With their hand carved antique wood furniture, custom-made leather burgundy booths and snazzy snooker tables, Brklyn, Taipei’s newest gastropub in Xinyi District (信義), will have you almost believing that you’re drinking in a Brooklyn neighborhood that’s become so gentrified by so-called hipsters that it’s more Manhattan than Brooklyn.
But really — if there’s any American city that’s capable of being classy, it’s New York (kind of). So, in the spirit of classy celebrations, Brklyn, whose concept is built around the New York-style gastropub serving finger food that pairs well with craft beer, will be throwing a Fourth of July party tomorrow night. Independence Day revelers can expect the mood to be chill but chic.
Brklyn co-founder and craft beer importer Shawn Kidd tells the Taipei Times that there will be a range of craft beers from Oregon and New York on tap from four different breweries. Among them are imperial stouts and maple-infused porters, as well as four types of artisanal cider. In order to encourage people to sample as many beers as possible, they’ve created an “Amazing Race” game where those who manage to down 15 tasters will win a free glass of a craft beer of their choice.
Warning: Excessive consumption of alcohol can damage your health.
Photo courtesy of Brklyn
“We are hoping this pushes people to try all of the amazing draft we imported for this event,” Kidd says.
If for some reason beers aren’t your cup of alcohol, Brklyn will also be unveiling new classic American cocktails, in addition to serving Coca-Cola marinated barbecue ribs and new flavors of wings with their classic red hot wing sauce.
To top it off, DJs — including Taipei Times contributor Marcus Aurelius — will be spinning Motown and Bruce Springsteen.
CRAFTING A NICHE FOR CRAFT BEER
After years of importing craft beers — and starting his own company, East Drinks West, which is focused on introducing North American brews to Taiwan — Kidd, who is originally from Canada, is glad to see the craft beer scene in Taiwan expanding.
“It’s really exciting watching all the new craft beer bars open,” he says. “And a lot of older, existing bars are now seeing the benefits of craft beer in their venues and switching to a more craft beer-centric menu.”
Citing the increase in sales of his company’s beverages to Taiwanese-owned venues in the last six months, Kidd adds that nowadays, it seems like the local market for craft beer is larger than the expat one. He’s also hoping that Brklyn’s location in the heart of Taipei’s shopping and nightlife district would drive more people to come and sample some delicious ales and hops.
“We are in a mall of massive clubs that play EDM, and we wanted to come out with more of an indie music edge,” Kidd says.
He adds that they are aiming to create “a space for people to move around and mingle in an upscale pub/bar setting that is slightly nicer than your neighborhood pub” — hence the aforementioned hand carved antique wood furniture and custom-made leather burgundy booths.
One way that Brklyn is spreading word of their drafts is through their recurring theme nights like Wicked Wednesdays when they serve wings and Throwback Thursdays where thirsty customers dress up in fedoras and feathered boas like it’s the Roaring Twenties.
“It was exciting to see so many local people embrace the idea,” Kidd adds.
Next month, Brklyn will also be throwing a Moulin Rouge night complete with live bands, absinthe cocktails and an accessorized photo booth.
But for tomorrow night, it’s all-American brews and beats, so remember to don red, white and blue and/or your drinking pants and saunter over to Brklyn.
May 6 to May 12 Those who follow the Chinese-language news may have noticed the usage of the term zhuge (豬哥, literally ‘pig brother,’ a male pig raised for breeding purposes) in reports concerning the ongoing #Metoo scandal in the entertainment industry. The term’s modern connotations can range from womanizer or lecher to sexual predator, but it once referred to an important rural trade. Until the 1970s, it was a common sight to see a breeder herding a single “zhuge” down a rustic path with a bamboo whip, often traveling large distances over rugged terrain to service local families. Not only
Ahead of incoming president William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20 there appear to be signs that he is signaling to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that the Chinese side is also signaling to the Taiwan side. This raises a lot of questions, including what is the CCP up to, who are they signaling to, what are they signaling, how with the various actors in Taiwan respond and where this could ultimately go. In the last column, published on May 2, we examined the curious case of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heavyweight Tseng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) — currently vice premier
The last time Mrs Hsieh came to Cihu Park in Taoyuan was almost 50 years ago, on a school trip to the grave of Taiwan’s recently deceased dictator. Busloads of children were brought in to pay their respects to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正), known as Generalissimo, who had died at 87, after decades ruling Taiwan under brutal martial law. “There were a lot of buses, and there was a long queue,” Hsieh recalled. “It was a school rule. We had to bow, and then we went home.” Chiang’s body is still there, under guard in a mausoleum at the end of a path
Last week the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) released a set of very strange numbers on Taiwan’s wealth distribution. Duly quoted in the Taipei Times, the report said that “The Gini coefficient for Taiwanese households… was 0.606 at the end of 2021, lower than Australia’s 0.611, the UK’s 0.620, Japan’s 0.678, France’s 0.676 and Germany’s 0.727, the agency said in a report.” The Gini coefficient is a measure of relative inequality, usually of wealth or income, though it can be used to evaluate other forms of inequality. However, for most nations it is a number from .25 to .50