Brooklyn Brainery

(Scavenger) Hunt for a New Home

jen — Tue, 22 May 2012 08:30:50 -0400

As lots of you know, we're on the hunt for a new space for the Brainery. We've got some leads, but we thought we'd open the search as wide as possible by getting all of you lovely folks involved.

So, if you notice for rent signs as you wander around Brooklyn, we want to hear about 'em. Read on for details, and one million thanks in advance for your help.

(This idea is absolutely 100% stolen from New Work City, who employed this tactic to find their current space in Manhattan. Full credit goes to them for being geniuses.)

Where we're looking:

Gowanus, Park Slope (especially South), Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, and Crown Heights. Downtown Brooklyn's a possibility too.

Here's a handy, yet blurry, map of the area we're talking about:

What we're looking for:

Okay, so here's where it gets a bit more complicated.

We're open to a lot of things--storefronts, warehouses, 2nd floor space. Best bets are slightly hidden and out of the way spots that are still near some trains; bonus points if it's close to the G.

Other things we'd like to have:

* Lots of natural light
* Easy street access! Thats why storefronts = awesome. We don't want you folks needing to buzz in for class.
* A nearby place to grab coffee or a beer
* Bigger is better, up to 8000 square feet! Yeah, anything between a storefront and a warehouse. You don't need to know, we can do the digging.

How to submit:

Let us know the location, contact info, and any and all details or photos you can nab, then send it along to: info@brooklynbrainery.com or share on Twitter (be sure to mention @bkbrains so we see it!)

What you get:

If you submit the spot that eventually becomes our new home, we'll give you $100 in free classes, a month of coworking, a Brainery tote, and so many thank yous.

S.A.S.S. Presents: The History of Fun and Games, June 5

jen — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:08:06 -0400

At this month's meeting of The Society for the Advancement of Social Studies, not only do you get three short, awesome lectures on the history of fun and games, but you get to play games. Victorian Parlor Games, to be exact, with wonderful names like Poor Pussy.

Show up here:

Public Assembly, 70 North 6th Street in Williamsburg,
Tuesday, June 5, 7pm, totally free
RSVP!

What'll we learn:

A Brief History of Universe of Video Game

Nerds and pop culture fans rejoice! Dave Shuff is coming to town with some awesome facts about the history of America’s real past time, video games.

I Liked The Olympics Before They Were Cool

Chris Hedick gives us the lowdown on naked Greek men performing feats of athleticism to prepare us for some non-athletic TV watching during this summer’s Olympics

It’s All Fun & Games Until Someone Gets Hurt
Let’s be honest- you only like hockey because of the inevitable fights. Well, you’re in luck, because Mr. Tommy Button will be rocking your brain with the famous fights, brawls, and calamities that have made sports worth watching over the years.

The Root Beer and Sarsaparilla Taste Test

j soma — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:37:56 -0400

If there's one thing Homemade Root Beer, Soda & Pop and Fix the Pumps neglected to tell me in their deep dark secret-revealing takes on root beer and soda, it's that sarsaparilla is totally a thing in Asia.

I'd thought it was just for olden days cowboys and specialty soda producers, but I was w-r-o-n-g. It shows up all over the place sporting the name sarsi.

While we in the Western hemisphere have condensed all our herb-y, root-y drinks into vanilla-and-peppermint tinged root beer, there's a whole long lost set of relatives hanging out over in Malaysia and the Philippines. And root beer class was definitely the best place to have them all fight it out.

Looking back on the battle (bottle?)

The contenders, from left to right: Dr. Brown's, A&W, Mug, Sarsi (Philippines), Hey Song Sarsaparilla (Taiwan), F&N Sarsi (Malaysia).

Tasting order was right to left, and no one had a favorite root beer going in so we can be assured of the impartiality of the taste testers. Yes, we didn't pick fancy American root beers. Yes, the depths of my soul burn as a result.

F&N SARSI (Malaysia)

F&N Sarsi is the only sarsaparilla in Malaysia, but was hands-down the winner out of everything we tried. Eleven out of fourteen people said it was their favorite, and I was heavily heavily criticized for not really liking it.

Tasting notes: Wintergreen, final citrus notes, molasses, vanilla, "great"

F&N is an awesome soda company because they make an ice cream soda.

HEY SONG SARSAPARILLA (Taiwan)

Okay, so once again, I come out of this one criticized. I felt like Hey Song Sarsaparilla tasted like black cherry root beer, but I was overruled. Only 2 out of 14 tasters gave it a thumbs up. No one else was comfortable with the flavor of bubblegum in their soda, I guess.

And by "I guess" I mean "everyone really hated this."

Both the F&N Sarsi and the Hey Song Sarsaparilla were 11 ounce cans instead of our standard 12 ounces. Weird.

Tasting notes: Bubblegum, fruity candy, soap, "all right to bad"

SARSI (Philippines)

This one wasn't as offensive as Hey Song, but no one really thought it was the bomb. 7/14 thumbs up. The most constant criticism was that it just didn't have any sort of zing or magic to it, it was just sort of like fffflllaaattt booorrriiiinnnnggg vaaaannnniiillllllaaaa stretched out all over your tongue.

On the upside, it comes in a nice glass bottle. A nice glass bottle that only holds 240mL, which is eight ounces.

Tasting notes: Smoother, mouthwash, weak/flat, vanilla, herbal

A&W ROOT BEER (USA)

A&W was the #1 choice of all the American root beers we tried (I know, we didn't have a good selection), but it still didn't fare very well. 5/14 gave it a thumbs up, but most people found it bland after trying to more exciting sarsaparillas. A chocolate flavor really seemed to come through - one taster said he'd never really tasted it as being chocolatey before, but when put up in contrast to other drinks it really came out.

