Let me preface this post with the standard joke… Lions, Tigers and Brews… OH MY! And oh my indeed was the reaction for the Lions, Tigers and Brews event at the Central Park Zoo on June 19 and June 20. I attended the evening of June 19 with my assistant Dora, who has a penchant for IPA/bitter beers.
I began the evening with a blank notepad and an empty cup!
We arrived to the city a bit earlier, taking in the sights and sounds of beautiful Central Park. Come close to 7 pm and we made our way to the zoo. My knowledge of the zoo is what I know from the movie Madagascar – I have never actually been there despite being a native New Yorker. What better way to visit the zoo than with the company of 60 craft breweries and delectable food stands.
At the stroke of 7 pm, we received our Lion, Tigers and Brews glasses and headed to our first stand, Rockaway Brewery. Conveniently situated next to the Wafels and Dinges food truck (to which we would have later in the night), Rockaway Brewery poured us our first drink of many. I started with their Original ESB (6.4%), which they describe as malty and slightly sweet. I concur. The description was spot on. The Original ESB will be the first brew of theirs to get the can treatment, the 3-year-old brewery informed me. In the coming years I can expect great things to come from this Queens staple – keep an eye out for them!
Shout-out to Wafels & Dinges, the food truck that brought me this delicious treat. A belgian waffle topped with nutella, whipped cream and strawberries. Yum!
Our next stop was their neighbor, Laguintas, a San Francisco and Chicago based brewery. Hesitant to try IPA’s, I went for it anyway after I was told it wasn’t the typical bitter and high-hopped up brew. The Undercover Investigation IPA was refreshing, and it’s now on my very shortlist of IPA’s I enjoy.
From there we tried a few other breweries before stopping to watch the sea lions swim around their enclosure. It seemed the aquatic puppies were enjoying the great music churning out from the DJ planted right behind them. And, not to worry, but there were zoo staff standing around the enclosure to make sure some drunken fool doesn’t ruin the fun for them.
Around the sea lions, I enjoyed Traveler’s Grapefruit Shandy while Dora enjoyed the lemon variety. Traveler’s, famous for their proclivity of mustaches; really knocked it out of the park with the grapefruit. Dora felt that way about the lemon, it was just a matter of taste or preference between the two citruses.
Another craft brew I will be heading to my local distributor to buy in copious amounts is Ace’s Pineapple. For me, the Pineapple was the winner of the night, a truly unique mix. Dora and I agreed on this, and we circled back to their booth a few times to get topped off.
Another IPA I thoroughly enjoyed was one by Braven Brewing. Their White IPA combines the Belgian White blend and American IPA styles together. There is a slight bitter aftertaste to it, but the somewhat nutty upfront flavor offsets the bitterness to fit my preference. A good balance makes for a great brew.
We also visited the penguins, harbor seals, Himalayan monals, and a sleeping monkey but didn’t have a chance to make it over to the Tropical Bird House before it closed. The other exhibits were closed because honestly, drunk people near say a lion or tiger exhibit can be quite dangerous. The grizzly bears were also hiding from us; guess they don’t like craft beer.
There were plenty of other breweries we checked out, such as Woodchuck, Shmaltz, Saranac, Fire Island Brewing, Uinta Brewing, Coney Island Brewery, and tons more.
I hope this event returns in the coming years, allowing more people to get a bit wild with wildlife.
Check out the rest of my pictures:
-
- Rockaway Brewing- look at that can!
-
- Ciderella hanging with the sea lions!
Just in case you missed me and Dora on Periscope:
