magazine, Fulcrum, and The Pinch. She was born
in Cheyenne, Wyoming and raised in Nebraska, Colorado, Louisiana,
Arkansas, Sicily, and Belgium. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

MC Hyland is the author (or co-author) of four chapbooks, most
recently Residential As In, an e-chap published by Blue Hour Press in
February 2009. Her poems have appeared in H_NGM_N, The Paris Review,
42Opus, LIT, Colorado Review, and several other magazines, and new
work is forthcoming in Cannibal and Slant. She also runs DoubleCross
Press. She lives in Minneapolis, where she makes books, writes,
teaches letterpress printing and writing, and works in a cheese shop.

Fire at 80A Fourth Avenue.

We just wanted to get the word out to those of you who haven't stopped by today or yesterday that our building and everyone who lives here, thankfully, are completely fine despite the fire next door on Monday. Also, our neighbors on the second floor next door made it out with only minor injuries. The property damage to the building, however, is pretty bad--everyone should consider donating to our AIDS Housing Network/Books Through Bars friends over there. We're taking up a collection here at the bar too, so come by anytime if you want to support a worthy cause. Finally, you can donate online at www.nycahn.org.

Some details on Hops of Love

which is coming on Thursday for our Sixpoint extravaganza:

Sixpoint Hops of Love (Brooklyn, NY; $6/16 oz). A West Coast-style IPA made in Brooklyn, Hops of Love is hoppy, light, and crisp, without an intense malty background. It's a hop bomb, yet carefully formulated so the bitterness doesn't come across too harshly. ABV unknown, probably moderate.

Special Craft Beer Week beer now on tap.

We've just put on NY3, the brand-new and one-time-only official Craft Beer Week beer for 2009. It's a collaboration between three great New York state breweries, Captain Lawrence, Ithaca, and Southampton. Here are the details:

NY3 (Pleasantville, NY; $6/16 oz). The official beer of NYC Craft Beer Week 2009 is a collaboration between Captain Lawrence, Ithaca, and Southampton Publick House. A farmhouse ale brewed with local honey from each of the three brewers, it's dry-hopped with hops from Pedersen Farms, predominatly Willamette. ABV unknown, probably moderate.

Exact Craft Beer Week Sixpoint schedule

including a one-off beer that's almost never seen in NYC. To wit:

Friday the 11th: Sweet Action, Bengali Tiger (one of our three $2 Beer Week specials), Brownstone, and Righteous Rye.
Saturday the 12th: Mason's Black Wheat
Sunday the 13th: Emasculator
Monday the 14th: Carob Porter
Tuesday the 15th: Gorilla Warfare
Wednesday the 16th: Bolshoi
Thursday the 17th: Hops of Love (brewed specially for a wedding, almost never seen in NYC)
Friday the 18th: Diesel
Saturday the 19th: Apollo Wheat

We'll also put a Sixpoint cask on soon, which will count as a separate beer, in order to assist people who might miss one of the beers that went on early in the week in completing the 12-beer challenge. Remember, if you drink 12 different Sixpoint beers during Beer Week (September 11-20), you get a limited-edition Pacific Standard/Sixpoint t-shirt.

Last Topsham Pantsuit show Wednesday.

Join us at Pacific Standard in Park Slope for Topsham Pantsuit: an apocalyptic evening of comedy, book cases, and craft beers.

LAST SHOW EVER: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16TH

With host RITCH DUNCAN

FEATURING:

MICHAEL KUPPERMAN (Cartoonist, and according to Conan O'Brien, "One of the best comedy brains on the planet")

JOSH FADEM (It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia)

TED TRAVELSTEAD and JULIE WRIGHT (Beloved Topsham Pantsuit Favorites)

JOE RANDAZZO (Editor-In-Chief of The Onion)

AND A SPECIAL GUEST??? OR TWO?????

First two fiction readings of the season coming up October 13 and 27.

The Pacific Standard Fiction Series: Storytelling
featuring Lev Grossman and Hannah Tinti
Tuesday, October 13th, 7:00 p.m.

Lev Grossman's new novel, THE MAGICIANS, has been likened to "Harry Potter for grown-ups" by The London Times and to "poppin' peyote buttons with J.K. Rowling" by GQ. It is a New York Times Bestseller. His previous novel, Codex, has been published in 11 languages. Grossman, who lives in Brooklyn, is the book critic for Time Magazine.

Hannah Tinti's bestselling first novel, The Good Thief, won the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize, and was named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times, which praised its "strong plotting, pure lucidity, and visceral momentum." Her debut story collection, ANIMAL CRACKERS, was nominated for the Hemingway Foundation/Pen Award. Tinti is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of One Story.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Pacific Standard Fiction Series
featuring Victor LaValle and Robert Lopez
Tuesday, October 27th, 7:00 p.m.

Victor LaValle's second novel, the newly published BIG MACHINE, has given The Wall Street Journal and Mos Def something they can agree on (sort of: the former likened the book to Ralph Ellison and Thomas Pynchon, where latter name-checked Edgar Allen Poe and Gabriel Garcia Marquez). His previous book, The Ecstatic, was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. LaValle is also the author of a story collection, Slapboxing with Jesus. He has earned a Whiting Writers' Award and the key to the city of Jamaica, Queens.

Robert Lopez's second novel, the newly published KAMBY BOLONGO MEAN RIVER, is "disturbing and inspiring and at all times hypnotic," writes Bookslut. His previous novel, Part of the World, garnered numerous comparisons to Samuel Beckett. Lopez's fiction and poetry has appeared in Bomb, The Threepenny Review, and The Mississippi Review. He teaches at The New School.

Craft Beer Week strategy.

If you're interested in drinking all twelve Sixpoint beers in the ten days of Craft Beer Week (September 11-20) to get a limited-edition Sixpoint/Pacific Standard t-shirt, we'd recommend stopping by early in the "week." We'll put four Sixpoint beers on tap on the 11th, and you don't want to miss one of them and lose out on the complete set. We'd say definitely come by from the 11th-14th to be sure you nail the first four. Then you'll have more time to finish the twelve; we'll be putting on one beer a day through the 19th.

Sports update.

Lots of sporty stuff going on now that it's the fall season:

--Our college football package is in full effect. We have the ESPN GamePlan package, as well as all the Big 10 network games, and all the games carried on the Western regional networks. Basically, everything gettable is being gotten here.
--We also have all the NFL games, and will be showing as many as we can on our two big screens starting Thursday, with Pittsburgh against Tennessee.
--U.S. World Cup qualifier this Wednesday against the evil empire of Trinidad, which apparently has been joined by the equally nefarious Tobago in an attempt to defeat these United States. The ESPN coverage will start at 6:30 pm from Port of Spain, and we will have it, and a lot of fans, here. Join us for the island vacation; we'll have the usual $1 off all drinks special every time the U.S. scores.
--Cal embarrassed Maryland by the ridiculous score of 52-13 last Saturday, and we all enjoyed it. Next up is Eastern Washington on Saturday at 5:30 pm, and if you think we won't have the game here, you're grievously mistaken.
--Also upcoming is Cal's game against Minnesota on Saturday, September 19, at 12 noon. We'll open early, at 11:30 am (maybe even earlier), to let people get settled in and get drinks before the game starts.

