His father always had the same response: “I am doing creative nothing.” Oliver, the brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery for 24 years, said that it was not until he “was well into adulthood” that he finally understood what the phrase meant.
The author of “The Good Beer Book” and “The Brewmaster’s Table,” Oliver, 56, is a busy man. The editor of “The Oxford Companion to Beer” can also be found judging beer competitions around the world, or creating recipes at the brewery in Williamsburg, as well as at its outpost at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. But on Sundays Oliver is all about doing creative nothing. He has lived in a brick carriage house in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, since 1996.
NOWHERE MAN: Unless I’m going to the beach, I am not going anywhere until at least 12:30 or 1 p.m. That’s my chill out time. Breakfast can easily take an hour and a half. I French press my coffee, and sit there with my iPad.
ANYTHING GOES OMELET: I eat the same thing every morning — yogurt, granola. But on Sundays it will be French toast, it will be omelets, leftover omelets. My favorite of the year was mapo tofu, a spicy tofu dish my friend made, so I had the leftovers and I made an omelet. It was unbelievable! Things you might never think of, like cassoulet, make a great omelet. Texas chili, that makes a great omelet. Anything that has ground meat and a lot of spice makes a great omelet.
READING, WRITING: I’m a paper reader but on the iPad. I read The New York Times, I read New York magazine, I read The Guardian. I bounce around a little bit. I write a fair bit here and there as well. Right now I don’t have anything due, but if I promise somebody an article or a review, Sunday is going to be the day that I set aside for that.
JUST THE BASICS: I try to fit in some kind of a workout in the afternoon or into the evening. Just the basics. I’ve got weights, I do push-ups, all that good stuff. If I don’t do my certain routine, I can’t say I’ve exercised.
NICHE SHOPPING: Christie’s is an auction house and most people think that normal people can’t go because it’s where you sell paintings for $60 million. It turns out that Christie’s has a lot of really cheap stuff. It’s like a museum with a constantly changing exhibit. You might see the entire contents of some mansion. I have two 1920s French club chairs that I bought there which are not only much more comfortable and better built than stuff you would buy today in a good store in New York, but they’re like half the price. It’s pretty entertaining. It’s like a flea market but with much better coffee. If there’s any shopping that I need to do I’ll do that while I’m up there. I might hit the Lobster Place in Chelsea Market; you can buy lobster parts. That’s where I go if I’m going to make lobster stock.
THE BIG PICTURE: I either go to the movies at Battery Park City or Turtle Bay. I go for the overall cool crowd and good seating, good-size screens. Those are great theaters.
FREE-FORM: I hit the Brooklyn Inn around 5 if I am going to meet someone. If I’m having people over, it starts at 6. Stuff starts early on Sunday, and everything is over by like 9. I like to chill into the evening. Sunday is an impromptu day where I get in touch with people around 2 and say, hey, what are you doing? Saturday has plans, Sunday is free-form.
THE GOODS: I might go to Los Paisanos on Smith Street. They have a great selection of sausages. I’ll pick up some sausage, cavatelli and whatever kind of cheese they sell at Stinky Bklyn. I’ll do the cavatelli, take the skins off the sausage and put it with some cheese and broccolini, and that’s really good. I serve as many other types of drinks at home as I do beer. When I serve beers they are often unreleased special beers from the brewery we call the “Ghost Bottles” — strange, fun things!
20-MINUTE RULE: I have a rule for dinner parties, called the 20-minute rule. After people leave I’m willing to do 20 minutes of dishes. At the end of that 20 minutes, the cleanup is over and whatever is left is going to be done the next day. There is always Monday morning.