"good beer month" news and stories

In considering a flagship event for what's now the second year of New York City's "July Good Beer Month," -- designing something called "Meatopia" isn't a bad choice to highlight your budding program. Such is the case organizers Jimmy Carbone of New York's Jimmy's No. 43, Time food writer, Josh Ozersky and master pit master Robbie Richter of Brooklyn's Fatty 'Cue who organized and hosted the inaugural Meatopia on Governor's Island (on the southern tip of Manhattan) this past Sunday, July 11. Thousands of meat and beer fans ferried over to the historic island, where they sampled over 30 chef's dishes and indeed drank good beers -- local brewery Six Points Craft Ales even brewed up a special smoked pale ale called "Signal," in addition to having their signature beers "Sweet Action" and "Righteous Rye" on tap.

Although Meatopia was billed as a BBQ festival -- one that in years to come could rival June's Big Apple BBQ Festival -- there were plenty chefs on hand experimenting with items outside the pulled-meat-in-sauce standards. For example, the folks from Bobo were serving up a grilled bacon sandwich topped with pickled green tomatoes, Napa cabbage, and fat baby mayo.

More after the jump...

The Good Beer Seal of approval. Photo: goodbeerseal.com.

Earlier today, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg officially proclaimed July to be "Good Beer Month." The declaration came at the request of a local collective known as "the Good Beer Seal."

Founded earlier this year by bar owners Garry Gillis (Burp Castle and Standings), Ray Deter (d.b.a.) and Jimmy Carbone (Jimmy's No. 43), the group strives to "recognize establishments that pride themselves on serving quality, craft beers." With only 15 recognized bars in a city of more than 8 million people, the Seal has yet to become the definitive icon for the city's best spots for suds, but Carbone admits things are still getting off the ground. "We really didn't expect the mayor to make the proclamation," he humbly admits.

For a nascent organization, receiving a mayoral decree after simply writing him a "nice letter" is quite a feat. Carbone believes GBS's support of programs for sustainable food and insistence that members have an "active community presence" was an important factor. "A lot of bars don't make such a good community impact," he told us.