First Chin Music of the fall season on the 17th.

Chin Music: The Pacific Standard Poetry Reading Series
Featuring Randall Mann, John Casteen, and Will Dowd

Thursday, September 17th 2009 @ 7:00 PM

Please join us for opening night of Chin Music’s Autumn/Winter 2009 season. On September 17th, we are excited to feature three fine poets: Randall Mann, John Casteen, and Will Dowd. Other writers to be featured in Chin Music this season include Alison Hawthorne Deming, Farrah Field, Major Jackson, Philip Levine, Roddy Lumsden, Wendy Mnookin, Akilah Oliver, and Monica de la Torre.

FEATURED WRITERS

Randall Mann is the author of two collections of poetry, BREAKFAST WITH THOM GUNN (University of Chicago Press, 2009) and COMPLAINT IN THE GARDEN (Zoo/Orchises, 2004), and co-author of the textbook WRITING POEMS (Pearson Longman, 2007). He lives in San Francisco.

John Casteen was self-employed as a designer and builder of custom furniture for ten years after graduating from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He has taught at The University of Virginia and at Sweet Briar College. He has contributed poems to The Paris Review, Ploughshares, The Southern Review, and other literary magazines; he has also written for Slate.com and Virginia Quarterly Review, where he serves on the editorial staff. His book, FREE UNION, appeared this spring from the University of Georgia Press. He lives outside Charlottesville, Virginia, with his wife and their two young children.

Will Dowd's work appeared recently in 32 Poems, The Comstock Review, and Post Road Magazine. He received a B.A. from Boston College and an M.S. from MIT. In 2007, he was named a Jacob K. Javits Fellow. He is currently pursuing an MFA at New York University.

Special Topsham Pantsuit Wednesday!

This Wednesday, September 2, we'll have a very special edition of Topsham Pantsuit, which will be taped for an upcoming show on British TV! The details:

With hosts RITCH DUNCAN and WILL HINES

SPECIAL TAPED-FOR-BRITISH-TELEVISION EDITION

FEATURING:

DAVE HILL

ADIRA AMRAM

LIAM MCENEANEY

HEATHER FINK

AND A RARE U.S. PERFORMANCE FROM BRITISH COMIC PHILL JUPITUS

Okay, one more cute baby picture.

Jon and I are on a mission

to make sure the nice folks out here on the East Coast pronounce "Nevada" correctly. To wit:

http://bit.ly/NmUDT

Done and done.

Psst...

In a couple hours we just might have a sneak preview of one of the two Speakeasy beers we're launching tomorrow. It would be worth stopping by at 8 or later.

Details on the Speakeasy launch Wednesday the 26th.

In late-breaking Pacific Standard news, we'll be hosting a launch of the fantastic but never-before-seen-in-New York City San Francisco brewery Speakeasy on Wednesday night. We'll have two beers, the Big Daddy IPA and the Prohibition, on tap all night for $1 off. The descriptions:

Speakeasy Prohibition Ale (San Francisco, CA; $6/16 oz). Speakeasy's signature beer is a defining American-style amber ale. It balances English caramel malts with three different varieties of bold Pacific Northwest hops, each added three times, including dry-hopping. 6.1% ABV.

Speakeasy Big Daddy IPA (San Francisco, CA; $6/16 oz). Big Daddy pours a pale color, with strong hop aromas. The taste is dry and crisp, with the emphasis on the bountiful additions of Pacific Northwest hops, though there's a subtle pale malt presence in the background. 6.5% ABV.

Come by to be one of the first New Yorkers to drink Speakeasy on tap. You won't be sorry, trust us.

Cigar City now in stock.

We now have our first-ever (and awesome) Florida beer, the incredibly highly rated and rare Cigar City Jai Alai IPA, on tap. To wit:

Cigar City Jai Alai IPA (Tampa, FL; $7/16 oz). Jai Alai IPA is a monster interpretation of an American IPA, equalling the ABV of some double IPAs. It uses six different hop varietals, blended at different IBUs in groups of three hops per addition. Jai Alai also features a sturdy caramel malt component which balances the beer. 7.5% ABV.

Details on the specials September 5.

In case you guys were wondering about the nature of our fantastic specials on our second birthday, September 5 (which also happens to be the date of the first Cal game and the U.S.-El Salvador World Cup qualifier), here are the details:

--$5 Pacific Standard big-boy margaritas, using our special proprietary mix.
--$1 off all tap beer immediately following each U.S. goal and Cal touchdown.
--A FREE fancy new Pacific Standard beer cozy, just for purchasing two drinks (which you can do at the same time or in sequence; just let your bartender know if you plan on taking advantage of the cozy special).

Basically, anyone who is anyone should be here then. See you soon, and Go Bears!

Also

we'll have the glorious first week of college football on Saturday, September 5, including the Cal-Maryland game. It is, essentially, a day not to be missed.

Awesome Topsham Pantsuit Wednesday.

Join us at Pacific Standard, on Wednesday at 8 pm, for Topsham Pantsuit: a pleasant evening of free comedy, book cases, and exotic beers.

With hosts RITCH DUNCAN and WILL HINES

SPECIAL DAILY SHOW EDITION

FEATURING:

WYATT CENAC

JASON ROSS (TDS Writer)

ADAM LOWITT (TDS Producer)

ELLIOTT KALAN (TDS Writer)

AND MORE...

Deschutes Twilight Ale now available.

The details on our latest fine bottle selection, available in limited quantities. Come by soon to pick one up:

Deschutes Twilight Ale (Bend, OR; $7/12 oz). A light summer ale with a harmonious blend of four hops. A final dry hopping of bold Amarillo hops creates the finishing touch. 5.0%.

A few recent photos.

NYC Craft Beer Week Passports now for sale at Pacific Standard!

Craft Beer Week 2009 promises to be an unmissable beer extravaganza. It is not a question of whether or not you should go to many of the very cool events and beer bars that are participating, but where you can find the magical Golden Ticket that gives you discounts at the events and beer bars.

To wit: we now have NYC Beer Passports on sale here at Pacific Standard. They're $35, but easily pay for themselves with all the deals you'll get as a Passport holder. First of all, at over 80 beer bars in New York City (including, natch, us) you'll get to enjoy a tasty microbrew for only $2. Plus, there are specials at many of the fancy Beer Week events, and discounts you're entitled to beyond Beer Week. You also get a pocket-sized guide to everything that's happening.

Find out more about Craft Beer Week at www.nycbeerweek.com. And come by Pacific Standard to get your passport while they're hot off the presses.

Details on Topsham Pantsuit Wednesday.

Join us for Topsham Pantsuit: a pleasant evening of comedy, book cases, exotic beers, and a gratuitous birthday celebration.

** A few free copies of Franklin Bruno's new album will be available at the show. See the mention in Pitchfork: http://tr.im/uF5j **

NEXT SHOW: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5TH

With hosts RITCH DUNCAN and WILL HINES

FEATURING:

DAVE HILL (The Dave Hill Explosion)

BRENT SULLIVAN (Upcoming episode of Live at Gotham)

SHAWN PEARLMAN (Hilarious Dude)

ALISON CASTILLO (MTV, Comedy Central)

AND MUSIC BY:

FRANKLIN BRUNO (The Mountain Goats, Nothing Painted Blue)

U.S.-Mexico World Cup qualifier here on August 12.

The massively important (and surely very enjoyable?) U.S.-Mexico World Cup qualifier in Mexico City is fast approaching. We'll have it (we get the Telemundo networks on our big screens) on Wednesday, August 12 at 4 pm, and will open a little early so everyone can get situated and get a drink before the game starts. You can settle in here starting at 3ish if you'd like.

Jeannine just called her lower-body condition

Brooklyn sludgefoot? Jeannine is the greatest wordsmith I've ever known.

An open invitation

Travis Morrison, you'll be played at our bar retired or not. Who can deny "Ellen and Ben"?

A quick note

about craft beer bars, because we're getting tired of some folks touting how many beers/casks they have on tap. A bar that has 56 microbrews on tap is NOT better than a bar that has 16 on tap. A bar (like ours) that has 16 microbrews/1-2 firkins on tap is not better than a bar that has 4 microbrews on tap. Craft beer is not about how many beers you have available, but about how well they're chosen, and how well they're taken care of. Once the number of beers on tap gets over a certain silly point, you actually should distrust the quality of the bar and the beer, because each keg/cask is getting less care. Are we cool on this?

Nedra's dog Malu.

U.S.-Mexico Sunday in the Gold Cup final.

It is on. 3 pm. We'll have it on the big screens, and it shall be fun. Heck, we're excited enough that we promise $2 off all tap beer immediately following any U.S. goal. How's that sound?

Closed August 3.

Just a friendly heads-up that Monday, August 3, we'll be closed for renovations. We're putting in a lovely new concrete backbar floor that'll be a bunch better, but it needs some time to cure, during which nobody can be behind the bar. So don't stop by on that Monday, unless you want to stare longingly at our inaccessible taps.

Yes, we will

have the Gold Cup semifinals and final here at Pacific Standard. Thursday at 7 pm, we'll have the U.S.-Honduras game, and at 10 pm Mexico and Costa Rica. We'll have the final here on Sunday at 3 pm. Come by for soccer on the big screens and, umm, beer.

Free and funny Topsham Pantsuit comedy this Wednesday, as usual.

Join us at Pacific Standard in Park Slope for Topsham Pantsuit: a pleasant evening of comedy, book cases, and Bob Powers (not affiliated with Powers Pits R Us Kennels).

NEXT SHOW: WEDNESDAY, JULY 22ND

SPECIAL "JUST MAKE A CHOICE" EDITION

With host BOB POWERS

FEATURING:

RITCH DUNCAN (Usually the host)
WILL HINES (Derrick's MYSTERY TEAM, UCB'S The Stepfathers)
JAMIE LEE (Diamonds In The Fluff)
GEORGE GORDON (Hilarious Guy)

Our latest bar customer, Mia A. Crudele.

Our Frequent Drinker program has experienced something of a revival of press coverage:

http://bit.ly/13UnUC

and

http://bit.ly/igHHt

though both of them get it wrong about Frequent Drinker yards corresponding directly to dollar value spent at the bar. Half of the week we're giving two yards for each dollar spent, so people's points, while having a loose relation to money spent at the bar, are greatly inflated.

Drink specials for BoCoCa Arts Festival attendees!

We here at Pacific Standard love supporting neighborhood arts, so we couldn't resist helping out the brand-new BoCoCa Arts Festival by offering those who bring a playbill from a show $1 off beer all night, for the duration of the festival (July 17-26). There's a great selection of music, theater, visual and performing art shows; check out the website at http://www.bococaartsfestival.com/ for more information, check out a show or two, and come by afterwards for a cheap post-show drink.

AC fixed, projector fixed!

Come on by to enjoy our glorious new back projector, which is much brighter (and doesn't flicker). You could call the colors positively vibrant, even. We also have sweet sweet air conditioning back, so it's a comfy 70 degrees in here. Finally, our dimmer is working well, and we're working on a permanent fix. Thank heavens--it was like the bar was possessed by the devil for a few hours.

A couple first-time-in-New-York-City beers.

Welcome Atwater Block and Lakefront, a couple great Midwestern breweries, to New York City this week:

Atwater Block D Light Kolsch (Detroit, MI; $5/16 oz). This summery
beer, from an excellent Detroit brewery that just started distributing
in New York, is straw-colored and light-bodied, with a crisp clean
finish. ABV unknown, probably low.

Lakefront IPA (Milwaukee, WI; $6/16 oz). This ale pours a hazy orange,
with Cascade and Chinook hops dominating the aroma and yielding a
citrusy, floral bouquet. The hops give a bitter bite to the flavor,
but the beer also has a full body and a smooth maltiness. 6.9% ABV.

Annoyances seem to come in threes.

Apologies to all of you who had to put up with the poor air-conditioning, flickery projector, and front-room dimmer problems tonight. For some reason, they all decided to assault us at once. But by tomorrow, we'll have a brand-new projector in the back, excellent AC, and a new dimmer switch for the front. Hurrah for maintenance Monday (and why can't you get an AC technician in New York City who's willing to work on a Sunday?).

Details on the secret guest, because you guys just can't wait for a surprise.

We're proud to say that Jon Glaser, formerly of Late Night With Conan O'Brien, now of the brilliant Adult Swim series Delocated, is our special guest at this Wednesday's Topsham Pantsuit. Great lineup all-around: Liam McEneaney, Jena Friedman, Jesse Popp, and Scott Jacobson. Be here.

Topsham Pantsuit Wednesday with a Secret Guest!

Join us at Pacific Standard for Topsham Pantsuit: a pleasant evening of comedy, bookcases, and exotic beers.

With hosts RITCH DUNCAN and WILL HINES.

