Day 21: BrooklynWe caught the subway to Brooklyn, negotiated some rough-looking neighbourhoods on foot in the rain and arrived at Bedford Avenue.
The ultimate destination was Brooklyn Brewery, which doesn't open until 6pm on Fridays so to kill some time we ducked into a bar we came across called Lucky Dog.
That's me above taking this picture of the 21 beers on tap.
I had a pint of Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA. It had more aroma and flavour than the other IPAs I've had on the East Coast (Dogfish Head is from Delaware, which is a few hundred kilometres south of New York City.) A magnificent beer.
The little lady and my brother each had a Weihestephan Hefeweizen. It had an amazing, long-lasting head that clung to the glass. My brother's girlfriend was sick. She had a cup of hot water.
From there it was off to Mug's Ale House, which we'd spied on Google Maps while at the Lucky Dog. They had 31 beers on tap.
Those of you who have seen Brew Masters (or even won a copy here on the forum!), which is a series about Dogfish Head brewery, would remember the Egyptian beer called Ta Henket. Well, it was brand new on tap at Mug's the day we were there. How could I not? It was very herbal and not spicy, and had almost a minerally taste. The flavour had hints of black cardomom, which is admittedly a spice. An OK, novelty beer. Nothing special, I'm afraid to say. I'm glad to say I've tried it but I probably wouldn't order it again.
'Er Indoors had a Kuhnhenn Double Rice IPA. It was quite cloudy, and really caramely and malty of flavour and aroma. Lots of hop aroma and flavour and very smooth to drink, with a hint of smokiness. A well-balanced, drinkable beer.
The clock had ticked past 6, so we trudged around the corner in the rain to Brooklyn Brewery (note the Egyptian saying at the top of the wall -- in English and hieroglyphics -- "Beer has dispelled the illness which was in me").
This is what confronts punters as they walk through the front door.
The look and feel of the place is very much like Mountain Goat in Richmond, Melbourne. (They even have the pizza van out the front, just like Mountain Goat used to.) It was packed when we arrived not long after 6, and just got busier and busier.
You use beer tokens at Brooklyn. You get five tokens for $20 and most beers cost one token, although the specials are two.
First beers up (below) were the Brown Ale (5.5%) and Ama Bionda (6.0%), The brown was, well, brown and pretty easy-drinking. Light on everything but the alcohol, relatively speaking. Reminded me a bit of Mountain Goat Hightail Ale, in a good way.
Bionda was the little lady's choice. We were told that this was an Italian-style beer and was made with orange-blossom honey. It had the wheatiness and spiciness of a Belgian. An OK beer.
East India Pale Ale (6.5%) was an interesting IPA, unlike any others so far. It was lighter of body and more bitter, but it went down easily. The little lady liked it, too, and she tends to not appreciate IPAs.
Maple Porter was OK.
The Blast Double IPA was a two-token beer, and floral, hoppy and quite nice. No photo, sorry.
The brewer, Garrett Oliver, was conducting a tasting for a group of about eight in a corner of the room. When he left the partitioned-off area I pounced. I introduced myself and told him that I'd read the story about him in a recent edition of BYO magazine and that I liked his brewing philosophy. To paraphrase one of the things that he said in the article, brewers are doing themselves a disservice by confusing consumers with naming. He gave the example of black IPA. He argues that most people don't actually know what makes a regular IPA in the first place, so inventing a new beer and calling it "black IPA" is simply a recipe for confusion. He maintains that when new styles are invented they should get new names.
It was a short but pleasant conversation. He was courteous. I was a little under the weather.
Now the bit I didn't tell Garrett Oliver: To be honest, I was disappointed by the beer at Brooklyn Brewery. Given its a fairly big brewery and is reasonably well known, I was expecing to be more excited by their offerings. But I found most of the beers uninspiring and a few had a bit of a rough edge. I noted earlier that I wasn't a fan of the Brooklyn Lager and that it had a touch of the Aussie megaswills about it. It would be unfair to lump all the Brooklyn beers in with my view of the lager, but there is a common thread. Probably the only Brooklyn beer I'd choose to have again would be the IPA. I just didn't find most to be great beers. Some might say they were subtle. I'd say bland. Sorry, Garrett.
If anyone else has tasted many of the Brooklyn beers I'd be interested on whether I was just having an off night.
Part of the decor in the brewery is very hip New York. On the left wall in the picture below is a history of the brewery. The thing that struck us was that the history seemed to talk more about how the brewery's logo came to be than the establishment of the brewery itself. (Or perhaps the whole thing was some sort of art installation and we missed the point completely!)
Wrapping up the night was a Brooklyn Pilsner over a couple of pizzas at Grimaldi's in Dumbo (at the base of the Manhattan Bridge on the Brooklyn side). Magnificent pizzas, average beer.
Tomorrow: Back to NYC (and hopefully a shorter post!).
Cheers,
Oliver