Yes, we love us some stinky cheese. In fact one of our favorites, Epoisses, is so deliciously pungent it has been banned from public transportation vehicles all over France.  So, it’s even better when you can get your stinky cheese fix at someone else’s place.  Starting February 10th and going through through the 17th, Tour de France Restaurant Group celebrates the 5th year of its much-anticipated Winter Stinky Cheese Festival. This year they’re going all-out with a huge Kick-Off Party on Thursday, Feb 9th at the 404 event space (404 10th Avenue at 33rd Street; tickets can be purchased here) where there’s going to be a little Beer vs. Wine smackdown as Café D’Alsace’s Beer Sommelier Gianni Cavicchi and Nice Matin’s Wine Sommelier Aviram Turgeman leads a panel of guest judges (including myself) who will ultimately determine if wine or beer pair best with the stinkiest of cheeses.  Attendees can expect to taste dishes including Raclette from French Roast and L’Express; Bleu Cheese Ice Cream from Pigalle; Short Ribs with Epoisse, Caramelized Onions & Burgundy Wine Sauce by Marseilles; Stinky Kenaffe from Barbounia; Goat Cheese Tarte from Café D’Alsace and Stinky Cheese Tortelloni with butter & truffle oil from Nice Matin all served with craft beers and wines.  Starting Friday, head to Nice Matin, Marseilles, Café D’Alsace, French Roast (Uptown & Downtown), Le Monde, L’Express, Maison and Pigalle to try some Stinky Cheese-centric appetizers, entrees and desserts. Guests can vote on their favorite pairings via the Tour de France Facebook page to be entered into a raffle to win a $200 gift card to the Tour de France Restaurant Group (there will be 5 winners in total).  Click here to check out all the menus.

Duck’d Up
NYC Craft Beer Week Zagat Beer Dinner
Café D’Alsace
Sept 16th-25th

Poutine D’Alsace
Frites, Cheese Curds, Mc Chouffe Gravy,
Torn Duck Leg Confit & Foie Gras
Brasserie d’Achouffe “Mc Chouffe” Achouffe, Belgium

Duck in a Blanket
Duck Sausage Resting In Puff Pastry With
Ommegang’s “Abbey Ale” Reduction, Cooperstown, NY

Roasted Crispy Duck Breast
Long Island Duck Breast, Potato Galette, Baby Vegetables,
Natural Duck Jus & Liefmans Cuvée Brut Coulis
Bronx Brewery “Bronx” Pale Ale, Bronx, NYC

Duck Leg Confit Over La Chouffe Risotto
Fava Beans, Asparagus & Snow Peas Topped With
Reggiano Cheese & Truffle Oil
Brasserie d’Achouffe “La Chouffe” Achouffe, Belgium

Floating Black Duck
Vanilla Ice Cream & Cracked Cookies Swimming In
Greenport Harbor’s “Black Duck” Porter, Greenport, Long Island

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11th

Craft Beer Week kicks off with the Gotham Cask Festival. The festival is taking place simultaneously at three bar bars — Rattle ‘n’ Hum, Jimmy’s No. 43 and Swift Hibernian.  It’s pay as you go w/ no entry fee and the website says the prices will be reasonable. Both 10oz and 16oz pours will be served, but once each cask is kicked, that’s it. When they’re gone, they’re gone. A cask of NY3, the official beer of NY Craft Beer Week 2009, will be tapped at 6pm at all three bars to officially open the Week. We suggest heading to Rattle ‘n’ Hum for the Bear Republic Racer 5 (super hopped) and the Troegs Nugget Nectar, among others. The brewers of Ballast Point and Blue Point will also be on hand showcasing some of their craft beers. Ballast Point’s Big Eye IPA is one of our favorites. 

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12th

The Gotham Cask Festival continues at all 3 bars. But if the weather clears we recommend hitting up the Long Island City Craft Beer Festival at Water Taxi Beach (2 sessions: 1230-4 & 530-9; $50 at the door, $40 in advance). More than 25 craft breweries will be there offering samples of their beers–more than 50 altogether. We also recommend the afternoon BBQ at The Gibson (108 Bedford Ave; Brooklyn), where they have some Green Flash West Coast IPA and Ithaca Cascazilla on cask. 

 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13th

It’s the final day of the Gotham Cask Festival. But the big event of the day is the Ommegang Beer Dinner at Resto. Chef Bobby Hellen will deliver a Large Format Feast beer dinner combining Resto’s local and seasonal approach, their large format feasting menu and three New York food and beer producers. Brewery Ommegang from will brew and release A NEW OMMEGANG ROUGE, AN OMMEGANG TRIPLE, AND AN OMMEGANG ADORATION ALE (Holiday ale). There will be all of the Ommegang beers available to drink as well. It’s a bit steep at $175 for 3-courses and all the Ommegang you can put back. (To reserve, call 212-685-5585). For something a bit more reasonable, why not check out one of the Zagat beer pairing dinners at Back Forty or The Redhead (menu), where it’s only $40. For learning a bit more about beer, check out the Deconstructing Beer: Malt and the Mash discussion at Astor Center lead by Tim Surprise of Arcadia Brewing Company ($55; $44 w/ Passport). Ticket info here.

