1001 Nights: Ayad Asha of the Brooklyn Brewery

 Interview with Ayad Asha of the Brooklyn Brewery 

 Non-Flash version of the podcast

Iraqi-born Ayad Asha came to New York in 2013, leaving behind Baghdad's "car bombs, militias fighting, and dead bodies in the street." He spoke no English when he arrived. After a time working in computer networking and IT, he landed a job on the packaging line at the Brooklyn Brewery. And after two years spent working hard and learning much, as well as earning the friendship and respect of his brewery co-workers, he was given the opportunity to brew a beer of his own creation, as part of the Worshipful Company of Brewers program. Thus was born 1001 Nights. 

B.R., Ayad, and Bob.

The beer, named for the famed collection of Arabic and Persian stories from the Islamic Golden Age, is a 5.7% ABV Saison style beer, enhanced by some Middle Eastern influences. Alluring Cardamom evokes a camphorous aroma and flavor, transporting one back into to enchanted stories of Sinbad, genies, and the like. Dark dried lemon contributes a sultry, smoky, citrus tinged quality, made all the more tantalizing by the use of raw honey in the brew. These three unique additions make this beer soar like a flying carpet, perfectly complimenting the ale's backbone of 2-row American malt, Perle and Styrian Golding hops, and Brooklyn's Belgian house yeast.

Ayad and Cellarman Eric Brown.

Ayad said that he drew inspiration for the recipe from cooking, notably the use of Cardamom with rice, and the dried lemon from making tea. He thought that the spice and citrus could work well in a wheat beer. Brooklyn Head Brewer Al Duvall agreed, as he praised Ayad's creation, saying that he had never experienced Cardamom in a beer like this before.

Ayad surrounded by Iraqi friends. 

Master Brewer Garrett Oliver heaped praise on to Ayad for not only his matchless work ethic and loyal character, but his creative, inspired recipe, which led to this unique, delicious, Most Worshipful worthy brew. This beer is in limited supply, served only at the Brewery tasting room (we believe), and you'll want to get to the brewery before it's gone. Because unlike the genie in the story of The Fisherman and the Jinni, once the beer is out of the keg, there will be no three wishes to make more of it!

Bob, beer colleague Seth, and B.R.

1001 Pints.

Ayad, brewery co-founder Steve Hindy, and an old friend from Iraq.

Brooklyn Brewery: Hot and Hotter

[link to podcast page]
Brooklyn Brewery's Hot and Hotter podcast

On Friday April 12, 2013, Brooklyn Brewery's Worshipful Company of Brewers released it's latest in the series, which are unique beers formulated and brewed by a rotating host of the numerous assistant brewers working under Garrett.

Garrett with cut out of Andrew, who was otherwise motorcyclicly engaged.

Brooklyn's Assistant Brewmaster, Andrew Ety, created a split batch of golden ale, a 6.2% ABV beer made with British Pale Malt, Crystal Malt, Caramel Malt and hopped with Summit, Willamette, East Kent Golding, Cascade, and Citra hops.

Half of the batch was dry hopped with Citra hops which were kilned at 130 degrees (HOT), and the other half dry hopped with Citra hops kilned at 150 degrees (HOTTER). This was an experiment to present to the recently convened Craft Brewers Conference, to illustrate how great a difference this variation in kilning affects the characteristics of the hops.

I asked the tap masters for a small sample of both beers to compare. The aromas were very similar. I might not have detected much of a difference, if I weren't looking for it. The Hotter seemed a bit more pronounced in hop aroma -- bolder, sharper --  than the Hot.

But when it came to flavor, it was very easy to pick up the differences. The Hot had a smooth, round, somewhat soft hop flavor, though still quite assertive. The Hotter, by comparison, had a brisk, bold, sharp, aggressive hop flavor, that was a bit wild and skunky, like fresh marijuana (so I'm told). The Hotter put hops front and center in the beer. Though it probably had the same IBUs, it seemed a bit more bitter than the Hot.

Garrett with cutout of Andrew.

Garrett explained that hop growers report that West Coast brewers prefer their Citra to have characteristics akin to garlic, onion, and "weed" (hotter), while East Coast brewers are looking for more of a citrus quality.

He said that brewer Andrew was working closely on this hop topic directly with suppliers and growers, to make sure that the brewery is able to get hops that provide the bittering, flavor and aroma profiles that they're looking for. He mentioned that there is a new hop under development, which is planned for the next special Brooklyn brew: Hop 366 grown on Loftus Ranches by Patrick Smith and Perrault Farms by Jason Perrault, which has twice as much hop oil as other hops. 

This particular experiment -- Hot vs. Hotter -- definitely made its point. And, while I'm happy to be a beer guinea pig, being a more malt-centric individual, I wasn't really jazzed on this particular beer as a complete package. There was certainly a malt backbone, but I'm just not excited to have more hops than anything else in a beer. It's personal taste. So, I got my malt on at Tørst directly afterwards, with some dark, malty concoctions that soothed by bittered tongue!

Andrew, the man of the hour.

Brooklyn Brewery's Concoction

WFMU's Beer Hear! with Bob W. and B.R. from 5/30/2011

On Monday May 23, 2011 B.R. and I were fortunate enough to have been invited to the quarterly Brooklyn Brewery Brewmaster's Reserve release party. Every three months when the brewery releases a new special beer, they invite industry insiders to get an early taste, and mingle while partaking in the offerings of some local food purveyors, as well as enjoying whatever else happens to be on tap.

Listen to or download the interview we conducted with Brooklyn Brewery President Steve Hindy here.

The latest Reserve is the The Concoction, a beer inspired by the renowned cocktail bar Milk and Honey. The drink, named The Penicillin, is basically a scotch sour with ginger-infused honey and lemon juice. For obvious reasons, the brewery couldn't name its new beer after an antibiotic drug. So they went with The Tonic instead. Now, Moosehead beer has no actual moose heads as ingredients. Rolling Rock doesn't contain rocks. But the gov't bureaucracy that oversees the naming of beers found "The Tonic" too misleading. Thus a third name -- The Concoction. (It's a better name, anyway!)

So, how does The Concoction match the attributes of its inspirational highball? The aroma of this slightly cloudy, soft bronze-straw colored beer hints at the presence of ginger, along with a bit of citrus and maybe a hint of smoked peat as it warms up. It's a refreshing, effervescent beer, with no one characteristic dominating over the other. Yes, you can definitely taste some ginger. You definitely get the citrus. And if your palate is fine tuned, you even can sense the peat smoked malt smokiness, just slightly, in the finish. 

But all these elements are simply compliments to a substantial base beer that has the feel of a Saison or Wit, though there is no wheat malt in the recipe (English Peat Smoked Malt, English Pale Malt, German Pilsner Malt). The citrus (dried lemon peel, organic lemon juice imported from Sicily), minced ginger, New York State wildflower honey, as well as the light body, effervescence and near 8% a.b.v. all work in supreme harmony, combining to build the perfect sipping beer for our sure-to-be long, hot New York City summer.

It's worth noting that, in addition to the delicious free flowing beer, we enjoyed mouth watering fresh goat cheese and sharp cheddar on tangy sourdough bread, courtesy of Eastern District . Bakery Ovenly provided mini-cup cakes with ginger frosting, which were made with The Concoction! Also provided were also pieces of incredibly long gourmet sandwiches with what looked like headcheese and pesto, which we were told was very fulfilling. Not being the meat-eating types, we'll take their word for it!

The Concoction is served in a tulip glass, and will be available at higher-end beer bars over the coming spring and summer months. This is a beer that you'll want to experience -- and more than just once!