The latest of the beer bars in the Blair dynasty will soon be serving up some suds of its own, as Sweet Georgia Brown, Pineapple X-Press, Mighty Joe Young and Santa’s Pet Monkey all make their debut tomorrow at Monkey Paw Pub & Brewery in the East Village. CHUG homebrewer-turned-pro Derek Freese gave me more insight into some of their primate-inspired names and what they’ll be brewing next:
“Sweet Georgia Brown is a reference to a song by the same name (originally a jazz standard, and then redone a million times. I prefer Django Reinhardt’s version.) It originally came to be because the original incarnation of this beer was a Southern English Brown with a bit of American influence. It has come a far way since then, but the idea is the same. Dark, a bit roasty, earthy, with a good chocolate and bready/biscuity character. The body is definitely on the medium side and it has a bit of a sweetness without being sweet or cloying.
“Pineapple X-Press is our XPA, and the X came out because of the style of beer it is. We started looking around for hops this season and realized pretty quickly that we were going to be struggling for the major strains like Amarillo and Centennial. We found a company that is selling an experimental hop which was described as tropical and bright, and when we got it, we couldn’t have agreed more. Pineapple and lemon jumped out, and it sort of formed the name for the beer. I can’t wait to drink this one.
“Mighty Joe Young should be a pretty obvious name for an American Stout that is being brewed by a company with a monkey as a mascot. This beer is and will continue to be an assertive, in your face kind of beer. The ABV might creep up a bit on it, but I really like the juxtaposition of the malt that tries to find its way through the bitterness of the hops and the roast malt. I am sure a King Kong beer will follow. *Both Scot Blair and Derek Freese insisted that if you decide to watch the movie Mighty Joe Young, you watch the original 1949 version.
“Santa’s Pet Monkey came from the brain of Scot, and I think it was just a gimme with the continuing monkey theme. This is sitting in the tank [as of six days ago] on 6 pounds of cacao from Eclipse Chocolat, and already smells and tastes amazing. It’ll get vanilla in the next couple of days, and then off to the keg! Expect a very smooth, deceptively easy to drink 9% ABV beer that will warm you up. You know, for the winter. In San Diego.
“I will say that we will have more monkey names in the future, as well as some that just make more sense to the style. I do want to pay tribute to the typography business that was in the brewery space for so many years, so I’m thinking about that. And when we do collaborations, I will probably let the other brewer think of the name. As for what is brewing next, well, we’ll tackle an IPA, probably figure out which beer we are making that is selling well and remake it, and we’re talking about a rye bitter. Plus, I have a million other things I want to do. I REALLY want to make a gose. I’m thinking spring. And maybe a berliner with hibiscus. And then whatever we want. The sky is the limit!
As for the name of the pub and brewery itself, well, Freese simply referred me to this Wikipedia page. “It’s a pretty famous story,” said Freese. “Hitchcock AND the Simpson’s did it (Treehouse of Horror II, Season 3), so you know it is good.”