Location: On Sixpoint’s roof deck / Date & Time: June 13th, 2-7pm / Advance Purchase Price: $25.00 (includes unlimited Sixpoint beers) / Day-Of Price: $30.00 (limited to 50 people)

This is the fourth annual Big Ten Block Party. The party will take place on the brewery’s beautiful outdoor roof deck and inside their next-door-neighbor’s bar, Rocky Sullivan’s. In the great tradition of Midwest block parties, they will  be slinging beers and grilling burgers, dogs and brats. Brick-oven pizza will also be available. Sixpoint Craft Ales brews ALL of its beer in New York City. Among the beers available for this event will be Sweet Action, Apollo Wheat, Bengali Tiger IPA, Righteous Ale, Brownstone, OTIS Oatmeal Stout.

Sign up early – The first 100 reservations will receive a free burger, brat or hot dog.

Thanks to a tweet from the skint we just found out about a 2-hour open bar tomorrow night at our favorite E. Village beer bar. East Village Tavern is celebrating it’s 1-Year Anniversary in high-style with a free open bar from 6-8pm. And this isn’t your typical open bar with Bud Lights and Coors. We’re talkin’ some serious beers from EVT’s serious beer menu. Lagunitas IPA, Arcadia Hop Rocket, Sierra Nevada Brown Saison and Stoudt’s Smooth Hoperator just to name a few. Happy Anniversary, EVT!  We’ll see ya soon.

Eight countries were represented – England’s Old Speckled Hen (a last minute addition to the tournament after the Fuller’s London Pale Ale mysteriously disappeared out of Martin’s fridge; Martin blames his “cleaning lady”), Scotland’s Brewdog Punk IPA (ABV: 6%), Japan’s Hitachino Nest Japanese Classic Ale (ABV: 7%), Norway’s Nogne O IPA (ABV: 7.5%), France’s St. Amand French Country Ale (ABV: 5.9%),  Italy’s Super Baladin Ale (ABV: 8%), New Zealand Moa Premium Lager (ABV: 5.5%), and USA’s Rogue American Amber (5.6%) (America – F*ck yeah!).

We drew names out of a hat to determine who would square off against one another in the first round: USA v. Japan (USA), England v. Italy (Italy), New Zealand v. Scotland (New Zealand), and Norway v. France (Norway)

 With the exception of the Super Baladin Ale, I did not pick a single winner in any of the rounds. Apparently, I preferred the least popular brews. But the voting was generally very close. The only blow out was a match where the winner won 11-1. Unfortunately, no one can remember which match that was, though our friend Charles seems to remember it as the England vs. Italy since he recalls being the only one who voted for England. In his words, “I didn’t like how the Italy beer tasted as sweet as something from Willy Wonka.”

In between our tastings, we had a fine selection of beers to cleanse our palates: Andy and Jill brought growlers of Captain Lawrence Double IPA and the Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA; I brought a growler of Six Point Eight Days of Wheat; Martin supplied bottles of Dogfish Head 60 Minute; and Riki brought a Lagunitas Hop Stoopid.

We were sufficiently prepared to get drunk enough to, say, fall asleep on the M15 bus and wake up in Chinatown. Thank you Google maps for getting me home.

In the second round, Italy was the clear winner over the USA but the Norway/New Zealand match was much closer.  We took a break to watch Mine that Bird miraculously win the Derby, right before our championship round. And like Mine that Bird, out of nowhere, Norway took our championship 8-5. Although I still think Italy should have taken it all. All in all, it was a great day for the underdog.

Here’s a sheet with a description of the World Cup of Beer competitors:

Friday Night  – Dinner with friends at The John Dory (unfortuantely no ‘Recession Specials’ here)

Saturday Afternoon – Heading to The Blazer Pub in Purdys, NY to try what we’ve heard is the best burger in Westchester

Other Saturday Afternoon Events — If we weren’t going to The Blazer we’d be heading to the 5th Annual Cask Ale Festival at the Blue Point Brewery (sold out) OR over to Park Slope to taste some Sixpoint beer at GRAB Specialty Foods (4-6pm) OR to wine store Acker Merrall & Condit for a free Opus One tasting (2-5pm)

Sunday — Heading to the Cochon 555 event (5 Chefs, 5 Pigs (not including me) & 5 Winemakers) at the Hiro Ballroom in the Maritime Hotel where a group of top New York City chefs will be preparing a heritage breed hog from head to toe and guests and professional judges will taste and determine a winner based on creativity, classic preparation and overall best flavor. The winner will be crowned the “Prince of Porc”. In addition, five family-owned wineries will showcase their wines plus we hear that they will be serving some Dogfish Head beer. You can still get your tickets here for $125.

Other Sunday Afternoon Events — If we weren’t going to Cochon 555, we would definitely be heading out to Blue Hill @ Stone Barns for the 4th Annual Sausage & Beer Dinner featuring fresh and cured sausages and meats, all paired with a selection of locally brewed beers. The cost is $190 exclusive of tax and gratuity. Communal seating for everyone. Blue Hill’s NYC location is holding a similar dinner on Monday night for $150 a head.