Here are the beer-related goings-on after work tonight:

• Head to The Double Windsor (210 Prospect Park West, at 16th St., Windsor Terrace) for their first anniversary party tonight at 9pm. They’re promising balloons and mood lighting, but they’ll also have pulled pork and some of the Sixpoint Sehr Crisp Pilsner that snuck in a bit early.
• Bierkraft (191 Fifth Ave., at President St., Park Slope) is being invaded by those live-free-or-die types from New Hampshire, as Smuttynose takes over their taps tonight at 7pm, serving up some rare and one-off beers, including a cask of Big A IPA dry-hopped with Cascade, Simcoe, Centennial, and Santium hops.
• A new spot in the East Village opens today with a well-curated selection of beer and bourbon. Idle Hands (25 Avenue B, at 2nd St., East Village) has been giddy about craft beer on the Internet over the past few months, so stop in and say hello on day one! Tonight, they’re pouring Southern Tier Pumking, Harpoon Belgian Pale Ale, and Victory Prima Pils, among others.

Sixpoint Craft Ales has been known for producing some great ales over the past five years. Starting tomorrow, they’re adding a new series of beers called Sixpoint Crisp Lagers.

Now, for the uninitiated, let’s give a quick lesson in ales and lagers: ales use top-fermenting yeasts, meaning that the fermentation happens at the top of the fermenter. Ale yeast strains become active at warmer temperatures - usually something around room temperature - and impart more fruity and spicy flavors into beer. Lager yeast strains are bottom-fermenting and require lower temperatures - usually around 50°F. That imparts less flavor, but typically results in a more crisp, clean beer.

Many beer geeks seem averse to lagers because of the lagers they are most familiar with: Budweiser, Miller, and Coors’ big sellers are all lagers, not ales. When someone says, “I don’t like beer,” it’s likely because lagers are all they’ve been exposed to, and they’re not “lager people.” When it comes to craft-brewed lagers, they do exist. There are quite a few standouts, in fact, like Victory Prima Pils,  Sierra Nevada Summerfest and Great Lakes Eliot Ness. 

Enter Sixpoint. After years of practice and a tour of malters and breweries throughout Germany and the Czech Republic, Shane Welch and team are ready to try something different. Tomorrow, they launch their series of “Sixpoint Crisp Lagers.” Their first year-round offering will be the Sehr Crisp Pilsner, a beer described by the brewery as bold and crisp with honey malt and peppery hop tones.

The beer will be released simultaneously at these 24 bars and restaurants tomorrow at 5pm:

Brooklyn
- Bark Hot Dogs (474 Bergen St., at 5th Ave., Park Slope)
- Bar Great Harry (280 Smith St., at Sackett St., Carroll Gardens)
- Barcade (388 Union Ave., at Ainslie St., Williamsburg)
- Bierkraft (191 Fifth Ave., at President St., Park Slope)
- Diner (85 Broadway, at Berry St., Williamsburg)
- Double Windsor (210 Prospect Park West, at 16th St., Windsor Terrace)
- Franklin Park (618 St. John’s Pl. at Franklin Ave., Prospect Heights)
- Habitat (988 Manhattan Ave. at Huron St., Greenpoint)
- Mission Delores (249 4th Ave. at Carroll St., Park Slope)
- No. 7 (7 Greene Ave., at Fulton St., Fort Greene)
- Prime Meats (465 Court St., at Luquer St., Carroll Gardens)
- Roberta’s (261 Moore St., at Bogart St., Bushwick)
- Sycamore (1118 Cortelyou Rd., at Westminster Rd., Ditmas Park)

Manhattan
- The Breslin (16 W. 29th St., at Broadway, NoMad)
- Kettle of Fish (59 Christopher St., at 7th Ave., West Village)
- Marshall Stack (66 Rivington St., at Allen St., Lower East Side)
- The Modern (9 W. 53rd St., at 5th Ave., Midtown)
- The Pony Bar (637 10th Ave. at 45th St., Hell’s Kitchen)
- Spotted Pig (314 W. 11th St., at Greenwich St., West Village)
- Swift Hibernian Lounge (34 E. 4th St., at Bowery, NoHo)
- Terroir Tribeca (24 Harrison St., at Greenwich St., Tribeca)
- Whole Foods Market Beer Room (95 E. Houston Street, at Chrystie St., Lower East Side)

Queens
- Sunswick 35/35 (35-02 35th St., at 35th Ave., Astoria)

Here are the beer-related goings-on after work tonight:

• It’s another epic night at the Blind Tiger Ale House (281 Bleecker St., at Jones St., West Village), where it’s S.K.I. Distributors’ Night starting today at 4pm. They’ll be rolling out beers from Cigar City, Founders, Harpoon, Kuhnhenn, and Stone, along with a bunch of other breweries from across the country and around the world. Among the highlights: the Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout, Belgian import Cuvee des Jacobins Rouge, and a cask of Cigar City Guava Grove.
• In Queens, it’s Goose Island night at Sunswick 35/35 (35-02 35th St., at 35th Ave., Astoria). Among the brews on tap: Bourbon County Stout, Sofie, and Minx… and all Goose Island beers are $1 off from 8pm until closing time.
• On the East Side, Speakeasy will be pouring from four taps at Manchester Pub (920 2nd Ave., at 49th St., Turtle Bay) tonight at 7pm. They’ll have Big Daddy IPA and the massive 10.5% ABV Scarface Stout along with a couple other brews.

