A Brewery Grows In Brooklyn...
Written: Sep 30 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cool old building in the city, tasty beers...
Cons: Inconvenient access, no free beer, limited hours at tap room...
The Bottom Line: I like Brooklyn beers, and it's good to experience the brewery personally. Ho-hum brewery tour though...but still worth an hour on a Saturday afternoon.
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| mrkstvns's Full Review: Brooklyn Brewery |
Scholars have said that the reason mankind invented the concept of civilization was so that they could make beer. Sounds reasonable to me. I sure can't think of any more noble cause. And if civilizations exist because of beer, it makes sense that any decent, civilized city is going to have a few breweries around to slake the thirsts of its modern-day denizens.
You don't get much more "big-city civilized" than New York City, so I made it a point on my most recent trip to the Big Apple to visit its number 1 brewing site: the Brooklyn Brewery.
About Brooklyn Brewery...
Brooklyn beers have been around for about 20 years now, though the brewery itself opened its doors in the riverfront, warehouse-studded, Williamsburg section of Brooklyn only 10 years ago.
It's a tale of growth and bootstrapping, and a tale of business acumen and just basic quality over quantity. Simple concepts, but too often mis-executed by lazy visionaries in search of a glamourous quick buck.
Brooklyn Brown was actually the brewery's first real flagship brew, and back in the company's early days, it was pretty much the only game in town when it came to the Brooklyn label. Americans aren't particularly adventurous when it comes to matters of the palate, and brown ales aren't the kinds of beers that pay the bills at most brewhouses, so it stands to reason that they'd shift gears over time to a more "acceptable" style, which of course, means a lager beer. Today, Brooklyn Lager is the brewery's flagship brew, and it's sold widely in both bottles and on draft.
What Brooklyn Lager has in common with Brooklyn Brown is that they're both essentially "contract brews". That's not necessarily a bad thing, it just means that Brooklyn's Williamsburg brewery doesn't have the space, equipment, and manpower to meet market demand. When Brooklyn first went into business they brewed everything as a contract beer. Today, they still do contract beers at the F.X. Matt brewery in Utica New York, but the more "niche" styles and the seasonal beers are brewed right in the heart of the Big Apple.
It's really a story of constant growth, starting from the small seed of a concept by founders Steve Hindy and Tom Potter. The two hired respected brewmaster, Garrett Oliver, when they were getting ready to open a real brewery (the subject of this meandering tome of a review), and they're evidently continuing to grow and expand even as I type...this past weekend, it was evident that their new bottling line isn't going to be too far from a reality. While some of the new equipment still bore shrink-wrap as I stood there with a chilly Oktoberfest in hand, other pieces had already been moved into position and were being bolted down and hooked up to the grid. State of the art stuff too...they're not going to have those "bottling line" problems that some corner-cutting craft breweries occasionally bump into, no sirree.
Anyway, the brewery is located in an old warehouse. Used to be a matzo ball factory, said our youthful tour guide. Good-sized building with room for expansion (like adding the bottling line). Yellow on the outside, aged brick with high roofline on the inside. As you come in the door, the brewhouse is to the right, the beer taps are to the left. (So of course everybody turns left when they come in...after all, the tanks and stuff aren't going anywhere any too soon...)
So anyway, the brewhouse itself is fair-sized by craft-brewing standards. It's an all stainless-steel, 25-barrel brewhouse built by Newlands Systems. Lots of automated controls. Inline filtration. Lagering capability, so they could potentially brew any style of beer they wanted. Pretty typical of a modern craft brewery layout --- except for the huge Rubbermaid feed trough occupying most of the floorspace (used to soak hoses and stuff in iodophor solution), but hey, whatever works. It's a functional workplace, not a glitzy poster-boy brewery.
Closer to the entrance, stacks of 50-pound malt sacks wait their turn to be turned into ambrosiatic beverages. Looks like they've got some Muntons English malts, a few sacks of Briess Belgian malts, and a whole slew of Weyermann German malts.
But enough geek speak, the real magic is in the glass, and you get your glass filled over in the tap room (unlike many craft breweries, there's no free beers on the tour, but you can buy as many chilly brewskis as you want at $3 a glass --- via the token system).
Brooklyn Beers....
Naturally, I've been drinking mostly Brooklyn brews this past week (a few from local brewpubs, plus some from nearby New England breweries too, but I always prefer to drink local, so I've been doing mostly Brooklyn beers). Plus a couple more than my share over at the brewery tap room, natch. I'll probably post full reviews of some of these brewskis at some point, but here's a few quick thoughts straight from my tasting notebook...
Brooklyn Lager
A first-rate, soft, malty flavored beer with roots in the Vienna style of malty amber beers. It's educational to get this beer and their Oktoberfest side-by-side, since they're both variations on the same stylistic base. The Brooklyn Lager flagship brew is really no stronger in alcohol than your mainstream industrial lagers, but its worlds away in terms of taste. Soft but firm pale malt base with biscuit-like Munich complexity of gentle sweet toast. Exquisite balance with a light pepper and floral aroma. The brewery's propaganda sheet says the beer is brewed to 13.2 Plato, has an alcohol level of 5.2 percent by volume, and is hopped with Hallertauer Mittlefruh, Vanguard, and Cascades. Maybe so, but my nose says that if that's true, then there's a mercifully restrained hand on those Cascades since the scent is primarily one of noble hops contributions (as I prefer in these types of beer).
