Get Real Presents Beer Balls Festival 2012

Get Real Presents Beer Balls Festival
http://getrealpresents.com

File under “Awesome”: Beer & Food
File under “Awesomer”: Craft Beer & Meatballs
File under “Awesomest”: 12 different Chefs, 15 Meatballs & 50 Craft Beers
File under “Awesomely Incomparable:” Get Real Presents

If you’re not familiar with Get Real Presents from their aPORKalypse, Beer Bar Fest, Cask Ale Fest or Belgian Beer Fest events, then you either don’t live near NYC or are sadly missing out!!! Forget anything you know about Beer fests, Get Real events are not like the others. Not only do they have some of the best and tastiest food made by great local Chefs & Restaurants but also some of the most unique, sought after and well made Craft Beer available. There’ no crap on tap at one of their events but you can definitely expect tasty brews from breweries like Founders, Mikkeller, Dogfish Head, St. Feuillien Lagunitas, Kuhnhenn, Victory, Wandering Star and many, MANY more. Most of the beers aren’t chosen until days before each event in an attempt to perfectly pair every single dish with a specific Craft Beer.

You’ve never seen anything like it. Get Real Beer Fests are more like a big fun party than some kind of sampling event. Everyone’s having a great time hanging out, trying cool Beers, eating great Food and meeting new friends. The best part? All inclusive pricing. Yup, one price buys you all the Beer & Food you can possibly enjoy in a 3-4 hour session.

These events also come with a bit of education. Beer pairs with Food almost better than Wine and the wealth of knowledge why is written on the walls of the event. Get Real also has The School of Beer. The “S.O.B.” has a “twelve step” program to help you learn everything you ever wanted to know about how beer is made, where it comes from and how you can to enjoy it. As you’re walking around sampling all the awesome Food & Beer, you can get a bit of Beer-ducation by reading the bits of knowledge posted up on the walls.

Full disclosure, I work with them but they were doing this before I was ever allowed to be a part of it. Having attended their Belgian Beer Fest and participating in Beer Bar Fest via my bar Idle Hands, I knew first hand how great the Get Real Presents events are.

Most recently, Get Real Presents hosted the Beer Balls Fest at 404 in NYC. Here’s the official word from the crew:

MEATBALLS!
They’re a favorite comfort food for many of us in the United States, and in New York in particular it’s pretty difficult to walk a two-block radius without finding a restaurant that has them on the menu. Although many people automatically associate meatballs with checkered table cloths, a bottle of red wine, and a big dish of spaghetti, the history of this beloved food is as long and as varied as any other part of culinary history.

No one can say with 100% certainty where the initial meatball recipe came from. Countries all over the world can lay claim to their own traditions, ingredients and monikers. Whether it’s called the “kofta,” the “köttbulle,” the “polpette,” or simply the “meatball,” the varieties and possibilities of what one can do with this collective staple food are endless. In fact, as Americans we have our own claim to fame in this department because the whole concept of “spaghetti and meatballs” isn’t an Italian tradition at all, but an American one. These two dishes were served separately until American diners started frequenting Italian restaurants and wanted meat with their pasta. But they’re not just served with pasta- they can be fried and include onion and mint leaves like in Greece, could be made with anchovies or salted herring like in Germany or served with pickled cucumbers and lingonberry sauce like in Sweden-the possibilities are truly endless. And with all the creativity and flavors you can deliver with meatballs, we at Get Real are reminded of what else…beer!

Beer Balls: The Chefs & their Menus

Chef Paul DI Bari from Zi’ Pep
– Polpettine, Meatballs in Tomato Sauce.
– Paired with Ommegang BPA & DFH Indian Brown

Chef Brian Yurko from Alewife Queens
– Berkshire Pork for Soup Dumpling Meatballs with Wonton Chips.
– Paired with Two Brothers Cane & Ebel & Stillwater Debutante

Chef Clay Gordon from Get Real NY & The Chocolate Life
– Albondigas con Mole Poblano (all natural Turkey Meatballs in traditional Mexican Chocolate and Chili Pepper Sauce).
– Paired with Smutty IPA & Keegan Mother’s Milk

Chef Celsa Gonzalez From Carino
– Berkshire pork, wild boar & venison meatball with chipotle and roasted tomato. Paired with Captain Lawrence Smoked Porter, Lagunitas Doppelweizen

Chef Stefan Ching from Kupersmith
– Elk bourginion, Venison meatballs with tomato chili and Curry ballwurst. Paired with Wandering Star BBB – Stone Smoked Porter

Chef Jonathan Van Sleet from Mexi-Q
– Pork Meatballs with Sweet & Smokey BBQ Sauce.
– Paired 21st Amendment Back in Black and Kulmbacher Eisbock Porter

Chef Thomas Harder from Blind Tiger Alehouse
– Wild Boar, grassfed Beef and Elk – Middle-Eastern flavored Meatball.
– Paired with Saison Dupont and La Trappe Isi’dor

Chef Chris Hamil from Manchester Pub
– Fried Pork, Bacon, Cheddar, Meatball.
– Paired with Green Flash West Coast IPA & Captain Lawrence Liquid Gold

Chef Thomas Mosera from Tommy Lasagna
– Beef and Pork Meatball Sliders.
– Paired with Cigar City Maduro Oatmeal Brown and Two Brothers Bitter End

Chef Jordan Andino from Little Town
– All Natural Turkey, Wagu Kobe Beef for Fig and Tomato Meatball.
– Paired with DFH Raison D’Etre & Victory Golden Monkey

Chef Everyone from Team4Food will be banging out:
– Wild Boar Meatballs w Toasted Coconut Rice & Spicy Sweet Chili Sauce.
– Paired with Anderson Valley Summer Solstice & Green Flash Hop Head Red

Chef Phillipe from Cafe D’Alsace
– Baked Vegetable Meatballs in Tomato Sauce.
Paired with 21st Amendment Lower du Boom & Stone/Victory/DFH Saison Du Buff

The Beer
Look at this list. Seriously!!!

The Aftermath

That’s a hell of a lot of great, great Craft Beer.

Get Real events are the best Craft Beer Bar ever as a pop up event. Sign up to be on their email list so you don’t miss out on the next one.