Brooklyn Brewery

On our second day we awoke to weather that would be better fitting to London than NYC. It was pissing down. For the missus, that means shopping! First though we had breakfast American style. This took the form of a 'Lumber Jack' which is pancakes with bacon and eggs at the uber hip venue "Good Enough to Eat". Stuffed to the gullet, I erected my umbrella and braved the weather managing to dodge the nutters while navigating from Gap to Banana Republic via Abercrombie and Finch and just about every other US high street brand you can think of! We arrived at the new Whole Foods at Columbus Circle and I decided to check the beer section out. Plenty of good beers on offer, actually an even better selection that Whole Foods in London which I have raved about before. Anyhow at this stage we decided to brave the subway and head over to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This trip was eventful with one colourful nutter working himself into a rage pacing the aisle, frothing at the mouth and then pulling a knife out. The train couldn't pull into the platform fast enough and the whole carriage surged towards the doors like a bunch of teenage girls outside Primark at the start of the Christmas sales.

We walked the three blocks to the Brooklyn Brewery in one piece but slightly shaken and I was carded once more upon arrival! Yes, apparently I look underage in the USA. We actually arrived just as a tour was starting and we joined the throng of punters into the main brewery room passing big sacks of malt, hops and empty kegs. The Brooklyn setup is quite small (about 500L or 0.5 5hL) as all of their 12 oz. bottles are brewed under licence somewhere in upstate New York. Only their seasonal kegs, one offs and cork bottled beers are brewed at the Brooklyn site. The tour was a bit token and I was a little bit disappointed that Garrett Oliver was not there, but the beer was still good. First up I had a pint of Intensified Coffee Stout (8.5% abv) which was rich and roasty with an almost over the top coffee taste. Being quite thirsty after being dragged around shopping all morning I drank it a little bit too quickly! I followed this up with a pint of the Brooklyn Winter Ale (6% abv) which was good, but nothing to really jump up and down about. This is apparently a Scottish style ale, but in reality it is a pretty robust porter. They actually had it on special and you could buy a case of it (24 bottles) for $15 - bargain. The missus had, had enough buy this stage so we left to find ourselves some massive NYC pizza.

I really like the setup they have going on at Brooklyn Brewery. Basically they have an informal 'tasting room' where you can bring board games and your own food and just sit around drinking and hanging out with your mates. A cool alternative to a pub, and I wish the licensing laws were flexible enough to allow such a venue in Australia.

Conclusion: Brooklyn Brewery make some damn fine examples of Proper Real Keg. Sausage would like it there. And no, I didn't complain about the size of the head on my Winter Ale. No need to 'Take it to the Top'...

Beercasting

I tried to listen to a few different beer podcasts a few months ago but could not really find anything that was really entertaining. The best one, and the only one I still listen to is Craftbrewer Radio hosted by my fellow countrymen Graham Sanders and Ian the Cellerman. Quite frankly the show sucks and Sander's ego is bigger than... well bigger than any witty noun I think of right now! Why do I still listen? Well I do like that it has an Australian perspective, and tells the story as it is. For far to long the Australian beer related internet community has become a hot bed of myths and bullshit. A quick browse over at Australia's largest community, aussiehomebrewer.com yields a whole lot of rubbish posts and stuff that is basically untrue. At least Graham and Ian are outspoken enough to cut through the bullshit and get to the truth - a feat which often leaves them high and dry with the established community.

One thing that Craftbrewer Radio does that really annoys me though, is Graham's insistence on mispronouncing just about every brewing related term.

Graham, if you are reading this wort is pronounced wert. Say these words: world, word, worth. Now say wort? It is not that difficult, and it is logical. Other words he regularly butchers are Hefe as in the German word for yeast. He thinks it's heff, rather than huffa. He also has problems with Schwarz, claiming it is swash rather than schvartz. Anyhow the main one I wanted to identify before moving on is rauch. Graham thinks it is roush, sad isn't it. Next time you wish to say this word, you should think of the German word reich, and substitute the 'ei' for 'au'. Makes sense now doesn't it Graham??

Speaking of which, I picked up a bottle of Schlenkerla rauchbier (6.5% abv) from Whole Foods last weekend. I had never had a Bamburg smoked lager before and after my olfactory senses became familiar with the bacon aroma, I really enjoyed this. I think it would be the perfect beer to drink at Christmas in Australia when we tend to favour cold cuts of smoked meat rather than the traditional roast. It would be an ideal match. I pray to St Arnou that one day Sander's will sort out his words, but until then, I will just shut up and drink another beer.

http://www.schlenkerla.de/

Bière de Garde

Does anybody know where I can get my hands on some Trois Monts in London? Since reading about French farmhouse ales in Garrett Oliver's "Brewmaster's Table", I have been on a mission to seek it out to no avail. I have some Saison Dupont to take care of my Belgian farmhouse needs, but have had no luck on the French side. In my search I did luck across a whole stack of other gems at Whole Foods, Kensington - I will elaborate further upon these in the future. For now I have my sights on 3 Monts.

