No, your eyes are not deceiving you… that’s Wine Library TV’s Gary Vaynerchuk sampling craft beer with Mike Schneider on the latest episode of his show.

News that’s fermenting in the beer world:

• A recipe for beer-braised eggplant and tomato toasts? Yes, please! [Lunch at Sixpoint]
• Beer Sessions headed upstate to Belgium Comes to Cooperstown, will air interviews with nanobrewers Sean Lawson and Brian Strumke later in August [Jimmy’s No. 43]
• More details on Manhattan’s forthcoming Italian food marketplace and beer garden, Eataly, straight from the source: Mario Batali [Grub Street]
• Another post-mortem on last week’s delicious Good Beer at BAM event [Beer Goggins]
• Food Network getting in on the Craft-Beer-on-TV craze [Beernews]
• Craft beer industry up big again in first half of 2010 [BusinessWeek]
• Heartland Brewery giving away a trip to GABF with airfare, meals, tickets, and brewery tours included [Heartland]

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

• Blind Tiger Ale House has got a boatload of Harpoon tonight, including a Brettanomyces Belgian Pale Ale and their Leviathan IPA aged in Wild Turkey Barrels, a barrel-aged version of their Leviathan Baltic Porter ‘08, and some of the last of the 100-Barrel Series Pott’s Landbier. The fun starts at 4pm.
• It’s Michigan Beer Night at The Double Windsor down in Brooklyn, with selections in kegs, casks, and bottles from Atwater Block, Founders, Jolly Pumpkin, Arcadia, Kuhnhenn, Leelanau, and New Holland. The fun starts at 7pm, with a “candlelight vigil for the Tigers” (heh) at midnight.
• At 6pm tonight, George Keeley will pour a fine selection from Smuttynose, including their Tripel, Star Island Single, Farmhouse, Summer Weizen, Big A IPA, and another chance at some of the first of this year's Pumpkin Ale.

Last month, when scouring the TTB records to see if any new beer was on the horizon from New York breweries, I came across an odd listing: Long Island’s Blue Point Brewing Company had registered a beer called Toxic Sludge. It was even obvious then that the beer’s name was a nod to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, and sure enough, I was right.

Toxic Sludge is a Black IPA - a relatively new hoppy, dark style with a name that contradicts itself (how can it be “black” if it’s “pale?”). The beer’s label says “it’s for the birds," and it is: 100% of the net proceeds from Toxic Sludge will be donated to Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research, an organization that’s campaigning to build a Wildlife Response Annex to save birds injured or sick from disasters like the BP oil spill. The organization has been leading the response to wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico since April. 

The beer will be available in 22-ounce bottles and on draft sometime before the start of fall.

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

• Rattle-N-Hum is hosting New York City Local Brewery Appreciation Night, as a thank you to the local brewers who they’ve served over the past two years. They’re promising two to five beers each from Blue Point, Brooklyn, Captain Lawrence, Kelso, Ithaca Beer Co., Keegan Ales, Sixpoint, and Southampton. The pouring is already underway right now, and continues throughout the night.
• The Joy of Cheese has teamed up with d.b.a. Brooklyn for an event called Softies & Saisons tonight at 7:30pm. Cheesemonger Martin Johnson and d.b.a’s Ray Deter will pair soft cheeses, naturally, with seven different saisons. The cost for the tasting is $25 and can be paid at the door or at Brown Paper Tickets.
• Jimmy’s No. 43’s weekly Ten Buck Tasting will feature six East Coast IPAs this week, curated by Mike Lovullo of Union Beer Distributors. The tasting gets underway at 7:30 and costs - obviously - ten bucks.
• Toast Uptown is featuring Speakeasy beers tonight, including Prohibition, White Lightning, and Big Daddy IPA, all for $5. They’ll also have some giveaways from the San Francisco-based brewery starting at 7pm.

The folks at Blind Tiger Ale House are still working on the list of great beers for their event this weekend to benefit the victims of the Gulf Coast oil spill, but it’s worth mentioning now: All day this Sunday, August 8th, the bar will be raising money to donate to the Greater New Orleans Foundation, a community foundation that helps to address the needs of the New Orleans area. Right now, they’re raising money specifically for the fishermen and oyster farms that have been damaged by the spill.

The beers will be cheap and plentiful - at happy hour prices all day. In addition, a buffet of cajun food from James Cullen at Pearl Oyster Bar will be served twice during the day - at 3pm and 7pm. In addition to a large percentage of the take from Sunday’s event being donated to GNOF, they will be soliciting check and cash donations for the organization, too.

The event will run all day on Sunday - from 11:30 am until they close at 4am on Monday morning.

Could you say no to a stylish t-shirt like this?

Just as Good Beer Month ends and the summer seasonals fade away, you’ll realize that New York Craft Beer Week is quickly approaching. This year, it’s September 24 - October 3rd, and will feature dozens of events, tastings, and deals on craft beer all over the city.

Starting this year, the NY Craft Beer Week Passport - which entitles you to a specific beer at each venue for $3 - will be valid for an entire year - through Labor Day, 2011. That’s a relief, because with over 80 venues already listed for this year, there’s no way you could get to all of them in ten days without an iron liver.

From now until August 7th, thanks to Thrillist, you can get your passport and an NY Craft Beer Week t-shirt for $15. You can get in on that deal here.

Get a headstart on this, and you’ll be ready to tackle the daunting list of craft beer bars in September.