New York Breweries: Brooklyn (Part II)

This entry is a continuation of the posts on breweries in Brooklyn and Queens and we will pick up on the third Saturday. You can download my hand-drawn brewery map here and follow along.

Inspired by a meeting of the New York Homebrewers Guild (every third Tuesday at Burp Castle, 41 E 7th St, New York, NY), this trip, an attempt to visit all the micro- and nanobreweries within New York City has stretched over the course of three weekends and counting.



Arriving via the Bedford Av (L) train, the third weekend of our New York City beer tour began with an 11am brunch at Five Leaves (website, Yelp, 18 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY). I can say this place is home to possibly the best pancakes I've ever had: light, yet moist, and served with just the right amount of cinnamon butter and fresh fruit on top. The secret ingredient and key to the pancake batter was, incredibly, ricotta cheese, a food that I've strongly disliked since ricotta-heavy lasagna in childhood. Whatever the reason, it works really well in pancakes (!)

Dirck the Norseman (website, 7 N 15th St, Brooklyn, NY), the next and only stop on our beer tour this Saturday, was less than a ten-minute walk from the restaurant. Spacious and newly renovated, the space could stand on its own as a food or live music venue, of which it has both. Though we were here to sample the production of Greenpoint Beer and Ale Works (beer menu). The selection included mostly low-alcohol sessionable lagers and ales, with a focus on classic German styles like kolsch, rauchbier, Berliner weisse, and doppelbock, or at least it did at the time. See my notes on the afternoon below:

Paola spent the afternoon sketching and enjoying the weather and the garage door-style windows that open up to the outside. The sketch below was inspired by one of the other bar patrons and she gave it as a gift (it turned out it was the girl's birthday!):

I also took a stab at sketching, inspired by the moment:

On the walk back to the subway, you pass through some industrial and semi-abandoned areas, lots of prime real estate for some creative Banksy-esque graffiti:

We'll have to return, if not for the brewery tour (yes, I know they're all basically the same, but this one has beer tastings) then for the live music at night.

Dream Trip: Mongol Rally

A road rally (video) beginning in England, passing through Prague, and continuing through Europe and across Asia to Mongolia. There are only three rules:

1. You can only take a farcically small vehicle
2. You’re completely on your own
3. You've got to raise a £1000 for charity

This idea of the Mongol Rally (official site) has been stuck in my head since I learned about it several months ago.

For someone that was one of the early adopters of CouchSurfing (in 2006), I'm surprised that I didn't learn about such a cool idea as the Mongol Rally until now, given that its inaugural run was in 2004. It is, in essence, an organized, yet disorganized road trip to end all road trips. Visit as many or as few countries as necessary to reach your final destination, go as quick or as slow as you decide. Here is one of the easier potential routes, below.

This is what they have to say about the vehicle specifications:

You must bring the shittiest rolling turd of a car you can find. Use a car you swapped for a bag of crisps. Seek out a steed that most people wouldn’t even use for the weekly shop. Better still, come along on a scooter.

After all, an adventure is only an adventure when things go wrong. Where in the name of Uranus would the fun be in cruising 10,000 miles in a 4x4? If you look at your vehicle and think; "This is the right car for crossing a desert," then you've got it badly wrong.

Wussy wagons are Out. Shitmobiles are In.

After watching at least a half-dozen unofficial videos from various Rally teams on YouTube and reading several long-format write-ups, it appears that:

• Several major repairs will likely be needed along the 10,000-km journey;
• You will change possibly dozens of tires;
• Extreme boredom may entice you to ride outside (i.e. on top of) the vehicle;
• Bribes may be necessary once local officials realize your fantastically embellished crapmobile means you're adventurers from Western Europe or some other prosperous region.

I'm incredibly intrigued and wish I could pull together a team, or at least Paola and myself, and find the 1-2 months necessary to complete the full trip. It can be done cheaply, or so I've read. This year's Rally begins on July 19, 2015.

Here are a few sources that I found entertaining:

• Driving to Mongolia: How I Drove from UK to Mongolia in a Shitty Car (journal)
• Mongol Rally 2013 - Team Dingo Babies & Drop Bears (long-format video)
• Mongol Rally 2013 - The Motoring Monks (long-format video)
• The Adventurists' YouTube Channel
• The Cars of the 2014 Mongol Rally
• Travel bloggers The Planet D attempt the Mongol Rally

From vochoverde.wordpress.com

If it were up to me, I'd start my own rally from Mexico through Central and South America using nothing but old vochos (VW Beetles) bought across the border from California. For that matter, if we could get one of these underpowered VWs to England, it could also be used to drive to Mongolia.

Anyone game to join someday soon?