After polishing off a couple of pints, including a Delirium Tremens and a Duvel Green, at Belgian beer bar BXL Cafe near Times Square (just learned a new location is slated for 51st b/t 2nd and 3rd), we headed down to Back Forty in the E. Village with our beer-loving friend Martin for the Sixpoint Mardi Gras Fat Tuesday Feast. And what a feast it was. Jill and I love Sixpoint Craft Ales and were excited to introduce some of our favorites in their repertoire to Martin. Sixpoint has been celebrating its 5th anniversary throught this month with events all over Brooklyn and Manhattan. We were a bit early for our reservation so we found seats at the bar. The first thing we noticed was that pretty much every tap at Back Forty is a different Sixpoint beer. Since we were there for the dinner the bartender poured us each an amuse bouche of Sixpoint Brownstone from cask — a nice semi-creamy brown ale with a nut and malt taste. Next, Martin and I moved on to my favorite Sixpoint beer, the Bengali IPA, while Jill ordered a Belgian Rye-PA  from the other cask. We didn’t know at the time this is the only cask of this beer in the world. Turns out it was one of the best beers I’ve ever tasted. Completely my style of beer. The aromas alone rocked my world — strong hops blending nicely with some citrus and malty sweetness on the nose. We got to speak with Jeff Gorlechen by the bar for a few minutes before getting seated. Jeff handles promotion for Sixpoint, and he explained more about this insane Belgian Rye and how there are only between 50-100 pours left in the cask and then it would be gone forever. When he saw that we all had one in front of us, he quickly had the bartender pour him one seeming to doubt whether there was really as much left in the cask as he thought.

We were taken back past the bar and kitchen to our table. We were seated with our beerphile friends, Charles, Phil and Kelly, and a couple of their friends. The first course was shrimp hush puppies (see full menu at end), which were delicious. They were not at all shy with the Sixpoint beer bringing us pitcher after pitcher  throughout the evening. It was supposed to be a different Sixpoint beer paired with each course, but since they were so generous with the pitchers, I think we just about had a pitcher of all the Sixpoint beers on our table at several points during the meal. Not that we were complaining, though. At one point, Martin got up and went to the bar and came back with a Belgian Rye from the cask for everyone at the table. Over the course of the night, we had the Righteous Ale, more Bengali IPA, Apollo Wheat, and Dubbel Trubbel with dessert. The food was ridiculously good. The housemade sausage for the second course had great seasoning and the shrimp in the third course jambalaya was unreal. Towards the end of the evening we got to chat for a while with Sixpoint brewer Craig Frymark, who we had met back on Super Bowl Sunday at a Sixpoint tasting and growler event at Whole Foods Bowery Beer Room. He shared a ton of info about Sixpoint and his own beer-making experiences, and we’re hoping to have a Q&A with Craig on Wined & Dined in the near future. Here’s the full menu from the feast:

MARDI GRAS BEER FEAST
WITH SIXPOINT CRAFT ALES

Fat Tuesday Beer and Louisiana Style Dinner

Red Maine Shrimp Hush Puppies
Coated in Cajun Spices and served
with a Creole Honey Butter

House Made Boudin
served with Creole Mustard Sauce, and Spicy Crawfish Bread

Jambalaya
with House Made Andouille and Gulf Shrimp

Trippple Chocolate Bread Pudding

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