NEXT SHOW WEDNESDAY, JULY 8TH
8 pm, FREE

A VERY SPECIAL SECRET GUEST (Things You've Seen on TV)

JESSE POPP (Amazing joke writer)

LIAM MCENEANEY (Premium Blend, TP favorite)

JENA FRIEDMAN (Host of "Entertaining The Bartender")

SCOTT JACOBSON (The Daily Show, Adult Swim)

Fresh Bloody Marys return!

Starting next Saturday, we’ll have delicious, fresh-made Bloody Marys on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Come by starting at noon for your hangover cure.

USA!

Everyone had a great time watching the U.S. upset Spain today. We'll open as usual at noon on Sunday, and will have the Confederations Cup final on both big screens starting at 2 pm. Come by for some good beer and excellent soccer.

We are now out

of that Gaius Plinius Secundus beer I mentioned last week. We'll see if we can get some more soon...

Meet the 21st Amendment brewers on June 30.

Come by our bar on Tuesday, June 30, from 9-10:30 pm, to meet the brewers of the new-to-New-York 21st Amendment brewery, who will be out from San Francisco. We'll even have a $3 special on their fine IPA all night, if mere human companionship isn't enough for you. Cool? Cool. We'll see you there.

Open early on Wednesday to show the Confederations Cup Semifinals.

The U.S. men's soccer team has improbably advanced to the Confederations Cup semifinals, and we're so excited that we'll open early, at 2:30 pm, on Wednesday to show their match against Spain. It'll be a tough one, but there'll be plenty of beer to assuage our sorrows or celebrate our upset. Skip work and come on by! It'll be happy hour the whole time.

Thank you

to everyone who came to and read at Chin Music this season. It was awesome. We'll be taking a couple months off, and will return in the fall. See you then!

A heads-up

that we have about eight bottles of a California beer named in honor of Gaius Plinius Secundus, probably for just a few days. Stop by before the weekend is over to grab a 16-ounce dose of hoppy glory. It's $12 because it costs us so much to get it out here, but it's worth it.

Another first

Ballast Point, an award-winning San Diego brewery, has come to New York for the first time, and we've picked up a keg of their Calico Amber. The details:

Ballast Point Calico Amber Ale (San Diego, CA; $6/16 oz). Ballast Point is a great San Diego brewery that is all-new to New York. Though inspired by English ales, Calico Amber uses American Cascade and Centennial hops, which give a crisp bitterness to balance the malt and a floral aroma. Four different crystal malts give it toffee and caramel flavors, while a proprietary yeast provides a fruity background and a richness that rounds out this gold medal-winning ale. 5.0% ABV.

New Thirtnight of Fury Award

We're almost halfway done with the Thirtnight of Fury, and have had well over 30 different beers on tap now, which means that a few people have already completed the challenge, and many others are coming close. But for those of you who haven't started yet, or those who just haven't been able to spend much quality time here, we've decided to add a second, more modest award level. If you have just 15 different beers in June you’ll get $4 beer all night (and free stuff) on our July 9 Fortnight of Fury party. (Don't worry--those who drink 30 will still get the same $2 or $3 beers all night, plus an entry into the raffle for a fabulous $140 dinner for two at The Farm on Adderley and the $100 gift certificate to Bierkraft, among other things). So come in, get your sheet, and drink 15 beers over the next 16 days. It's not hard.

For the first time ever

21st Amendment, a great San Francisco brewery, is available in NYC, and we have one of the first kegs shipped. The details:

21st Amendment Brew Free or Die IPA (San Francisco, CA; $6/16 oz). This deep golden ale, dry-hopped in the fermenter with four types of hops, has an explosive citrus and piney aroma, with an assertive malt backbone to balance the bitterness. 7.2% ABV.

Unfortunately

we won't be able to show the first part of the NBA Finals game this Sunday night because it's pub quiz playoffs at 8:30. Quiz will be over by the end of the third quarter, though, so anyone who (like us) doesn't see any point in watching NBA games before the fourth quarter is welcome to come by.

Final Chin Music of the season Thursday.

Chin Music: The Pacific Standard Poetry Reading Series
Featuring Sarah Manguso, Dan Albergotti, and Blue Chevigny

Please join us for the season finale of Chin Music, the Pacific Standard Poetry Reading Series. Next Thursday, June 18th, we are excited to feature three wonderful poets: Sarah Manguso, Dan Albergotti, and Blue Chevigny. Writers on-deck for the autumn season include Roddy Lumsden, John Casteen, Paige Starzinger, Major Jackson, and David Baker.

FEATURED POETS

Sarah Manguso is the author of the memoir THE TWO KINDS OF DECAY, recently released in paperback by FSG. It was named an Editors' Choice by the New York Times Sunday Book Review and a Best Nonfiction Book of the Year by the San Francisco Chronicle. Her other books include the story collection HARD TO ADMIT AND HARDER TO ESCAPE (2007), included in McSweeney's 145 Stories in a Small Box, and the poetry collections SISTE VIATOR (2006) and THE CAPTAIN LANDS IN PARADISE (2002), which was named a Favorite Book of the Year by the Village Voice. In 2008 she received the Joseph Brodsky Rome Prize in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Born and raised near Boston, she lives in Brooklyn.

Dan Albergotti’s collection of poems, THE BOATLOADS, was selected by Edward Hirsch as the winner of the 2007 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize from BOA Editions and published in April 2008. His poems have appeared in The Cincinnati Review, Mid-American Review, Shenandoah, The Southern Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, and other journals. His chapbook, CHARON’S MANIFEST, won the 2005 Randall Jarrell/Harperprints Chapbook Competition. Former poetry editor of The Greensboro Review, he currently edits the online journal Waccamaw (www.waccamawjournal.com) and teaches creative writing and literature courses at Coastal Carolina University.

Blue Chevigny is a native New Yorker who writes a lot of her poems on long subway commutes. Her work has appeared in Hanging Loose and Salamander Jacket. She is also a social worker and radio producer for public radio. She and her sister have a podcast about movies: katyandbluegotothemovies.com.

More sizes of t-shirts available.

We've just gotten a bunch of our very handsome and popular dark grey heather Pacific Standard logo t-shirts in a range of new sizes, so all of you differently-sized people have a shirt that will fit you perfectly waiting here, expectantly. They now come in everything from small to XXL, and fit both men and women; we're selling them for $18 a pop. (And we still have off-white shirts too.) Come by and purchase them with American dollars or Pacific Standard Frequent Drinker Yards.

Schneider Brooklyner Hopfenweisse now on tap!

