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

• The NFL season starts tonight, and since the Saints are involved, it’s only appropriate that it’s Abita Night at Standings (43 E. 7th St., at 2nd Ave., East Village). Starting at 6pm, they’ll be pouring Andygator, Satsuma Harvest Wit, and Turbo Dog. It should come as no surprise that they’ll also serve free pizza during the game.
• If you’re over in Jersey and in the “ready for some football” spirit, New Jersey Beer Company is hosting an NFL Kickoff Party at Barrow Street Bar & Grill (292 Barrow St., at Mercer St., Jersey City) starting at 7pm. For those coming from the city, it’s just a couple blocks from the Grove Street PATH station.
• In addition to football, September also spells the return of pumpkin beers. 4th Avenue Pub (76 4th Ave., at Bergen St., Boerum Hill) in Brooklyn is pouring a cellar-aged version of Southern Tier’s 2009 Pumking all evening. Fall beer and fall sports go together like lamb and mint jelly.

Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery shows plans for the big empty space that will soon house his brewery’s expansion.

During a preview event for New York Craft Beer Week last night, Brooklyn Brewery’s Garrett Oliver showed off the new 7,500 square foot space that will soon house a slew of new capacity for their Williamsburg facility.

The new facility, which should be in operation by December 1st, will boost the Brooklyn Brewery’s capacity in Brooklyn by tenfold to almost 80,000 barrels per year. This will allow for greater production and distribution of beer already brewed at the brewery, including kegs of the East India Pale Ale and their entire Brewmaster’s Reserve Series. Oliver also holds out hope that the brewery will be able to experiment with additional beers with the new capacity.

The space, which connects to the existing building on North 11th Street, will run the width of the entire block, with truck loading facilities on North 12th Street. The building abuts Brooklyn Bowl, which gives the space a soundtrack of live bands and crashing pins from next door. Soon, the space will be filled with stainless steel tanks for mashing, boiling, and fermentation that are on ships en route to New York as this article is written. The building dates back to the Civil War era and once housed an ironworks that cast the iron for the top of the Chrysler Building. The space had laid dormant for years; the previous owners were holding onto it to take advantage of the property boom in North Brooklyn.

Luckily, with the downturn in the real estate market and a little help from the state, Brooklyn Brewery was able to stay in place. “As the neighborhood developed, we thought we were going to have to move,” Oliver said. That’s a far cry from what Williamsburg was like when they first moved into their existing space in 1994. “In ‘94, belive me, you were looking over your shoulder here. There was no ATM within walking distance.”

Now, so much a part of the neighborhood, they felt obligated to stay. And with a $800,000 grant from the state’s Downstate Revitalization Fund that helped to fund part of the $6.5 million project, they can afford to stick around.

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

• Starting today, it’s IPA Week at The Double Windsor (215 Prospect Park West, at 16th St., Windsor Terrace). They’ll be pouring some great IPAs starting today for just $5 a pint. This will last all week, as it’s the week leading up to their first anniversary (apparently, the second week in September is popular for opening craft beer bars… Pacific Standard celebrates its third anniversary next week, too).
  
  
• If you’ve been curious about homebrewing, tonight might be a good time to go to 3rd Ward (195 Morgan Ave., at Stagg St., Bushwick) for a class called Beer Brewing: How to Brew in Your Small New York Kitchen. It’s hosted by Brooklyn Brew Shop and Fire Island Beer Company. The three-hour class starts at 7pm and is $25 for 3rd Ward members and $35 for non-members.

It’s the forgotten borough. It’s the borough that requires a ferry ride or a $10 bridge toll to get to. It’s the borough that is the home of not one - not two - but three cast members of Jersey Shore. But let’s not kick a borough when it’s down. Let’s make light of a beer event that’s worthy of attention… even though it’s on Staten Island.

On September 25th, the first-ever Staten Island Brewfest will take place at the Wild Goose Publick House, the island’s best-known beer bar. The festival is split into two sessions: one from noon to 3pm, and a second from 4 to 7pm. The brewery representation is impressive: there will be local favorites like Blue Point, Brooklyn, Captain Lawrence, and Kelso, along with breweries from around the country like Bear Republic, Cigar City, Founders, and Stone. Festival tickets, which allow you to sample the 70 beers they will offer, can be had for just $25. Plus, the festival will feature food, music, two homebrewing competitions (one during each tasting session), and loaned museum exhibits about Staten Island’s brewing tradition (R & H, the last brewery on Staten Island closed in 1963).

