KCBC Superhero Sidekicks, Covid bars, and something wonderful called lupulin
The beer: KCBC Superhero Sidekicks
ABV: 6.9%. Nice.
How we got it: My local bar, The Adirondack, converted itself to a to-go shop during Corona times so I waltzed up to the take-out window and purchased a 16 oz. plastic cup.
Photo via KCBCStore.com
What they say: The Kings County Brewers Collective describes their beer like so: “Ripe oranges, fresh pineapple & smooth pine. Mosaic, Idaho 7, Cascade & Centennial hops combine to deliver a powerful lupulin punch, backed by a balanced malt.” Hmmmm, there’s a word in there I’ve never heard before...yeah, you guessed it, that word is pineapple.
What you say: This beer has a 3.96 rating on Untappd and a 4.15 on Beer Advocate.
What Mike says —
The distinguished readers of this newsletter have undoubtedly observed that their local watering holes are trying creative ways to keep their businesses afloat during the pandemic. Here’s one of those stories.
I consider The Adirondack in Brooklyn, New York City to be my local. There’s another bar in my neighborhood that’s closer. It’s fine. But it’s not as good as The Adirondack.
Photo via The Adirondack Facebook page
The Adirondack is special.
It’s a hunting lodge themed bar (cool). It only serves New York beers (respect) and by my crude calculations — i.e. drinking there every week — it cycles new brews in weekly (read: keeping things fresh). A curious drinker with a powerful interest in trying lots of different local creations can do well here.
Back when daycares were a thing, and my toddler went to daycare, I would stop in at The Adirondack on my way from the office to evening kid pick-up. A friend once called this move “the errand beer” — what a great concept.
The Adirondack was the last place I went before we quarantined. In what feels like a hundred years ago before the plague in, errr, early- to mid-March, I was on my way home from the office. That day, the quarantine writing was very much already on the wall. I knew as I was leaving the bar it was the last time for a while.
I didn’t patronize The Adirondack for several months.
Throughout the pandemic, like many bars, they have operated a to-go window. Their strategy will probably sound familiar to what you’re seeing at your own local: put the menu up on the wall outside the building, add a sign reminding customers to keep six feet apart, perhaps add a second sign telling customers that those without mask may be denied service, give your bartenders some masks, protective gloves, and remind them to change out the pens for signing the credit card slips frequently, then go.
Some time in mid-May, we felt comfortable enough to try it out. I walked up to the takeout window, and ordered a beer which was served to me in a plastic cup with a cover and a straw. That part of the process was different — most notably, the straw. I can’t remember the last time I drank beer out of a straw, but I’m sure it was in a movie theater as part of some subterfuge.
Here’s what was familiar — The Adirondack delivered and had a beer ready for me to order that I had never tried before: the KCBC Superhero Sidekicks.
Let’s revisit KCBC’s description of the beer, specifically this bit: “Mosaic, Idaho 7, Cascade & Centennial hops combine to deliver a powerful lupulin punch, backed by a balanced malt.” You may have suspected that the part that’s unfamiliar to me here is the lupulin. What is that? Sounds potentially medicinal. Let’s go to the experts…
According to Hop Culture, this is lupulin: “Ever look at a whole cone hop and see a yellow powder clinging to the green leaves? That’s lupulin, a naturally occurring substance in hops that plays a large part in giving the plant its characteristic scents and flavors.” HC adds that lupulin “contains many of the hop acids and essential oils” that brewers are looking for when they add hops to their beer. In other words, the leaves may look pretty but it’s not the leafy parts that are giving us that big hop flavor.
And I mean, just look at the lupulin (courtesy of Barley Brown’s Beer in Baker City, Oregon). How could you not want that incorporated into your beer?
There’s no doubt I missed out on some serious lupulin induced aroma hits to olfactories because I was drinking the Superhero Sidekicks through a straw but such is the reality of our current pandemic drinking state.
We’ll have to revisit.
Additionally, we’ll have to seek out more lupulin packed brews post haste — appears there’s a highly ranked concoction packed with powder to be had just down the road at Other Half.
Well, it’s official: I’m promoting myself to DTT’s chief lupulin correspondent. Brian can write about other stuff.