Brooklyn Brewery

Ladies and Gentlemen do I have a treat for you! My #1 YOTB partner in crime traveled all the way to Brooklyn, New York to verify that San Diego is in fact a far superior craft beer town. While she did confirm our suspicions (spoiler alert: SD wins by a landslide!) Brooklyn Brewery did it’s best to represent. I present to you Whitney Hodges, guest blogger…enjoy:

Having been friends with Ama for over half my life, I have (fortunately) had a number of opportunities to be part of some of the incredibly fun adventures she schemes up.  However, I doubt I have ever bandwagoned one of Ama’s ideas as hard as I have for YOTB.  Therefore, it was only fitting that, while in New York City catching up with one of our close friends, I insisted on auditioning a local brewery and reporting back to Ms. Boss Lady.  After some preliminary research, I determined that NYC, as cosmopolitan as the city is, really only has a few established, reputable breweries, and only one that was consistently recommended.  This discovery got me realizing how good we have it in San Diego.

 Hoping it was the best of the bunch; our group battled freezing weather and headed over the bridge to Brooklyn Brewery in Williamsburg.  I can’t lie, I was a bit skeptical at first.  For starters, the brewery had people queuing outside.  Did I mention it was literally freezing that day?  This didn’t give off the warm and welcoming vibe I have become accustomed to in So. Cal.  Then once you were permitted to enter, you had to buy tokens to purchase beer.  Needless to say, because this was in Brooklyn, the hipster ratio was a bit out of control.  I was thoroughly confused by the whole thing. 

 But, once we got settled, I understood the method to this perceived madness.  The line was really just a way to control the population inside (a much appreciated effect).  This ensured it was never too crowded and we were able to easily find a place to park it for the rest of the afternoon.  The token system was also a boon, as it meant you never had to keep opening/closing tabs and it really sped up the brew retrieval process.

 In terms of atmosphere, Brooklyn Brewery gets a gold star.  Three huge silver vats greet you at the entrance, pretty much solidifying the brewery’s legitimacy.  As with most breweries this YOTB adventure has taken on, Brooklyn Brewery’s tasting room is a huge warehouse.  However, the décor gives the place a surprisingly homey, comfortable feeling.  The room is outfitted with large wooden pillars, dark wood picnic tables and oak casks, all decked out with pine boughs and white lights for the holidays.  To boot, it was blasting really fun oldies music.  I felt like I was at friend’s house instead of in a warehouse with a bunch of strangers.  The only thing that really threw me off was the coat check.  But, I guess we aren’t in California anymore, Toto.

 My sister, who joined us for her first YOTB outing, was great at pointing out all the food options – gotta love having a foodie in the family.  Not only did Brooklyn Brewery have an authentic NY style pizza truck parked outside, but inside they offered some really delicious snacks. No greasy bar food here.  I assume the menu changes based on what is trending, but our options included roasted pecans, real beef jerky, spicy bacon caramel corn, pretzel chips and peanut brittle.  The brewery also offered self-serve water, which was awesome for those of us trying to pace ourselves before our family dinner.

 Going back to this whole token thing – five tokens were $20.00 and 99% of the beers were one token per pint.  A couple of the specialty beers were two tokens, but, as far as bang for your buck, I was impressed (hope you’re seeing the trend here…).

 OK – now on to what’s important: the beer.  Because this was a bit of a bicoastal field trip that probably won’t happen again for a while, I made sure our group tried all ten beers offered.  And this post is going to walk y’all through each one!

What we liked:

• Le Cuvier
  • Special Lager
  • Brooklyn Brewery garners some massive points with this beer.  When the brewery ran out of something or other, instead of just turning off that tap, they rolled out a keg of the special, reserve lager without batting an eye (or charging more tokens for it!).  This beer ended up being the favorite of the group with its floral notes and rosy aftertaste.
• Oishi
  • Light Belgian Ale
  • This ale had an unexpected but appreciated blueberry flavor.  It was light and easy to drink.  It was very refreshing and would be perfect for a beach day BBQ.
• Dark & Twisted
  • Chocolate Pretzel Stout
  • This was my favorite by far.  It was a dark, malty stout with a salted caramel aftertaste.  While you definitely would not drink more than a couple of these at one sitting, this beer would be great with dessert.
• Brooklyn Lager
  • Amber Style Lager
  • This is the money maker and can found at the local bodegas, bars, etc.  It has a bit of a nutty taste to it and is a bit hoppy for a lager. Aside from those flavors, this beer is your basic easy-to-drink lager.
• Weisse
  • Bavarian Style Wheat
  • This beer was tart and awesome.  Admittedly, I was the only one in the crew really feeling this beer, but I am tart beer kind of girl.  If you don’t like a little kick in your cup, I would avoid this pour.
• Fire and Ice
  • Oatmeal Porter
  • This beer had a smooth start without being overwhelming oatmealy.  It is a lighter porter with a smoky aftertaste and a hint of citrus.  It was a beer first, flavor second kind of beer.
• Winter Ale
  • Scottish Inspired Ale
  • This was a sweet & spicy kind of ale, with all the hallmarks of a traditional winter beer.  This would be great to pair with a meal, but this would not be your go-to for kicking back to watch a ball game.
• Radius
  • Seasons Saison
  • Citrusy and light.  Would make a great summer beer.  The only real danger is you could put back more than a couple of these before you knew it.