Brooklyn Brown
One of my perennial workaday favorites, and a beer I've enjoyed hundreds of times over the years. It's one of the acknowledged "benchmark" beers for the American brown style --- a style that's darker in color, bigger in body, and bolder in both malt and hops flavor than your traditional English Newcastle-inspired brown ale. Lots of richness in the flavor here, with some soft caramel and reminisces of semi-sweet chocolate. By the spec sheet, its brewed with a blend of 6 different pale malts, aromatic malts, and roast malts to a gravity of 15.5 degrees Plato, and is hopped with Willamette, Cascade, and Fuggles. 5.6 percent ABV.
Brooklyner Weisse
A classic South German weizen that truly captures the essence of the modern-day "clean fermenting" breed of weissbiers that most of the big Munich brewers are selling now. The spec sheet still boasts of the "banana, clove, and smoky phenol" aroma, but the truth is that you have to seriously hunt for these elements in most modern German wheats, and the Brooklyner Weisse follows that role model to the T. Pale yellow color with a rocky head and a distinctive haze, its nonetheless, a clean, light-bodied, refreshing pale beer that will appeal to a wide audience. By the spec sheet: 5.1 percent ABV, brewed with a blend of German wheat and pale malts to a gravity of 13.2 degrees Plato and hopped with Hallertauer Mittlefruh and Hallertauer Perle.
East India Pale Ale
Always a treat! Brooklyn's rendition of the classic hop-heads green dream is hopped in the kettle, hopped at the finish, and then dry-hopped to nail down the classic "wall of hops" sensation of a really great IPA. The beer has a soft malty body, but it's really the flavor, the aroma, and the long-lingering sensation of glorious bitterness that makes this beer a standout. You get lemon and grapefruit and pine in the nose, you get more of a resinous pine in the flavor, and you get a coating sensation of resin at the back of your throat long after you swallow the last drop (and of course, you can burp to repeat ---- "'scuse me!") The spec sheet says they use five different hops in this brew: Kent Goldings, Willamette, Northdown, Centennial, and Amarillo. 6.8 percent ABV, 16 degrees Plato. Me likeee.
Oktoberfest
Fall is in the air, and oktoberfest beers belong in my hand! Brooklyn's seasonal offering is richly malty with a decadent sweetness that reminds me of toffee bars. For everything hoppily good in the brewery's East India Pale Ale, there's a malty counterpoint in their Oktoberfest --- a real gift to the drinker who loves their toasty, caramel, soft, sweet malt flavors. Spot on perfect rusty brown color with brilliant red highlights, it's a beautiful drink to beerhold. By the spec sheet, it's a blend of Munich and pilsner malts to a density of 14.2 Plato and hopped with classic noble Hallertauer Mittlefruh and Hallertauer Perle. Get it while the gettin's good.
And by the way, beer purists know that the "perfect time" for an Oktoberfest isn't really October --- it's late September. The mere thought of it is making me thirsty again....
Blanche de Brooklyn
This is a real treat for anyone who adores the soft, light Belgian wit kind of wheat beers. Brooklyn's version has a more assertive orange nose and less coriander than you find in Hoegaarden's "perfect 10" benchmark of the style, though that's not to take anything away from Brooklyn. The brewery's propaganda says that Blanche shows some melon in the nose. Interesting perspective. I don't really pick up on that, though there's definitely a softening of the orange fruitiness in the flavor, and I'm thinking that it's more like apricot to me than melon, but hey, try it for yourself and see what you think! A great session beer, and an ideal breakfast or Sunday brunch beer.
There are some other Brooklyn beers, but I didn't try 'em on this trip, so I won't spoil the fun. Suffice it to say that the brewery is releasing a big barleywine called Monster within the next few weeks, and they do some "Brewmaster Reserve" beers that you generally can't get outside Brooklyn (watch for Blast if you're a true hophead...)
Logistics...
Tours are free and happen every Saturday afternoon at the top of the hour. First tour starts at noon, last one starts at 4, and the tap room is open til 5. The tap room is also open Friday evenings, for your local beer drinking pleasure.
Official info is on their web site: www.brooklynbrewery.com
Easiest way to get there is via subway --- from Manhattan, go to the 14th Street station and take the L line into Brooklyn and get off at Bedford (then walk a few blocks following map on the brooklynbrewing.com web site). Word of advice: check the MTA web site (www.mta.info) for service advisories. I found out the hard way that the L line was closed this past weekend and I ended up having to hoof it many extra blocks via a J line train at Marcy Ave. --- not that my beer gut didn't need the workout, you understand, it's just the principal of the matter).
Bottom Line...
The Brooklyn Brewery is a very nice microbrewery producing an excellent range of quality beers. The tours are fairly short (about 30 minutes), and very casual and fun. The tap room is pretty barebones, with beer for sale and not much else, and just a few wood picnic tables for seating. It ain't fancy, but they've got pretty much everything on tap all the time. The place is a bit off the beaten path and I usually expect a free brewski at a brewery tour. Free beer doesn't seem to happen in Brooklyn, but that's okay....it's good stuff anyway and it's an entertaining way to blow an hour or so on a lazy Saturday afternoon.
Recommended:
Yes
Date Visited: 23 September 2006
Tours Offered: Yes
Tasting cost, per person: 3/glass
Brewery Rating: If you''re in the area anyway
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