Friday night booziness

My Friday nights usually involve a beer with the lads after work and then quickly home to take the Missus out for dinner. Last Friday night was supposed to be no different, but it saw me getting pretty smashed at home by myself before going to dinner. A sad thing I know, but I dealt with it.
The story starts with me salivating at my desk at 4.30pm hanging to get down to the pub for some more of the Tetley's Dark Mild which I had sampled over lunch time. I had a slight problem though - the office had cleared out and I would have to drink alone. Usually not a problem as I know several regulars at a few of the pubs around the office, but since having a borderline argument with one such twat over my lunchtime pint I retreated home collecting a few bottles from Waitrose on the way. Once home, I contacted the Missus to see how long she will be whilst I poured myself a pint of St Peter's IPA.
"I am playing winglady for Tracy*" was the reply from the other end of my mobile, "she has met a really hot guy and I'm facilitating. I am having one more drink."
Fair enough I thought, Tracy is a nice enough 30 something spinster who deserves to be happy too. So I booted up my PC and happily watched episode 6 of "Oz and James" on BBC iPlayer. I had to pause my viewing twice; once to visit the dunny, the second time to get another beer. It seemed as good a time as any to crack the bottle of Cooper's Vintage Ale 2007 reserve that I picked up in Whole Foods a couple of weeks ago. This beer was good. Actually very good, and it was nice to taste a beer brewed with Australian water. It's the terroir I tell myself while absorbing Oz Clark's attempts to intellectualize beer while James May tries to pass whitty criticisms. The iplayer viewing ends and it is time for another beer. They were going down rather easy. First the 5.5% IPA followed by the 7.5% Australian strong ale - a Fuller's ESB was exactly what I needed. There was nothing interesting on the TV so I watched the second episode of "Ross Kemp: Return to Afghanistan." I check my watch, still no sign of the missus. It's pushing 8.30 now so I give her a call - she is on the tube will be home in 20 minutes. Great I scheme, rubbing my hands together like an evil villain - plenty of time to drink that bottle of Budvar dark I have stashed in the vegetable crisper.
By the time the missus arrived home I was starting to feel a little tipsy, and she was not in much better condition. I decided a curry would be the cure, so we trotted out to my favourite London restaurant: "The Raj of India" - home of the best Kingfisher this side of Favisham. By the time we left the restaurant I was pretty pissed, but boy did I have fun even if I was drinking alone for most of the evening. I'll let you know if Tracy ended up pulling when more info comes to hand - it is probably more interesting than my Friday night was, but I thought I would share anyway.

* Name changed to protect the innocent!

Beer Heaven

My little flat is like a beer oasis at the moment. After recent deliveries from Beer Ventures, Beer Merchants, a fistful of beers from Whole Foods in Kensington and some samples sent to me by Nicky who works takes care of PR for Marston's, Innis and Gunn and a few other breweries - my flat is pretty rammed with various bottles of good beer. So many in fact that I am going to be dropping a few 'ticks' in here and there to keep you guys on your toes! Make no mistake about it, these will not be beer reviews and there will be no intellectualizing.

Anyhow at some stage I usually post about my Friday night's beer activities. Maybe not this week. Well actually nothing really exciting happened. I had two pints of Abbot Ale at the Clock Tower on Leather Lane during my lunch hour, a pint of poorly conditioned Deuchar's IPA followed by a pint of Bombardier at the Roebuck in Chiswick and then a bottle of Peroni Gran Reserva over dinner. As I said, not particularly exciting.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to find the time to tell you about Saturday's boozing which was a little more interesting! Also, the picture at the top is a bottle of Meantime Raspberry. Even though I am a big fan of Meantime beers in general, this beer was utter shit. Avoid at all costs.

Anchors Aweigh

Anchor Brewing Company has been brewing beer in San Francisco since 1896, although it emerged on the craft/micro brewing scene after Fritz Maytag acquired and subsequently saved the brewery from closure in 1965. The brewery is one of the last remaining producers of Californian Common beer, which is colloquially known as steam beer. Actually, Anchor have an appellation stating that they alone can call their product "Steam Beer".

I have had these three bottles of beer from Anchor Brewing Company sitting at home for a while since picking them up from Whole Foods, Kensington. I have enjoyed the Steam beer before on a few occasions, but had not come across the Liberty Ale or Porter.

Anchor Steam is an interesting beer. It is a lager, but is fruity and has a caramel edge like an ale. It is fermented at ale yeast temperatures which results in both lager and ale characteristics emerging in the flavour profile. I enjoy this beer, but I don't think it's for everyone. It is even better when consumed during a "Come Dine With Me" omnibus on a Sunday afternoon!

Anchor Liberty Ale is an American style IPA in a similar vein to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. It is a good beer, but this beer style is becoming as common as muck these days. The Liberty Ale is a good interpretation of the style though and well worth picking up if you see it about, but I would not go hunting it down specifically. I feel the same about the Porter as well. It is a good beer and incredibly robust, but just lacks the subtle nuances that you get with a well presented cask of Fuller's London Porter. I think Fuller's really do have the best porter that is available. Maybe I am slightly biased as I live so close to the brewery, but that's my opinion none the less.

Anyhow that's all I care to say about these beer's from Anchor, although I would like to get my hands on a bottle of their "Old Foghorn" Barley Wine which I hear is a cracker.

http://anchorbrewing.com/

The wife and I are off to St Ives for an extended weekend tomorrow and I am looking forward to getting away, breathing some ocean fresh air and having a few pints of St Austells and some harder to track down beers from Sharp's (I'm over Doom Bar). If anyone can recommend any good restaurants or pubs that I 'must' visit while I am in Cornwall, I would be most grateful. I have not been out to that part of the country before and it should be fun.

Australia vs the USA

I am pretty busy this week and do not have time to write long witty posts about controversial issues. What I will do though is give a teaser into an upcoming post. At Whole Foods, Kensington on Saturday I bought a couple of bottles of an old favourite of mine - Little Creatures pale ale. I have been told by many people that Little Creatures pale ale (LCPA) is almost identical to Sierra Nevada pale ale (SNPA). I disagree and although similar, I think they are totally different beasts. I plan to pick up a bottle of SNPA from Tesco during my weekly shop this evening so I can reveal the truth. That's right, a side by side comparison of the two beers. Stay tuned.