We're not in the habit of putting European beers on tap, because we love our American craft brews, but once in a while something really special comes along. And this one is a German-Brooklyn hybrid:

Schneider Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse (Kelheim, Germany; $7/12 oz). This small-batch collaboration between brewmasters Hans-Peter Drexler of Schneider Weissbier and Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery is a pale weissbock, robustly dry hopped with the Hallertauer Saphir variety grown in the fields near the Schneider brewery. Hoppy, zesty and supremely refreshing, this beer is a delicious blend of Bavarian craftsmanship and American ingenuity. 8.2% ABV.

We should add, finally, that it tastes like pure manna from heaven. Come by and grab a glass before we run out.

Recent bar photos

1. We promise not to overwhelm you with cute Charlotte photos, but we can't resist on these two:































2. Some of you may know that our bar is occasionally visited by an odd creature, a talking lime with olives for eyes, a toothpick for arms, and little paper cut-out hands. His name is El Junipero and he is fearsome and prophetic:

Reminder: Ithaca Event Coming Soon!

On Thursday, June 25, starting at 7 pm, we'll have an awesome Ithaca beer event, with some of their very impressive ales, including:

Partly Sunny
White Gold
Flower Power
Pale Ale

and perhaps one more beer, like Cascazilla or their 11th Anniversary. It depends on availability at the time; we'll keep you updated. Regardless, there will be drink specials, brewery staff, and giveaways (I think the Ithaca folks are bringing some cool glassware). So you should definitely come by (plus, you'll have the chance to add a bunch of new beers to your Thirtnight of Fury sheet).

Boulder Flashback now on tap.

A brand-new release from Boulder Beer is here, an anniversary ale that won't stick around for long. Also, the first India Brown Ale (!) we've ever had. Details:

Boulder Beer Flashback Anniversary Ale (Boulder, CO; $6/16 oz). This beer, brewed in honor of Boulder’s 30th anniversary, is an India Brown Ale, single-hopped with five separate additions of Cascade hops. Citrusy like an IPA but dark and roasty like a brown ale, Flashback is complex and unique. 6.9% ABV.

Old baseball/basketball/football/hockey cards.

We finally went through each of the thousands of old cards in our basement, some of which you've seen adorn our tables and bathrooms, and picked out all the ones we want to keep. That leaves hundreds and hundreds of extra ones that we'd like to get rid of to save space, so if you're a collector, by all means come by, pick ones you like, and make us an offer; we'll sell em cheap. They're mostly 1970s and early 1980s baseball, hockey, football, and basketball cards, with some other random stuff thrown in there. Not too valuable and not in super-mint condition, but pretty and lots of fun.

Oh, and of course

we'll have the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 6, at 6:30 pm, and will concoct the usual spur-of-the-moment race drink special. Come by to see if Mine That Bird can get another Triple Crown victory. (Also, we reserve the right to give free drinks to people with excellent hats.)

Reminder: Thirtnight of Fury starts Monday!

Those of you who go way back with Pacific Standard may remember our Fortnight of Fury, a promotion we ran just after we opened. During those two weeks, people who came to the bar each day and consumed our consumables were rewarded handsomely for their efforts. We've been feeling nostalgic for those days, and wanted to give our fine customers a new opportunity to achieve everlasting glory and less everlasting, but still solidly made, medium-sized dry goods. Behold:

THE THIRTNIGHT OF FURY
JUNE 1-30

Doctors report that one beer a day is as good for your heart as regular exercise, so we've created a month-long event in honor of that idea. Over the course of the thirty days of the month of June, come by the Standard and consume thirty different craft beers (we mean "different" in the sense of different brands; no just having thirty of the same beer). All who complete this task will be rewarded with a party on Thursday, July 9, at which beer shall be available for the cut-rate prices of $2 or $3 a pint, there will be ample food (pizza and such), and we will give away some of our new merchandise, and some rare beer, as well as two very grand prizes:

1. A fancy-pants dinner for two at one of our favorite craft beer and locally grown food places, The Farm on Adderley in Ditmas Park. (You have the dinner, bring us the receipt, and we'll reimburse you up to $140, which should get you a nice three-course meal plus beverages.)
2. A $100 gift certificate to Bierkraft in Park Slope. They have awesome beer, you have $100, enough said.

So gird yourselves and come by any time starting June 1 to get the Official Thirtnight of Fury Sheet, which your bartenders will stamp for each separate beer you have. Happy tasting, and may mighty Juno bless your endeavors.

Sierra Nevada Best Bitter now on cask!

Seldom do we see this choice Sierra offering out here at all, much less on cask, as a good English bitter should be served. Come by soon to check it out:

Sierra Nevada Best Bitter (Chico, CA; $6/16 oz). Brewed using imported English malts and hops, this medium-bodied, copper-colored beer is a California rendition of the popular English Best Bitter style. A very drinkable, yet flavorful ale, rarely seen on the East Coast. 5.0% ABV.

We're open as usual

on Memorial Day weekend: 12 pm-4 am Friday, 12 pm-4 am Saturday, 12 pm-4 am Sunday (with pub quiz at 8:30), and 4 pm-4 am Monday. Stop by for refuge from the thunderstorms the weathermen are predicting and to while away the long weekend with summer beer and snacks.

Chin Music is good on the 28th.

Chin Music: The Pacific Standard Poetry Reading Series
Featuring Glyn Maxwell, Rick Barot, and Lytton Smith

Thursday, May 28th 2009 @ 7:00 PM

Please join us for the next evening of Chin Music, the Pacific Standard Poetry Reading Series. On May 28th, we are thrilled to feature three excellent poets: Glyn Maxwell, Rick Barot, and Lytton Smith. Other writers to be featured in Chin Music this season include Sarah Manguso, Kevin Goodan, Dan Albergotti, Oni Buchanan, Paige Starzinger, Blue Chevigny, Major Jackson, and David Baker.

FEATURED WRITERS

Glyn Maxwell’s latest poetry collection, HIDE NOW, was published in 2008 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and shortlisted for the 2008 T. S. Eliot Prize. He was appointed Poetry Editor at the New Republic in 2001, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Several of his books of poetry have been shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot and Forward Poetry Prizes, and the Whitbread Poetry Award, and his most recent collections—THE BOYS AT TWILIGHT, TIME’S FOOL, and THE NERVE—were selected as New York Times Notable Books of the Year. He has written a number of plays (BROKEN JOURNEY, THE LIFEBLOOD, BEST MAN’S SPEECH, and THE FOREVER WALTZ), radio plays (CHILDMINDERS), opera libretti (THE GIRL OF SAND and THE BIRDS), and novels (BLUE BURNEAU and THE GIRL WHO WAS GOING TO DIE). Glyn Maxwell is currently adapting Umberto Eco's THE NAME OF THE ROSE for Moving Pictures Theatre Company. He lives in England.

