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.

The Bruery At Good Beer

[link to podcast page]

The Bruery At Good Beer podcast

Every Tuesday Good Beer on E. 9th Street in the East Village hosts a craft beer event, usually featuring a number of beers from one particular brewery. On April 16, 2013, The Bruery of Orange Country, CA was the guest of honor, with six of their unique barrel aged beers on tap. 

The Bruery (named for owners the Rue family) was founded in 2008, and is one of the largest producers of barrel aged craft beer in America. Having so many of their beers on tap in one place at one time is very special -- most associate them with their bottle conditioned offerings.

Good Beer was packed at 6:30pm on a Tuesday with people thirsty for a taste of the often hard to find and generally expensive American sours. Those lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time also got a taste of bottle conditioned Papier, the Bruery's 1-year anniversary brew. Four years down the road, it was dark, rich, deep, complex, nicely oxidized, and was a welcome additional surprise! Thanks to Mike of Union and David of Good Beer for sharing!

Full house on a Tuesday!

Port Jeff Brewing

[link to podcast page]
WFMU's Beer Hear! Port Jeff Brewing Podcast

Mike Philbrick, the owner of Port Jeff Brewing of Port Jefferson, NY was the guest of the Malted Barley Appreciation Society on April 10, 2013 at Mugs Alehouse in Williamsburg. He started brewing in college as a homebrewer which eventually lead him to found the 7-barrel Long Island brewery in Sept. of 2011.

Mike of Port Jeff (Photo by Warren Becker)

 Among the many topics covered by Mike was his extensive barrel aging program which he began on day-one of the brewery. He also spoke about his unfiltered bottle conditioned Porter and Pale Ale, the benefits of being self-distributed, and gave some insight into the frustrating red tape involved with starting a small brewery.

The tasting room at Port Jeff.

Hear an edited version of his presentation on this installment of the Beer Hear podcast!

(photo WB)

The entrance to the brew house.

Club prez Felice with Mike. (photo WB)

Clearly happy to have a Salty Dog t-shirt! (photo WB)

(photo WB)

Rockaway Brewing

[link to podcast page]
WFMU's Beer Hear! Rockaway Brewing Podcast

Recently, Ethan Long of Rockaway Brewing was the guest speaker at a meeting of the Malted Barley Appreciation Society homebrew club at Mugs Alehouse in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

 

Though the 2-barrel nano-brewery is located in Long Island City, Ethan and partner Marcus Burnett, had long been homebrewing buddies at their summer bungalows in the Rockaways. That's where they first dreamt up the idea to create a commercial, albeit tiny, brewery.

 

The operation was licensed in April of 2013 and began brewing two months later. Their ESB and Black Gold Stout have been flowing at a handful of NYC craft beer bars since. In addition to being served at Alewife, Proletariat, Sunswick, Jimmy's No. 43, Kickshaw and others, Rockaway Brewing scored big by getting their brew on the menus of reputed local Rockaway eateries Rockaway Taco and Caracas Arapa, as well as LIC-based John Brown Smokehouse. They also serve the public growlers to go direct from their brewery Thursdays through Saturdays at 5-01 46th Ave. in Long Island City, not far from Silver Cup Studios -- which is convenient for Ethan, since his "day job" as an independent set builder is also located there! Marcus also works in the film industry as a cinematographer, filming documentaries for National Geographic.

Ethan of Rockaway Brewing with MBAS president Felice

Rockaway Brewing fires up the kettle in the 1000 sq ft brewhouse on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, delivering their goods themselves on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Aside from always being able to find one of their beers at Alewife and Caracas Arapa, they brew a special nitro-system Oyster Stout for Vinegar Hill House at 72 Hudson Ave.

Rockaway Brewing on Jimmy's No. 43 tap tower

There's a very good piece on nano-brewing, which features Ethan, on American Public Radio, and Jimmy Carbone's Beer Sessions Radio featured them last summer. And, of course, you can hear Ethan's address to the MBAS right here!

In a bonus podcast, Ethan explains that Rockaway Brewing is not located in the Rockaways but in Long Island City near the East River, and that, ironically, his bungalow in the Rockaways sustained less flood damage than the brewery did during Sandy.