Tasting notes: Chocolate, tootsie rolls, cloying, bland

MUG ROOT BEER (USA)

Mug has a whole story spun out on its web site about that dog. In case you were curious, his name is Dog and he roams the country looking for Mug Root Beer. He also saved an overturned truck once. 4/14 approval.

Tasting notes: Watered down, boring, wintergreen

DR. BROWN'S ORIGINAL ROOT BEER (USA)

I figured that Dr. Brown's, having some indie credibility, would really pull the US out of the pit that the major brands dug. It sure didn't, though. 3.5/14 gave it a thumbs up, putting it just above the much-maligned Hey Song Sarsaparilla.

Tasting notes: Vanilla, burned caramel, weak

THE CONCLUSION!

The worst of the lot was Hey Song Sarsaparilla (2/14), for being an unpleasant carbonated combinatination of various gum flavors. It's interesting that Hey Song came in last for having too much wildness going on, whereas the other low rankers (hey hey USA!) were in trouble for being bland and boring.

We did a strong disservice to the ol' United States for not including any of the smaller brews. These days the two major flavor components of root beer are wintergreen and vanilla, and the more craft versions are apt to take some risks with a secondary flavor like anise or clove. They also tend to jack up the wintergreen a lot more to give a sharper, more interesting bite.

F&N's Sarsi came in first place by a laaaarrrgggeee margin, though. 11/14 wasn't just people who liked it, it's people who agreed that it was now their favorite root beer ever. Looks like we're all moving to Malaysia.

If, though, you'd rather not move to Malaysia, you need to get right over to Asia Market at Mulberry and Bayard. Unlike a lot of other Chinatown grocers, it actually focuses on areas outside of China. It's full of Malaysian, Thai and Indonesian products, and is where I picked up several F&N products as well as the Filipino sarsi.

We'll need to do this again with a couple more powerful American root beers in the mix.

Chinatown Roulette: Vinegar drinks

j soma — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:27:30 -0400

When you go to Chinatown, you're morally obligated to buy strange and unfamiliar goods, then decipher (and eat) them back home. It's Chinatown Roulette!

I was on the prowl for Taiwanese sarsaprilla for my root beer class when I was suddenly found myself face-to-face with the drink of my dreams:

Vinegar drinks. Apple vinegar drink. Plum vinegar drink. Beautiful, amazing, vinegary vinegar drinks.

A poorly-kept secret about me is that I love vinegar. I will do shots of black vinegar for little to no reason. I will spend hours googling about drinking vinegar to see if it will kill me, or if other people do it, too (Japan does!).

This was the first time I'd really seen something that was officially drinking vinegar, though. So they got bought, and they were gonna get drunk.

As an added benefit, they'll make me healthy, too. The apple one claims to "help digestion and enhance appetite," while the plum will "moisture my throat and quench my thirst." Not really impressed with the benefits of the latter, but I'll admit my throat does need some moisturing every now and again.

Apple vinegar drink ingredients

First off, can we just for a second highlight that it's made by EXCELLENCE FOOD BIOCHEMICAL CO., LTD? It's memorable because (a) it's definitely who will run the food chain in 2036, (b) I've bought things produced by them before.

A few months ago I came across some fancy mulberry vinegar, not just in a fancy bottle but in a fancy decorative cardboard box, like Scotch. What. Despite its airs, t was not suited for drinking.

But enough of the old! Turn now to bask in the light of the future of drink-tops.

They're both bag-ish, but come with fancy twist-off tops, very much a grown-up Capri Sun.

Plum vinegar drink ingredients

Anyway, looks like drinking vinegar is nothing but water + juice + vinegar + sugar. I like juice and I like vinegar, so let's get to tasting!

The pour

Disappointingly, you can't even tell there's anything in those cups, much less which is which. I'd expect a little bit of color from an EXCELLENT BIOCHEMICAL product!

Apple vinegar drink tasting notes:

It tastes like you are drinking vinegar. The vinegar isn't exceptionally appley or sweet or anything, it's just like... a very plain vinegar. I do not question that it is currently helping my digestion and enhancing my appetite.

"It almost tastes like juice!"

On second tasting, maybe it does taste like watered down apple cider.

Plum vinegar drink tasting notes:

It tastes like green apples. Swear to god, green apples. It's perfectly sweet and only a little sour, it is an amazing perfect drink. How is this the plum one?

It tastes like grapes! x 2

I blind-taste-tested Jen and she picked the plum one as being the apple one. With certainty. Weird.

The same company also sells grape, pineapple and peach flavors; I saw the grape ones at New York Mart but they was only being sold in an eight pack. I got my singles at New Kam Man on Canal.

Turns out that vinegar drinks are absolutely a Thing. Toby Cecchini called them "the first truly nonalcoholic drink [he]'d ever had" in the NYT, and even hits you with a recipe for how to make them. The most important part, though, was was they're called in the US: shrubs.

It is remarkably difficult to find pictures of drinkable shrubs on the Internet. Here is a non-drinkable one from Flickr.

Colonial Americans would preserve fruits in vinegar, and then mix them with water and sugar in the summer for a refreshing drink. And shrubs were born! Switchel, a pitch-perfect summer drink which demands a post all its own, is nothing but water, apple cider vinegar, sugar and a touch of molasses.

Don't worry, though, shrubs can also escape the world of non-alcoholic drinks. For the tipple-friendly readers, your next stop should be Cocktail 101: How to Make Shrub Syrups over at Serious Eats.

A while after I bought these, Jen told me about Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar Drink. Now to track some of it down and have a good ol' East vs. West showdown.