Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Untappd, your home away from home for ticking has recently released the second in their Next Exit video series. This time the town is Baltimore where I spent some time when I was younger. Hop Culture’s Kenny Gould takes a ride with City Brew Tours to search the city for craft beer.
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Episode three – Brooklyn is also available too. Episodes seem to be dropping quicker now.
Don’t count me a fan of two thirds of the Brooklyn Nets superteam. Durant I like though so let’s talk Brooklyn beer for him…
Below are some beers that I would like to sample at Circa Brewing Co.
Desperate Pleasures – “Get a taste of summer with this red(ish) ale with a hint of strawberries.”
Spacelab Weisse – “We straddle the European continent with this brew. Combining the grist bill of a Belgian Wit with the yeast and fermentation of a Bavarian Weiibier, this beer bursts with orange peel, banana, nastercium, and vanilla.”
In Defense of the Genre – “Believe it or not, there was a galaxy long ago where double IPA’s were bitter. Like tongue coating, face puckering, eye watering IBU levels that dared you to have another. This beer is the modern mutation of that bygone era. Aggressively triple dry hopped with Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, and Columbus, this brew bursts with pine, citrus rind, and juicy fruit flavors and aromas. Hints of toasted sugar and honey smooth out the high octane ABV.”
I thought this was an Onion headline at first…
…nope. It apparently happened. A line of Other Half fans apparently got heckled and White Claw’d by a gun-toting person from a nearby AirBnB.
Here is my breakdown. If you are standing in line for special anniversary beers then you will be heckled and you have enough money to laugh it off. If you are staying across the street from a brewery, just laugh and enjoy whatever candy flavor of the Claw you have. No need to go back inside and get yo’ gun because there is only one way that ends. You in a jail cell.
Faith in humanity just lost a few points.
While gaping slack-jawed at the beer choices at my Whole Foods in Glendale, I noticed to the side this….
Home brew kits, straight out of Brooklyn. So I investigated the boxes. Cool label. Ingredients can be bought in stores and online. Just need a kettle to cook the wort, everything else seemed to be in the box. I figured it would $60. Lo and behold it is $41. Great price for a gift or to try if I hadn’t spent my money on BrewDog beer.
Urban Oyster does NYC tours and they one of their choices is Beer and the History of Beer in Brooklyn!
Check out the particulars HERE or if you just want some highlights:
A private tour of the Brooklyn Brewery, plus a taste of eight beers on tap.
A look at two remaining 19th century brewery buildings that were once part of the old Brewers Row.
Lunch with pizza and lager beer – mmm….
Stories of brewing, bottling, and even bootlegging.
A beautiful cathedral-like church that was built by the German immigrants in the neighborhood.
A stop by ABC Beverage Distributors to learn about how beer gets to customers today versus in the past.
Tastings of traditional German beer and Brooklyn beer with gourmet small plates at Huckleberry Bar.
Laboring under the shadow of the Brooklyn Brewery is the SixPoint Craft Ales.
They do a wide variety of styles. Belgian IPA to saison to Hop Obama (since retired).
Their beers are available mostly in New York but they are worth looking for when you need to try something new.
These two books are musts for any beer library. You had better have a beer library or at least one book by Michael Jackson. Beer School is a great business accented account of how the Brooklyn Brewery was born and nurtured to where it is today. Very interesting on the intricacies of selling beer and creating a entreprenurial mind set.
To cover the beer and food pairing phenomenon, you have to read The Brewmaster’s Table. It is an excellent guide to food and beer. If you don’t learn something new, then you are the one true beer geek god.