A couple of added enticements: the festival organizers will offer free shuttle service from the St. George Ferry Terminal to the festival site, and ticket sales for each of the two sessions will be capped at 300, so you won’t be forced to stand in long lines for a lousy two-ounce tasting of beer. Plus, once the festival is over, you get a free scenic cruise across New York Harbor!

See? Staten Island isn’t so bad. And I managed to get through an entire post about Staten Island without making a joke at its expense.

The holiday weekend is over, and so is summer - at least unofficially. Here are the beer-related goings-on after work tonight that might help you shake off those end-of-summer blues:

• For those longing for something local, it’s Sixpoint “Back to School” Night at The Stag’s Head (252 E. 51st St., at 2nd Ave., Turtle Bay). New York City teachers get $1 off the eight draft lines they’re dedicating to the Red Hook-based brewery tonight starting at 5pm.
• Downtown, The Half-Pint (76 W. 3rd St., at Thompson St., Greenwich Village) is having their monthly brewery night tonight at 5pm. This month’s honoree is Flying Dog, and they’ll be pouring Dogtoberfest, Raging Bitch, Doggie Style, and more.
• For those craving something with a bit more international flavor (to be specific, a fruit flavor), it’s Boon Kriek night at Burp Castle (41 E. 7th St., at 2nd Ave., East Village). Starting at 6pm, they’ll pour the Belgian lambic along with Steenbrugge Tripel, and serve free cheese to complement the brews.
• They’re also on a Belgian kick at Sunswick 35/35 (35-02 35th St., at 35th Ave., Astoria) tonight, where it’s Duvel and Ommegang Night. Try some Duvel Green, then sample some of the best beer Cooperstown has to offer, including the sour Zurr and the saison Hennepin.

I headed up to Maine for an annual trip with friends this weekend, and we made a diversion on Saturday to Oak Pond Brewing Company in Skowhegan, a small town about two hours north of Portland. The brewery is in a structure that looks like a glorified barn on a winding rural road lined by majestic oaks and pines. This is as close to the middle of nowhere as you can get and still drink a freshly-brewed craft beer.

While a lot of people have been on tours of massive breweries - Anheuser-Busch’s St. Louis tour and Coors’ Golden, Colorado tour come to mind - few people have seen such a small brewery in operation. Oak Pond brews about 700 barrels of beer a year - seven one-thousandths of one percent of what Coors puts out in a year. And its three employees are very tight-knit: they’re all in the family. To be more specific, they’re all members of the Chandler family. The husband and wife team of Don and Nancy run the brewery, and their adult son is involved, too. Together, they brew about six different types of beer that are sold on draft at nearby restaurants and taverns and in bottles at local shops - the most distant of which is just 50 miles away.

The 14-barrel brewery has been in operation since 1997 (the Chandlers bought it in 2003), and it’s clear that the locals are loyal to the Oak Pond brand. Just in the 40 minutes or so that we spent at the brewery, at least four people came in for growler refills (priced at $5.25 each) of their Oktoberfest Lager, Nut Brown Ale, and Dooryard Ale. Oak Pond splits their brewing evenly between ales and lagers - surprising for Maine, a state where it’s hard to find a locally-brewed lager.

The tried-and-true Mainers that they are, the Chandlers barely welcomed us when we entered the brewery, and treated us "flatlandas" with a stern attitude yet sharp wit. Wife Nancy led the tour, quizzing me along the way on my own knowledge of brewing. Don and his son kept to themselves, focusing on preparation for kegging next week. They’d normally be more active on Saturdays, but they were taking this Labor Day off from brewing (“the first Monday we’ve taken off in seven years,” Nancy told us). There’s no buzz of a larger craft brewery; the Chandlers take their time, moving slowly enough to show they’re not in a hurry, but just fast enough to get the job done.

Just after the tour ended, as Don poured us samples off the six taps against the wall, the power went out. It was likely because of the high winds from the remnants of Hurricane Earl, but the Chandlers took it in stride. Apparently, this has happened before. They called power company and were told it would be two hours until they got their power back. They could’ve closed, but instead, they sat in the dark as customers strolled in for tours and growler refills. When you’re a three-person brewing operation, there’s no rest for the weary.