Rick Barot has published two books of poems with Sarabande Books: THE DARKER FALL (2002) and WANT (2008). His poems and essays have appeared in numerous publications, including Poetry, The Paris Review, American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, New England Review, The New Republic, and Virginia Quarterly Review. He lives in Tacoma, Washington, and teaches both in the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College and at Pacific Lutheran University.

Lytton Smith was born in Galleywood, England, and lives in New York City, where he is a founding member of Blind Tiger Poetry, a group which aims to find innovative ways to promote contemporary poetry. His book, THE ALL-PURPOSE MAGICAL TENT (Nightboat Books, 2009) was selected by Terrance Hayes for the Nightboat Prize. His chapbook, MONSTER THEORY, was selected by Kevin Young for a Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship and published in 2008. His poems and reviews have appeared in American Letters & Commentary, The Atlantic, Bateau, The Believer, Boston Review, Colorado Review, Denver Quarterly, Ninth Letter, Tin House, Verse, and the anthology All That Mighty Heart: London Poems.

New summer cocktail menu!

Behold it, in all its glory:

Blueberry Lemonade ($8): Blueberry and citrus vodka, muddled lemon and sugar, topped with soda.
The Carney Lansford ($8): Muddled lemon, sugar, and cucumber, gin, topped with soda.
Dark and Stormy ($8): Jamaican ginger beer topped with Myers dark rum.
Kaffir Caipiruski ($8): Hangar One Kaffir Lime vodka, muddled lime and sugar, topped with soda.
The Mike Gallego ($8): Rogue white rum, scotch, and bitters, topped with coke.
Negroni ($9): Anchor Junipero gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth, garnished with a slice of orange.
Rogue Mai Tai ($8): White and gold Rogue rum, triple sec, pineapple juice, lime juice, Grenadine.

To celebrate the clinking, sloshing advent of our summer cocktails, they'll all be $1 off from now through Thursday the 21st. So come by and try them soon.

Thirtnight of Fury June 1-30.

Those of you who go way back with Pacific Standard may remember our Fortnight of Fury, a promotion we ran just after we opened. During those two weeks, people who came to the bar each day and consumed our consumables were rewarded handsomely for their efforts. We've been feeling nostalgic for those days, and wanted to give our fine customers a new opportunity to achieve everlasting glory and less everlasting, but still solidly made, medium-sized dry goods. Behold:

THE THIRTNIGHT OF FURY
JUNE 1-30

Doctors report that one beer a day is as good for your heart as regular exercise, so we've created a month-long event in honor of that idea. Over the course of the thirty days of the month of June, come by the Standard and consume thirty different craft beers (we mean "different" in the sense of different brands; no just having thirty of the same beer). All who complete this task will be rewarded with a party on Thursday, July 9, at which beer shall be available for the cut-rate prices of $2 or $3 a pint, there will be ample food (pizza and such), and we will give away some of our new merchandise, and some rare beer, as well as two very grand prizes:

1. A fancy-pants dinner for two at one of our favorite craft beer and locally grown food places, The Farm on Adderley in Ditmas Park. (You have the dinner, bring us the receipt, and we'll reimburse you up to $140, which should get you a nice three-course meal plus beverages.)
2. A $100 gift certificate to Bierkraft in Park Slope. They have awesome beer, you have $100, enough said.

So gird yourselves and come by any time starting June 1 to get the Official Thirtnight of Fury Sheet, which your bartenders will stamp for each separate beer you have. Happy tasting, and may mighty Juno bless your endeavors.

Preakness on Saturday.

Yes, we'll have the Preakness in all its Marylandish glory on Saturday. Coverage starts at 5, and the race will be a bit after 6 pm. We'll figure out some specials, and enjoy watching Mine That Bird battle Rachel Alexandra.

Patch and pint glass special.

We're so deliriously pleased with our new patches and pint glasses that we've decided to offer them as part of a series of summer specials we're planning. To wit: starting now, if you and/or your buddies (so, yes, you can combine drinks on one tab) drink four glasses (12 or 16 ounces) of our fine tap beers in one evening, you will have the option to purchase either a Pacific Standard logo iron-on patch or a Pacific Standard logo pint glass for the at-cost price of $3. Essentially, we're trying to reward you for having a pleasant evening of droll conversation and droller beer here at the Standard. And keeping us company during those humid summer months. We'll see your air-conditioned selves here soon.

In case you're wondering

John Oliver is super-double-confirmed for tomorrow night's Topsham Pantsuit comedy. So come by, and do so as early as you can.

Great Chin Music lineup for this Thursday.

Chin Music: The Pacific Standard Poetry Reading Series
Featuring Sarah Gambito, Mrigaa Sethi, and Solmaz Sharif

Thursday, May 14th 2009 @ 7:00 PM

web: http://chinmusicpoetry.blogspot.com
email: chinmusicpoetry@gmail.com

Please join us for the next evening of Chin Music, the Pacific Standard Poetry Reading Series. On May 14th, we are excited to feature three excellent poets: Sarah Gambito, Mrigaa Sethi, and Solmaz Sharif. Other writers to be featured in Chin Music this season include Glyn Maxwell, Major Jackson, Kevin Goodan, Dan Albergotti, Lytton Smith, Oni Buchanan, Paige Starzinger, Blue Chevigny, and David Baker. Series curated by Colin Cheney.

FEATURED WRITERS

Sarah Gambito is the author of the poetry collections MATADORA (Alice James Books) and DELIVERED (Persea Books). Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Iowa Review, The Antioch Review, Denver Quarterly, The New Republic, Field, Quarterly West, Fence and other journals. She teaches at Fordham University, and is co-founder of Kundiman, a non-profit organization that promotes Asian American poetry.

Mrigaa Sethi was born in Delhi, raised in Thailand, and now teaches creative writing, literature, and composition in New York City. In 2007 she was a winner of an Amy Award through Poets and Writers for New York women under thirty. Her work appears in Gauge, Folio, and Seneca Review.

Born in exile, Solmaz Sharif completed majors in Sociology and Women of Color Writers at U.C. Berkeley. While there, she studied and taught with June Jordan’s Poetry for the People. She holds an MFA from New York University's Creative Writing program, where she taught creative writing and was a Goldwater Fellow.

Topsham Pantsuit on Wednesday at 8 pm.

Join us at Pacific Standard for Topsham Pantsuit: a pleasant evening of comedy, book cases, exotic beers, and Bernadette from http://www.amishpuggles.com

With hosts RITCH DUNCAN and WILL HINES.

FEATURING:

JOHN OLIVER (The Daily Show)

MEGAN GANZ (The Onion)

ADIRA AMRAM (Musical Genius)

JOSH COMERS (Hilarious Man)

AND A CARTOON PRESENTATION FROM:

NEIL NUMBERMAN (New Book "Joey Fly: Private Eye")

Hoppin’ Frog B.O.R.I.S. The Crusher now on tap!

