Beer-cation: Brooklyn

I've continued to brew this summer, but I haven't made time to sit down and blog. I'll attribute that to summer, meaning I'd rather spend my time being outdoorsy (drinking beer on a patio). This summer I've brewed a 4% all Citra hop ale (named Citradamus Session Ale) and a 7.5% and 90 IBU IPA (named #ftb [For The Boys] IPA), which I bottled last night and will be ready for Week 1 Sunday of the NFL season.

This past weekend I went on a road trip down to Brooklyn with my good friend, his girlfriend and her friend. New York state and Pennsylvania had beautiful landscapes, packed full of hills and valleys, while New Jersey was a bit of a different story. It took approximately 12 hours to get there, including traffic and stops, in a tightly seated two door Honda Civic (well, tight for a 6'3 male). Suffice it to say, even with the beautiful view, I'll be flying next time.

Once we got to the hotel, the first thing I did was find the closest alcohol retailer to procure some beers. At a deli a mere stones throw away, I'm welcomed by the likes of Sierra Nevada, Victory and Dogfish Head. After we enjoy a few American craft brews, we head out for dinner at a southern style smokehouse. I don't recall the name, but the meat was great and was ordered by the weight, which is great for us Big Country types. The beer at the restaurant wasn't anything to rave about, but I was excited to find Coors Banquet stubbies, which I've been advocating Molson Coors should import to Canada.

After dinner we hailed a cab and head to Williamsburg to check out the nightlife that I've head a lot about. We started at Over The Eight, which I suppose you could categorize as a Hipster Bar. I had a couple pints of the Flying Dog Snake Dog IPA and splurged on their shot of Whiskey and a Miller Lite $5 deal.

Later in the evening, we accidentally stumbled into a beer bar named Tørst, which I immediately remembered reading about prior to the trip. It's a very classy wood-clad decorated beer bar, with dim lighting, marble surfaces, and wooden draft taps, rather than the typical tacky tap handles. The first thing that came to mind was Toronto's barVolo, partially because of the nearly identical beer glasses.

Both the draft and bottle lists were filled with rare beers from breweries of which I could only name a few. The bartender was awesome and seemed to see right into my soul, asking if I enjoy sours, at which point I obviously said "YES!" and he brought one of his favourites on draft. After that I ordered the Oerbeer from De Dolle Brouwers, which is a Belgian Strong Dark Ale and was delicious. I discussed the Toronto beer scene with the bartender and was impressed to find he knew barVolo and had a friend who was a brewer at Amsterdam. Eventually he pulled out a bottle of Witchshark Imperial IPA from Bellwoods, which was apparently a special bottle for the staff, otherwise I was offering to purchase it for some bar patrons I befriended.

 

On Saturday I met up with a good friend from Laurier, that now lives in NYC. After we waited in line to get tour tickets for the Brooklyn Brewery, we wandered around a food vendor market on the water front of Williamsburg, looking into Manhattan. We headed back to the brewery for our 3:00PM scheduled tour, which visually wasn't anything too exciting. Once you've done one brewery tour, you've done them all - "Here's the mash tun, lauter tun, kettle and fermentation tanks... let's go drink". What was special about this tour was the guide, he was a great story teller and quite funny. I really enjoyed the history of brewery, why they decided to open the brewery, and how they progressed to be where they are today. After the tour, we enjoyed a few beers, my favourite being the BLAST! Imperial IPA.

Saturday evening I saw Arcade Fire perform at the Barclays Center and was very happy that they served delicious American IPAs, though the price was still absurd. On Sunday morning, we began our trip home, but it wouldn't be a Beer-cation if I didn't bring home some craft beer that's not available in Canada, so we made a stop at a convenience store in Pennsylvania.

The trip was awesome, but much too short and I am looking to head back to visit my NYC resident friend, check out more of the scene and indulge in much more American craft beer in the near future.

Thanks for reading!