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T.J. Finley’s
42 East Main Street
Bay Shore, NY 11706
(631) 647-4856
tjfinleys.com

T.J. Finley’s hosts Cask Fest, a local- and regional-themed cask festival for Long Island Craft Beer Week, on April 12 (3:00PM).

Beer List

Bear Republic Brewing Company Racer 5
Blue Point Brewing Company Hoptical X (Dry-Hopped With HBC 342)
Blue Point Brewing Company Sour Cherry Imperial Stout (Dry-Hopped With Bourbon-Soaked American Oak, Syrah Barrel-Aged)
Captain Lawrence Brewing Company Xtra Gold American Tripel Ale
Great South Bay Brewery Kismet Saison
Great South Bay Brewery Robert Moses Pale Ale
Green Flash Brewing Company Palate Wrecker

Purchase Tickets

Seven Long Island-based casks poured at Pre-Game Cask Tasting Party on May 10, including a fresh, grapefruit-aroma’d version of Blue Point Brewing Company White IPA*, dry-hopped with Falconer’s Flight, and Port Jeff Brewing Company Schooner Ale, aged with cherries.

The event, hosted by Croxley’s Ale House and also featuring Great South Bay Brewery and Long Ireland Beer Company, pre-commenced Long Island Craft Beer Week, a 10-day (May 11-20) celebration of craft beer culture on Long Island.

Love makes the world go ‘round. Not! Get with the program, my friends. In 2012, hate is like venom circulating through society. Hate allows only for the perpetuation of more hate. They have all kinds of catchy expressions to capture our obsession with hate: “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.” “You’re such a hater.” “Don’t drink the drink the haterade!” As a culture, we have devolved. We embrace and revolve around hate. Unfortunately, the place where America’s fascination with hate finds its fullest expression is where the heartbeat of hope should be strongest: politics.

As a child, some of my earliest heroes weren’t singers or movie stars. Aside from my parents, my idols were the eloquent, intelligent and seemingly wise men and women who were respected enough to hold elected office. I can remember keynote speeches at Democratic National Conventions as far back as when I was ten years old. These amazing men and women, who include Barbara Jordan, Shirley Chisholm, and Mario Cuomo, created my insatiable appetite for politics and inspired me to go to law school.  For all of my policy critiques of President Barack Obama, I will always remember the inclusive, hopeful and unifying message that then, State Senator Barack Obama gave at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. It was the beginning of the latest Hope and Change era in politics.

Despite my idealized memories, hate politics are as old as politics itself. The Hope and Change era ushered in by Barack Obama in 2008 didn’t have a long shelf life. The hate struck back with devastating dark force. Hate has been dominating the political discourse since well before the Mid-term Elections of 2010. The rise of the TEA Party was the end of the force of Hope and Change.  The TEA Party took their hate and anger, converted it into claims of job creation and deficit reduction sufficient to swindle the electorate and ride into the House of Representatives.

Congress isn’t the only place that the politics of hate is on display. If you watched any of the GOP Presidential Debates, you witnessed an astounding display of grandstanding, bullying, truthiness, absolute lies, brain freeze and yes, hate. It was unbelievable to see how the dwindling field of candidates behaved. Nothing was been off-limits, except the truth and real discussions about policy issues that actually matter to Americans. A serious discussion about the moon as the 51st state is enough to provoke hatred, but isn’t going to create jobs, improve education, eliminate poverty, feed the hungry or make America secure in an instable world. Even now that it’s just Mitt Romney and Rep. Ron Paul, the slow trickle of tepid endorsements indicates a undercurrent of something dour and unpleasant in the GOP. Or maybe the GOP just isn’t that into Mitt Romney?

Don’t believe that the right and the Republicans cornered the market on hate and anger anymore.  By the fall of 2011, progressives developed some hate and vitriol of their own, and the Occupy Movement was born. Nuances of the Occupy Movement are far too complicated to dissect in a few sentences. It wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that the Occupy Movement is an expression of the frustration, for most, and hatred, for some, at inequitable aspects of the economic and political systems that reduce opportunity and mobility for a majority of Americans.

Hate is easily understood and hard to contain. But hate, like any good venom, is lethal and kills everything in its path. Let’s spread truth and fairness instead. Innovation, growth and inspiration aren’t possible where hate has been spread. Let’s not be paralyzed by hate. The only hope for us all is if we paralyze hate instead.

Croxley’s Ale House
190 Main Street
Farmingdale, NY 11735
(516) 293-7700
croxley.com

Croxley’s Ale House hosts Pre-Game Cask Tasting Party, a local-themed, seven-cask evening to commence Long Island Craft Beer Week, on May 10 (6:00PM).

Beer List

Blue Point Brewing Company Toxic Sludge
Blue Point Brewing Company White IPA (Dry-Hopped With Falconer’s Flight)
Great South Bay Brewery Kismet Saison
Great South Bay Brewery Massive IPA (Dry-Hopped With Cascade)
Long Ireland Beer Company Celtic Ale
Port Jeff Brewing Company Schooner Pale Ale (On Cherries)
Port Jeff Brewing Company White’s Beach Wit (With Lime Zest)

$19.95.

Blind Bat Brewery and Long Ireland Beer Company bottle-release Spring 2012 Collaboration Saison, a 6.60% ABV saison created for Long Island Craft Beer Week 2012, during Simulcask on May 14 (8:00PM).

Brewed at Long Ireland Beer Company’s facility in Riverhead on March 30, Spring 2012 Collaboration Saison contains three hop varieties (Hallertau Mittelfruh, Saaz, and Sterling), and, according to Paul Dlugokencky, owner and brewmaster of Blind Bat Brewery, a “generous dose of freshly ground coriander.”

It is the official beer of Long Island Craft Beer Week 2012.

Though 750ml bottle* is Spring 2012 Collaboration Saison’s primary format, four casks will pour during Simulcask, a simultaneous cask-tap to celebrate the launch of Long Island Craft Beer Week 2012.

Bottles will be available following each cask-tap.

Simulcask Locations

The Black Sheep Ale House
78 2nd Street
Mineola, NY 11501
(516) 307-1280
blacksheepalehouse.com

Corry’s Ale House
3274 Railroad Avenue
Wantagh, NY 11793
(516) 809-7818
corrysalehouse.com

The Cortland
27 West Main Street
Bay Shore, NY 11706
(631) 206-2220
thecortland.com

Tap and Barrel
550-8 Smithtown Bypass
Smithtown, NY 11787
(631) 780-5474
52taps.com

*2,304 bottles