Fresh off the delivery truck, the Hoppin' Frog keg we just tapped may be the first-ever B.O.R.I.S. served (legally) in New York City. The details:

Hoppin’ Frog B.O.R.I.S. The Crusher Oatmeal Imperial Stout (Akron, OH; $6/12 oz). Hoppin’ Frog is a great Ohio brewery that’s now available for the first time ever in New York City. Their oatmeal Russian Imperial stout has an intense, deep-roasted flavor. A robust hop character adds a refreshing balance. Winner of the GABF Gold Medal in 2008. 9.4% ABV.

Get here soon to taste that Akrony goodness.

Patches and pint glasses.

We now have some beautiful Pacific Standard logo pint glasses, for those of you with arms, mouths, and operational, thirsty stomachs, as well as some very cool iron-on patches, for those of you with jackets, backpacks, or heat-insensitive arms. Pictures are below; the patches go for $5 and the pint glasses for $6. Come by and pick some up (they make great Mother's Day gifts, I don't care what people say).

The Ace Cider folks

stopped by on their way back to Sebastopol from Boston:
















which was very nice of them. We're planning on getting some interesting new products from them soon; stay tuned.

Lots of new stuff now on tap.

We had a perfect storm of beer consumption this weekend, so, like a ship raising fresh sails after removing its weather-torn rags, we now proudly hoist a vastly changed tap menu. Interesting new beers include:

Bear Republic Rebellion (rare, tangy offering; back after a long absence).

Eel River California Blonde (Eel River, the nation's first certified organic brewery, has finally made it out to the East Coast. This is the first beer of theirs that we've carried.)

Ithaca Flower Power (this awesome hop blast is back in New York City, but as usual, probably for only a limited time.)

Sierra Nevada Summerfest (first time we've had this excellent summer brew since last year).

Stoudt's Smooth Hoperator (Stoudt's 20th anniversary beer is an American-style doppelbock. Another beer we've never had before.)

Two Brothers Domaine Dupage (a beer and a style we've never had before--a rural northern French amber ale. Really nicely balanced and drinkable.)

Weyerbacher Echo (back for a limited time--one of only a very few kegs left of this one-off copper ale.)

Fiction reading on Tuesday.

The Pacific Standard Fiction Series: Adventures in Consciousness
featuring Benjamin Kunkel and Rivka Galchen
Tuesday, May 5th, 7:00 p.m.
82 Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn, New York (between St. Marks and Bergen)

Books available on-site!
Drink specials selected by dartboard!
Come see why New York Magazine named us "Best New Literary Event of 2008!"

*

Benjamin Kunkel's first novel, INDECISION (Random House), was a national bestseller and was selected as a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times. Kunkel, a founding editor of N+1, has also written for The New Yorker and The London Review of Books.

"One could quote endlessly from this book, which is made of almost nothing but good lines. . . . Dwight as a character is silly and sometimes shrewd as well as likeable; as a narrator, he's heaven." - The New York Observer

Rivka Galchen's first novel, ATMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES (FSG; now a Picador paperback), was a New York Times Notable Book and was named one of the best books of 2008 by both Salon.com and Slate. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Believer, Zoetrope, and The New York Times. Galchen, who earned an MD from Mount Sinai in 2003, has also been honored with a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award. She currently teaches writing at Columbia University.

"A brainy, whimsical, emotionally contained first novel . . . Galchen’s inventive narrative strategies call to mind the playful techniques of Jonathan Lethem, Franz Kafka, Primo Levi and Thomas Pynchon." - The New York Times

Kentucky Derby Saturday.

In case you're interested in watching the ponies, we shall indeed have the venerable Derby on TV here on Saturday. NBC will begin coverage at 5 pm, and the race should start sometime after 6. We may or may not have mint juleps, but we will certainly come up with some kind of fiendish Derby drink special. So come by if you want to watch the race in a relaxed, spacious environment with a friendly neighborhood crowd. (And don't forget to stop by an OTB first--the closest one to us is on 5th Avenue and 12th Street, wethinks.)

Deschutes Black Butte and Hop Henge

are now back in bottle form, thankfully. That is all.

Southern Tier Oak Aged Unearthly now on tap.

Unearthly is a lovely imperial IPA, but apparently that wasn't enough for the Southern Tier folks. They aged it in oak barrels, which adds another layer of complexity. Oak Aged Unearthly is a must-try, and much more drinkable than its high ABV would suggest. Details:

Southern Tier Oak Aged Unearthly Imperial IPA (Lakewood, NY; $7/12 oz). This huge IPA, aged in oak barrels, smells of pine and grapefruit. The taste is smoother than one would expect, with a solid malt presence and earthy oak taste balancing the hop flavors, and a tart, pleasant finish. 11.0% ABV.

Comedy night Wednesday at 8 pm.

Join us at Pacific Standard in Park Slope for Topsham Pantsuit: a pleasant evening of comedy, book cases, exotic beers and PIRATES! (Still topical and funny? No?)

With hosts RITCH DUNCAN and WILL HINES.

Pacific Standard
82 4th Ave (b/w St. Marks and Bergen)
8 pm, FREE
http://www.pacificstandardbrooklyn.com

NEXT SHOW WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29th

FEATURING:

JOE MANDE (Totally JK, Time Out New York's "Best New Comedian")

JESSE POPP (Ultra-Hilarious)

VIOLET KRUMBEIN (Upright Citizens Brigade)

MATT GOLDICH (Best Week Ever, Premium Blend)

SEAN PATTON (Montreal, Mega Funny)

This will be a great one.

Green Flash beers on tap for tonight include

Hop Head Red, Imperial IPA (first time ever here at Pacific Standard), and West Coast IPA (on cask!). Descriptions below. Come by to check out some amazing beers and meet the brewers. Best of all (shh), we're extending happy hour on Green Flash beers until 11 pm, so they'll all be a ridiculously reasonable $5.

Green Flash Hop Head Red (San Diego, CA; $6/16 oz). A resinous hop character and bitterness balance out the rich caramel malt base in Hop Head Red, Green Flash’s West Coast-style red ale. The beer is dry-hopped with Amarillo hops, bringing the flavor profile closer to that of an IPA. 6.0% ABV.

Green Flash Imperial IPA (San Diego, CA; $6/12 oz). San Diego-style IPA, as it has come to be known, is super-hoppy and high gravity, yet very quaffable. This imperial IPA is created in this new tradition, with intense hop flavors and aromas from a unique blend of Summit and Nugget hops. 9.4% ABV.