The firkin of Barrier Brewing Ruthless Rye on bourbon is up and running at Bierkraft (via Twitter)

Here are the beer-related goings-on after work tonight:

• The aforementioned Pacific Standard (82 4th Ave., at St. Marks Pl., Boreum Hill) 3rd Anniversary Party is tonight. With 14 different Sixpoint beers on tap, you can pretty much run the gamut. But do take it easy, and don’t try to have all 14 tonight.
• Martin Johnson of The Joy of Cheese is presenting Presents Pecorinos, Pyrenees and Pilsners at d.b.a. Brooklyn (113 N. 7th St., at Berry St., Williamsburg) tonight at 7:30pm. He’ll pair seven cheeses with a list of seven pilsners curated by d.b.a.’s Ray Deter. Tickets are $25 and will be available at the door (if you’re going, e-mail Martin at thejoyofcheese at gmail dot com to give him a heads up).
• The brewer at one of New York State’s newest breweries will be on hand at Bierkraft (191 5th Ave., at Berkeley Pl., Park Slope) tonight at 7pm for their weekly tasting. Evan Klein of Oceanside’s Barrier Brewing Company will be on hand pouring some of their line of beers, including their Lights Out Stout and a cask of Ruthless Rye on Bourbon.
• I know I’ve beaten this into the ground, but I’ll be hosting a trivia night tonight at Destination (210 Avenue A, at 13th St., East Village) starting at 7pm. It’s sponsored by this here site and S.K.I. Beer. We’ll have giveaways from Harpoon, and if you’re smart enough, you might get to take home some beer for yourself. And yes, obviously, there will be a beer-related round of questions.
  

One year is a pretty significant milestone in measuring the success of a bar. Three years means you’ve really made it. Congratulations to Pacific Standard (82 4th Ave., at St. Marks Pl., Boreum Hill) on their third anniversary today. The West Coast-centric beer bar that straddles Boreum Hill and Park Slope has survived and even thrived during the recession, and its eclectic mix of events appeals to the beer geek literati of Brooklyn. Tonight, the bar throws a big party to celebrate the occasion starting at 7pm.

While we have a hard time figuring out their hopeless devotion to the Oakland A’s, we do appreciate their hopeless devotion to craft beer from both the west and east coasts. They’ve also been a huge supporter of Brooklyn’s Sixpoint Craft Ales, having been one of the first bars to tap Hop Obama before the Feds put an end to the beer. In return, Sixpoint brewed a beer to commemorate Pacific Standard’s third anniversary tonight. It’s called Missionary Style IPA, a west coast style beer named for a west coast style of architecture. They’ll be serving it at the party tonight on tap and from a cask. Pacific Standard calls the IPA “the consummation of [their] long-simmering relationship” with the brewery. We call it an awesome opportunity to try another new local beer.

Speaking of new beer, Missionary Style won’t be the only new Sixpoint beer on tap at Pacific Standard tonight. The bar will also serve Sixpoint’s new pumpkin ale, Pumpkin Brewster, and one of the brewery’s rare forays into lagers, Sehr Crisp Pilsner. They’ll also be giving away commemorative pint glasses to mark the occasion, along with some specials and a boatload of other Sixpoint beers.

Here’s to another three years!

Here it is: the $10 passport to nearly every single craft beer bar in New York City. NY Craft Beer Week is less than two weeks away, and these bad boys are available for $10 at any bar participating in NY Craft Beer Week.

The Passport virtually pays for itself in a few beers. Each bar listed in the 145-page guide offers a $3 serving of beer with the coupon attached next to each bar listing. What that serving is varies by bar. At Syracuse-based Dinosaur BBQ in Harlem, it’s Syracuse-based brewery Middle Ages. At Against the Grain in the East Village, it’s newcomer Greenport Harbor Brewing Co. At The Mark Bar in Greenpoint, it’s Two Brothers. With 94 different venues listed, your options are nearly limitless.

Some listings also offer a year-round special outside of NY Craft Beer Week, so if you run out of chances to use your coupons during the ten-day celebration of the craft Beer scene in New York, you can use them anytime through September of 2011.

There’s also a complete listing of Featured Events in the book, including the Get Real NY Cask Ale & Food Festival, The Bike Brooklyn Beer Blitz, and the huge Brewer’s Choice event at The City Winery. There’s also a list of “Beer Walks” - bar crawls in different neighborhoods that will help you take full advantage of the Passport.

If you don’t know where to get one, check out the list of participating bars on the NY Craft Beer Week site, and go out and grab one while they’re hot. It’ll be the best ten bucks you spend on something that isn’t beer this year.