 What we didn’t order a second of:

• Sorachi Ale
  • Single Hop Saison
  • This tasted like cider, but without the carbonation.  It was very citrusy.  The final verdict was that this ale offered a lot of flavor but not a lot of beer.
• East IPA
  • British Style, American Flavor IPA
  • This was not a very heavy IPA.  It had a medium body with a bitter kick.  If you were looking for a traditional IPA, you would not be stoked with this beer.

 As you can tell, despite my hesitancy at first blush, Brooklyn Brewery really knocked it out of the park.  Everything about it was truly wonderful.  I guess as long as NYC has to be content with a limited number of breweries, at least the city knew to go big.  If you are ever in the area, I definitely recommend checking this spot out.

 

So Jules and Brad, when you sending some of these goodies over to the best coast?

 

 

Bottoms Up!

Whit

Belching Beaver Brewery

Alright people – Time to get back to the Breweries, well, sorta. The last couple of posts have been a departure from breweries but not to worry, I haven’t forgotten YOTB’s mission. The Belching Beaver is brewery located in Vista with a tasting room in North Park. And by North Park I mean the El Cajon Boulevard region of North Park, not the super hip 30th & University area.  I believe my exact notes regarding the location were: “Interesting part of town. Yikes.” However, being a resident of Downtown San Diego, I opted to check out the North Park tasting room rather than trekking up to Vista on a school night.

Parking wasn’t difficult to find (mostly street parking) but the tasting room did strongly warn us not to park in the empty parking lot adjacent to building. Apparently the owners of the lot tow people on the regular, even after hours. Jerks.

Why Belching Beaver you ask? As soon as I learned that you could order burgers from Crazee burger next door and have your food delivered to you in the tasting room, Belching Beaver moved to the top of my Brewery list. What more could you ask for: A decent burger and local craft beer from a Vista brewery without even getting the 5 North – sign me up!

I met a group of friends at the tasting room on a Wednesday night of what just so happened to be San Diego Beer Week. Upon arrival the tasting room was pretty empty but quickly started to fill up with people from an organized beer tasting group. I’m not sure if they coordinated their event with the tasting room or if their presence was a surprise but either way the Belching Beaver was not prepared for them.  There was one girl working behind the bar the entire night serving a full tasting room – roughly 50 people. Bless her heart, she worked her butt off, but there was no way she could keep up with 50 people’s thirst for beer. Maybe it’s just me but if I were running a BREWERY during San Diego BEER WEEK I might staff up – just sayin’.

Most of their beers were offered in 8 oz pours for $3.00 – $4.00 or 16 oz. pours for $5.00 – $7.00. They also offered 4 oz. Taster Flights: Pick four beers for $7.00 or pick six for $10.00 (add $1.00 for premium beers, indicated in yellow).

There was a group of about 6 of us so we were able to sample nearly everything they had available. We ordered a variety of tasters and of course some full size beers when we found the ones we liked (and were able to place an order). However, for some of the premium beers it made more sense dollar-wise to order a few 8 oz pour rather than a flight of tasters. Here are some of the highlights:

Pumpkin Spice (I’m sure this one is seasonal) – If it’s even possible, this beer smelled better than it tasted.  It had a spicy, cinnamon-y aroma that the flavors didn’t live up to.

Peanut Butter Stout – Now this beer is as advertised! It really did taste like a someone put a dollop of peanut butter in my beer. It was tasty, smooth and malty, but no hops. I’d call it interesting, not amazing. It was the kind of beer that you have to have one of, but at the same time, one is all you want.

Farmhouse IPA – Yum! This one was my favorite. It was darn a good IPA. The hops were present without overpowering the flavor. I made sure to note: Dad’s gotta try this. Now you know it must be good!

A few honorable mentions go to Nutty Buddy, Me So Honey (Chris’s favorite, although I’m pretty sure he just liked the name), and Tail Slapped.

Belching Beaver Taster – 6 beers

Overall Belching Beaver is putting out some unique beers with interesting flavors. They seem to lean more towards the darker beers (stouts and brown ale’s) and IPA’s although not exclusively. I appreciate their sense of humor and creativity in naming their beers. They don’t take themselves too seriously and it translate into the experience. If I came across their beer on tap at a bar I wouldn’t hesitate to order it. In fact, if you’re looking for some Belching Beaver near you, click here to see if a restaurant or bar in you neighborhood is carrying it!

Belching Beaver is definitely a do-over (in fact, I think some of our group went back the very next weekend!) although I’d hope to have better service the second time around. It’s a comfortable place to hang out, a fun beer tasting expereince and you can’t beat the convenience of the next door burger delivery service!

Bottoms Up!

-Amatece