Carroll Gardens brewery gets super-sized
By Kevin Duggan That’s a lot of bier, folks!
A Carroll Gardens brewhouse
recently completed a
massive expansion, allowing it to quadruple
its output of beer and experiment
with new styles of tasty suds.
Folksbier Brauerei has expanded its
Luquer Street production facility from
three barrels to 10, which will help
it to quench the thirst of even more
Brooklyn beeristas with its popular
German-style lagers, sours, and ales,
according to its founder.
“It was a long time coming,” said
Travis Kauffman. “We had always
intended to get up to a larger scale
when we opened.”
The brewer launched the operation
in 2014, when he single-handedly
started making beers in a restaurant’s
storage space. When the eatery closed
two years later, he annexed the space
and turned it into a tasting room.
Kauffman and his team took
advantage of the new, larger tanks to
make Folksbier’s first double-hopped
India Pale Ale, dubbed Batch 001,
which is stronger than the brewery’s
usual fare in both taste and alcohol
content, and which quickly became a
hit among customers.
“We are sold out now. We’re working
on another batch and we’ll have
one out within a month,” Kauffman
said. “The hops are all aromatic and
there’s a soft fluffy mouth feel — but
it’s well balanced.”
Kauffman and his team are also
COURIER L 42 IFE, AUG. 9-15, 2019
pumping out larger amounts of their
bestseller Old Bavarian Lager, and new
versions of their popular sour Glow
Up series, to which they add unusual
seasonal flavors such as cucumber
and lime, raspberry, and blackberry.
The brewers also experimented with
adding fermented leftover bagels from
Blackseed Bagels to the Glow Up
series, giving the beverage a breadlike
tang.
“It does give it a certain breadiness
in a really nice way,” Kauffman said.
A series of these constantly-rotating
brews are available on tap in the
brewery’s tasting room, which also
features a menu of Mexican dishes to
pair with your beverage. The brewery
also plans to invite guest chefs to host
different pop-up foods.
Kauffman is already looking to
grow even further. He is setting up a
lager-focused brewery in Red Hook,
where he plans to make tasty beverages
soon, he said.
“We have a building and equipment,
so we’re just finishing up our
expansion on Luquer Street,” he said.
Folksbier 101 Luquer St. between
Clinton Street and the BQE in Carroll
Gardens, www.folksbier.com.
Taproom open Mon, Thu 4–11 p.m.;
Fri, 2 p.m.–midnight; Sat, noon–midnight;
Sun, noon–10 p.m.
WBy Aidan Graham hat a piece of work is a
Batman!
A new play combines
the poetry of Shakespeare with
the thrilling action of superheroes.
“Batman of Gotham,” playing on
Aug. 12 at Prospect Heights nerd
bar the Way Station, is part of a
monthly series of shows that mash
up Shakespearean plays with science
fiction and fantasy pop culture.
The upcoming production, a sort of
Midsummer Dark Knight’s Dream,
will bring the Elizabethan playwright’s
little-known drama “Timon
of Athens” into the world of underground
mobs and crime-fighting
bats, said the play’s writer.
“It’s like performing Batman
as Shakespeare, or if Shakespeare
had written Batman,” said Jonathan
Galvez.
Galvez and his writing partner
Michael Hagins create the scripts
for the Way Station Companions,
a group of about 14 regulars of the
bar who come together to perform
on its stage on the second Monday
of each month. Past performances
have mixed the cartoon “Rick and
Morty” with “Julius Caesar,” “Game
of Thrones” with “Richard III,” and
“Doctor Who” with “The Tempest,”
said Galvez, creating fast-paced
plays from the Bard’s original text.
“We keep the majority of the
Shakespeare text,” he said. “We edit
it down to about an hour long, but
most of the dialogue comes from
Shakespeare.”
Adding a fun pop culture element
can draw in an audience that might
be turned away by a show filled with
17th-century iambic pentameter,
said Galvez.
“It makes the Shakespeare accessible,”
he said. “Not a lot of people
are going to be willing to go to a production
of ‘Timon of Athens,’ but a
lot of people will go see ‘Batman.’ It
kind of creates a cross-appreciation
of both.”
“Batman of Gotham” at the Way
Station 683 Washington Ave. between
St. Marks Avenue and Prospect Place
in Prospect Heights, (347) 627–4949,
www.thewaystationbk.com. Aug. 12
at 8:30 p.m. Free.
By Bill Roundy This actor is the shihtzu!
An adorable
Williamsburg doggy will
star in a series of short
plays this weekend to raise
money for the shelter from
which he was adopted. The
“Boscoe Barles Bestival,”
at the Brick on Aug. 10,
will feature five short tails
written to showcase their
protagonist pup, who is “the
most special puppy in the
whole world,” according to
his owner.
“He just lights up any
room he’s in,” said Charles
Quittner. “I’m so surprised
I got this perfect shihtzu,
who is so wonderful and
perfect.”
Quittner, a theater director
and producer, adopted
Boscoe Barles last year,
and the probably-two-yearold
former stray has since
embarked on an acting
career, with roles in several
Off-Off Broadway shows,
including playing a Roman
senator in “Their food
tastes better when they see
us starve, or Coriolanus,” at
the Brick, and a dog named
Barker in “Interabang” at
Dixon Place Theater. The
canine cutie was born for
the spotlight, said Quittner.
“Boscoe loves people
— he actually loves being
out,” he said. “And he loves
theater.”
The festival on Aug.
10 will feature five fuzzy
sketches, each six to 10
minutes long, showing that
Boscoe is up fur anything.
“In one of the plays,
Boscoe plays a small-time
mayor who has to whip
two Washington-wannabe
interns into shape,” said
Quittner. “He really shows
his range — in one, he plays
a chinchilla!”
Boscoe does not do
tricks, said Quittner,
although he can stand on
his hind legs. His most
valuable skill — in addition
to being adorable — is his
ability to remain calm during
action scenes.
The human actors have a
back-up plan in case Boscoe
gets distracted from the
scene, said Quittner.
“Just in case, all the
actors have treats, so he’ll
be extra responsive,” he
said.
All proceeds from
the show will go to the
Brooklyn Animal Resource
Coalition, the Williamsburg
shelter where Boscoe was
adopted. The theater will
also feature pictures of currently
adoptable dogs, in
hopes of inspiring the audience,
said Quittner.
“I’m hoping that after
seeing Boscoe Barles do
his thing, they will think
‘I want my own superstar
dog,’ ” he said.
“Boscoe Barles
Bestival” at the Brick (575
Metropolitan Ave. between
Union and Lorimer streets
in Williamsburg, (718)
907–6189, www.bricktheater.
com). Aug. 10 at 2 p.m.
$15–$25.
A big sip: The founder of Folksbier Brauerei Travis Kauffman enjoys a glass of his Old
Bavarian Lager at the brewhouse in Carroll Gardens. Photo by Caroline Ourso
The dog star: Canine actor Boscoe Barles will star in five short
plays on Aug. 10 to raise money for a Williamsburg animal shelter.
Charles Quittner
Wizard of odd: “Batman of Gotham”
co-writer Michael Hagins, left, played
Prospero in a previous Way Station
Companions production “The Doctor and
the Tempest.” Photo by Bill Roundy
Puppy love
LARGER LAGER
Nerd of Avon
Very good boy stars in
W’burg theater festival
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