Green Flash West Coast IPA (San Diego, CA; $6/16 oz). A full-flavored IPA with extravagant amounts of bright, citrusy hops in both the aroma and taste. Simcoe, Centennial, Cascade, and Columbus hops are all used to create this copper-colored West Coast-style ale. 7.0% ABV.

A Short List of True Things

1. Bear Republic Racer X is now on tap.
2. It's almost never seen in New York.
3. It will go fast.

You draw your own conclusions from that. The details:

Bear Republic Racer X (Healdsburg, CA; $6/12 oz). This bold double IPA follows English brewing traditions, but with a California twist. Hops, hops, and more hops create a pungent aroma and bitter orange, pineapple and piney flavors, backed with a strong malt sweetness. 8.0% ABV.

We're also debuting Left Hand's Polestar Pilsner, which is lovely in its own right:

Left Hand Polestar Pilsner (Longmont, CO; $5/16 oz). This bright, refreshing German-style lager is crafted using traditional methods and ingredients. A zesty pilsner taste gives way to a dry, crisp finish, for an extremely drinkable lager experience. 5.0% ABV.

Chin Music next Thursday.

Chin Music: The Pacific Standard Poetry Reading Series
Featuring Jee Leong Koh, Rebecca Keith, and Martin Rock

Thursday, April 30th 2009 @ 7:00 PM

Please join us for the next evening of Chin Music, the Pacific
Standard Poetry Reading Series. On April 30th, we are excited to
feature three excellent poets: Jee Leong Koh, Rebecca Keith, and
Martin Rock. Other writers to be featured in Chin Music this season
include Glyn Maxwell, Sarah Gambito, Major Jackson, Kevin Goodan, Dan Albergotti, Lytton Smith, Oni Buchanan, Paige Starzinger, Blue Chevigny, and David Baker. Series curated by Colin Cheney.

FEATURED WRITERS

Jee Leong Koh is the author of EQUAL TO THE EARTH and PAYDAY LOANS (both from Poets Wear Prada Press). His poetry has appeared in Best New Poets 2007, and Best Gay Poetry 2008, and has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Born in Singapore, he now lives in New York City, and blogs at Song of a Reformed Headhunter (http://jeeleong.blogspot.com).

Rebecca Keith holds an MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College. She
has received honors from the Atlantic Monthly and BOMB Magazine and
was a finalist for the 2008 Laurel Review/GreenTower Press Midwest
Chapbook Series Award. Her work has appeared most recently in The
Laurel Review and Storyscape Journal. She is a founder and curator of
Mixer reading series in New York City.

Martin Rock is an MFA candidate at New York University, where he is a
Starworks fellow and soon to be Editor in Chief of Washington Square
Review. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in NANO Fiction, 13th
Warrior Review, At-Large, and Mississippi Review. After living for
four years in Japan, he now resides in Brooklyn.

Charlotte contemplates

her libation of choice.

Plus, we're rocking

a few new kegs: Lake Placid Ubu Ale (Lake Placid, a great upstate brewery, just came out here to NYC), and for the first time, Anderson Valley's Belgian triple, Brother David. More reasons to beat early-week doldrums by getting thee and thee's buddies here.

York Centurion's Ghost firkin now on tap!

A trans-Atlantic shipment has brought us a firkin almost never seen Stateside: York Brewery's fantastic Centurion's Ghost. Come by soon to taste an award-winning English bitter. The details:

York Brewery Centurion’s Ghost (York, UK; $7/16 oz). This rare treat from the famous York Brewery is a warming, dark bitter ale with a strong roasted malt taste. A classic English mild cask ale that is very drinkable. Brewing Industry International Awards champion in 2002, and Great British Beer Festival gold medal winner in 2006 and 2007. 5.4% ABV.

Fiction reading Tuesday.

The Pacific Standard Fiction Series: Yearlings

featuring Ed Park and Nathaniel Rich

Tuesday, April 21st, 7:00 p.m.

82 Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn, New York (between St. Marks and Bergen)

Books available on-site!

Drink specials selected by dartboard!

Come see why New York Magazine named us "Best New Literary Event of 2008!"

*

Ed Park's first novel, PERSONAL DAYS (Random House), was named one of the top 10 works of fiction of 2008 by Time Magazine, was a finalist for the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize, and was recently named a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. At least one reviewer declared it "funnier than [Agatha] Christie." A founding editor of The Believer, Park has also written copiously for The Village Voice, The Los Angeles Times, and other publications.

“Quite simply, brilliant . . . PERSONAL DAYS follows life amid the desks of a corporation where office ways are laid bare in all their tedious and frequently hilarious detail . . . Park has strayed into Ricky Gervais's territory and may soon be its king.” - The Observer [U.K.]

Nathaniel Rich's first novel, THE MAYOR'S TONGUE (Riverhead), earned him praise on both sides of the Atlantic, with Stephen King calling it "an elegantly structured, brilliantly told novel, by turns terrifying, touching, and wildly funny, and always generous and magical." Rich, an editor at The Paris Review, is also the author of SAN FRANCISCO NOIR. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The New Republic, and The New York Review of Books.

“Nathaniel Rich spent most of his twenties re-shaping the Great American Novel to fit the 21st century . . . This is a novel with a big brain and a cheeky wink by an author who could well become one of the defining writers of his generation.” - The Sunday Telegraph [U.K.]

Meet the Green Flash brewers next Friday!

Some late-breaking news: next Friday, starting at 9 pm or so, the Green Flash folks will be stopping by Pacific Standard. They don't get out from San Diego often, so this is a great chance to meet the guys responsible for the mind-blowing West Coast IPA, Hop Head Red, Le Freak, and so on. We'll have a few Green Flash kegs on tap to celebrate, and will even put them on special (a rarity for a Friday night). So make sure to wobble over here during your normal weekend revels on the 24th.

Pub Quiz Mixer, April 28.

We're really grateful for all the people who have made our pub quiz the fantastic nerd-off that it is, so we thought it would be cool to invite all of you loyal quiz folks to hang out on Tuesday, April 28, starting at 7 pm, for an old-fashioned mixer. Pub quizzers will get $2 off drinks all night, and we’ll have specials and giveaways too (don't tell anybody, but there are some never-before-seen types of Pacific Standard merchandise coming our way soon). Mostly you get to chill with the other teams, Rachel, and the Jo(h)ns in a relaxed, non-questiony environment. We hope to see you then.

Topsham Pantsuit comedy

will return on Wednesday, April 15th, at 8 pm, with:

Christian Finnegan (Au Contraire! Comedy Central special)
Dave Hill (The Dave Hill Explosion, NPR)
Violet Krumbein (UCB)
Charles Star (Stay Free!, Adult Education)

and music from Graham Smith (Kleenex Girl Wonder).

Hosted, as usual, by Ritch Duncan and Will Hines.