Brooklyn Lager

www.brooklynbrewery.com

Brewed by Brooklyn Brewery
Style: American Amber Lager
Brooklyn, New York, USA

In 1988 Brooklyn, New York City, Brooklyn Brewery was set up by Steve Hindy and Tom Potter. Hindy was a Correspondent for the Associated Press and had spent over 5 years covering wars and what have you out there in the big scary world of the Middle East. In his down time he liked to partake in social events where home brews were a flowing, as its quite tricky to get alcohol in some of these places. On his return he started to try his hand at home brewing for himself, picking up on some of the skills he had learned on his travels. He collared his downstairs neighbor, Tom Potter, who was a banker at the time, and between the two of them they established the Brooklyn Brewery.

Originally all their beer was brewed by contract by Matt Brewing Company, it was here that they first developed their famous Brooklyn lager. Other beer types were developed in time, a Weisse to an exciting Black Chocolate Stout to a more standard East IPA.

The pair started their own distribution company and personally transported and marketed their beer to bars and retailers around New York City. All their hard work paid off as the beer was proving to be extremely popular in the big city’s bar scene. Something new on the scene, and totally different to the generic rubbish people were pouring down their throats at that time in the early 1980’s.

In 1996, they acquired a former factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and converted it into a functional brewery. A $6.5 million expansion of the brewery in 2009 allowed them to remain in their “spiritual home” of brewing. The original brewing hobby that turned into a brewery that is known the world over to beer buffs, is still today in the hands of its original owners and proudly independent.

Brooklyn Lager, the award winning beer, is the Brewery’s flagship label, brewed to a pre Prohibition recipe that dates back to the days when Brooklyn was the brewing capital of the East Coast of the US, largely thanks to all the German and Irish residents doing what they do best, making beer and drinking it!!

These days the brewery churns out a whole range of beers, from all sorts of the more traditional types of ales to more fruitier versions (Pumpkin ale anyone?), to stouts, wheat beers, and pilsners, selling to thirsty punters all over the globe, from Scandinavia (in partnership with Carlsberg), to the Far East and Australasia, and to mainland Europe and the UK.

The brewery are at the forefront of culture, sponsoring festivals, concerts, food tours and more. They also offer beer education courses in The Art and Science of Brewing with the Culinary Institute of America. Now that’s a course I could get into, a full curriculum on beer which includes the science and practicalities behind brewing and the business and social aspects to it. Beers are produced as part of the course.

If that wasn’t enough learning for you, the founding duo have released a best selling book, “Beer School: Bottling Success At The Brooklyn Brewery” published by John Wiley & Sons” in 2005. The book is both a guide to entrepreneurship and beer brewing as well as a memoir of the authors’ time together while building the Brooklyn Brewery.

Review: 5cl bottle of Brooklyn Lager: 5.2% vol.

Gold Medal recipient in the 2018 World Beer Cup, and a top 50 beer in a certain popular beer review website, so looking forward to this one.

The iconic logo showing the big white B for Brooklyn on a green background, instantly recognizable.

Has a nice amber colour on pour with a decent frothy white head. Looks ok on pour. Some slight lacing. Not a bad looking beer.

Get an interesting floral hoppy aroma, fruity, not too bad on the nose, pleasant enough. A light IPA note. Not too bad. I guess that is all that “dry hopping” they mention in their blurb.

On the taste not a bad start, nice and smooth, IPA style in that the hops are quite noticeable but very manageable. Sweet malts, fruity and hoppy.

Bit surprised, had it twice on tap, didn’t like it at all but this is much more palatable for me! Enjoying it as it is very crisp and tasty, Standard in taste but all well balanced, light and soft enough to enjoy and goes down easy enough.

Caramel mouthfuls were nice to taste and gave a good balance to the beer.

A lager with a bite. Nothing extraordinary but it does the business.