Brooklyn Bloggery

Introducing Mary’s Maple Porter

Mary’s Maple Porter is available February-April 2012, draft only.

It’s true….when he was a kid, Garret used to actually believe that the stuff he was putting on his pancakes was maple syrup. Well, everybody called it maple syrup. Later, he discovered the truth – that stuff he was eating was just sugar syrup with “maple flavoring”, various gums, and caramel coloring. Then he discovered actual maple syrup, the stuff from trees, and became enlightened. Hey, everyone evolves.

Brooklyn Brewery has evolved a lot lately too. About a year ago, a brewer named Mary Wiles joined our brewery team after spending 30 years brewing and doing quality control for a Very, Very Big Brewer. Mary evolved into a craft beer brewer, and now she’s doing our quality control, having fun while helping us make sure that Brooklyn beers are tasting great and ready to make you happy. But Mary has a bright thing lurking in her past, present and future – Mary has maple trees. A lot of maple trees. Actually, a ridiculous number of maple trees, acres of them, right northwest of us in upstate New York. And her family farm makes 100% real New York State maple syrup.

Real maple syrup tastes great on pancakes and waffles, but it’s awfully good in beer too. Porter is a classic British ale style that traveled to the United States, sustained George Washington during the Revolution, and later built London’s great breweries. Mary’s Maple Porter is a rich, dark ale featuring a large portion (50 gallons!) of her maple syrup in the kettle. After fermentation by our house ale yeast, the syrup is no longer sweet (yeast likes to eat maple syrup too), but the maple flavor shows through in a complex interplay with caramel, chocolate, and coffee flavors from our blend of roasted malts. An earthy hop note rounds it all out. It’s really tasty, especially with bacon.

Tap That Glass: Draft List, Friday February 3

Below is the roster of beers you can expect to find here at The Brewery on Friday, January 27 (list is subject to change). Beer tokens can be purchased for $5/each or 5 for $20.

DRAFT // 1 token each (unless otherwise indicated)

SPECIAL: Cask of Mary’s Maple Porter (7.5% abv) - 2 tokens

Mary’s Maple Porter (7.5% abv) - 2 tokens
Brooklyn Lager (5.2% abv)
Brooklyn Brown Ale (5.6% abv)
Brooklyn BLAST! (9.0% abv) - 2 tokens
Brooklyn East India Pale Ale (6.9% abv)
Brooklyn Radius (4.8% abv)
Brooklyner Weisse (5.1% abv)
AMA Bionda (6.0% abv)

BIG BOTTLE POURS // 3 tokens each, includes complimentary Souvenir Logoed Stemware Glass

Brooklyn Local 1 (9.0% abv)
Brooklyn Local 2 (9.0% abv)
Sorachi Ace (7.4% abv)
AMA Bionda (6.0% abv) – 2 tokens

View our complete public hours here.

Run For Your Beer!

Image by Eddie Guy

A recent report in Runner’s World studied the effects of beer consumption on runners, and concluded that although “individual results varied… overall, beer and running mixed fine.” This finding is one of many promoting the cohabitation of healthy individuals and beer, and therefore debunking the notion of beer drinkers as, well… being like Homer Simpson.

And while we’re at it, turns out musicians love exercise as well.

Vintage Photo Of The Week: The Seatrain

Seatrain workers on a break at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, 1977, V1988.21.130; Frank J. Trezza Brooklyn Navy Yard Collection, ARMS 1988.016, Brooklyn Historical Society.

From Brooklyn Historical Society:

This photo shows Seatrain Shipbuilding workers on break at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1977. This photo was donated by Frank J. Trezza a long-time electrician at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The Frank J. Trezza Collection contains several hundred color photographs, black and white photographs, color negatives, and black and white negatives, all photographed by Frank J. Trezza during his tenure at the Seatrain Shipbuilding. Though the dates of the collection span from 1861 to 1988, the bulk of the records are from the period 1973-1978, when Mr. Trezza was an employee of Seatrain Shipbuilding. The images offer an inside view of the Navy Yard during the final years of shipbuilding there. Included are landscapes of the Navy Yard and its surrounding area, portraits of fellow Seatrain employees on the job, and images of the ships that were built or repaired at the Navy Yard during this time. There are also a few copy prints obtained from the National Archives that depict ships built at the Navy Yard from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century.

To see more photos from BHS’s collection, visit their online image gallery.

Drink This: Beer Cocktails

(Left to right: The Brady Brunch, Thyme Is On Our Side, The Brooklyn Squall, Pearallel Lines)

In the not too distant past, I was asked to participate in the “Beer Cocktail Brunch Off” at the East Village establishment Jimmy’s No. 43. I can’t say I was particularly thrilled at this prospect. Every beer cocktail I had ever had was not very good. Beer is so delicious on its own! Why mask the awesome flavor of beer with juices and syrups? I’ve always been a sucker for a challenge though, so I accepted.

With the help of my dear friend, the distiller & zineman Chris Elford, we spent a day slaving over a juicer, jiggers, and quite a few bottles of beer. Our entry to the Brunch Off, “The Brooklyn Squall” (a variation on a Dark & Stormy), didn’t win, but we came up with four recipes that made us both begrudgingly admit beer cocktails can be quite tasty.

The Brady Brunch
2 oz Marmalade syrup (1/2 oz OJ, 1 oz grapefruit juice, 2 teaspoon marmalade)
3 oz Brooklyn EIPA (or another English style IPA)
Garnish with an orange twist 

Thyme Is On Our Side
Rosemary & Thyme Tea (Boil 1 cup of water, add 3 springs of rosemary & 2 springs of thyme. Steep for 5 minutes)
Add 1 oz tea to 1 oz fig jam
Add 2 oz fig syrup to 8 oz Brooklyn Winter Ale (or another Scotch Ale)
Garnish with a spring of thyme

The Brooklyn Squall
1 oz ginger syrup
1 oz fresh lime juice
4 oz Brooklyn Brown Ale (or another Brown Ale)
1 oz Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout to top (there is no substitute)
Garnish with candied ginger 

Pearallel Lines
Poach pears in 24 oz apple juice, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons agave & 3 dashes of liquid smoke for 20 minutes
Puree pears with 4 oz of poaching liquid – strain
Add 2 oz pear juice to 8 oz Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout
4 dashes tiki bitters 

Monster’s Log: Tuesday, January 31

A river runs through it.

Steve forwarded me an email last Friday with the above photograph attached and “Wwwrrooowlllll!!!!” as the subject line.

Later that day, over dropped bits of lunch I was munching off the floor, Steve explained that the picture is of his friend’s cat, Henry Hudson, and in turn I taught the perplexed brewery founder that the term wwwrrooowlllll is north African in origin and historically used to announce the sudden approach of a challenger. We deduced that Henry Hudson must believe his floating around in an empty Brooklyn mixed case is reason enough to justify an unsolicited application for my succession (not the first to try). My response to Henry Hudson:

From: Monster
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2012 3:07 PM
To: Henry Hudson
Cc: Steve Hindy
Subject: Re: Fwd: Wwwrrooowlllll!!!!

Dear Henry Hudson,

My advice to you is twofold:

[1] Ask your owner what “no vacancy” means.
[2] Get the hint.

Warmest regards,
Monster

Drinker Mail: Brooklyn Briefs

Steve recently received this encouraging note from a Brooklyn native who now resides out west, into the markets of which we have not yet (officially) distributed Brooklyn beer. We can, however, distribute all kinds of other non-drinkable stuff:

“Just met a gentleman who runs a very popular beer store here in San Francisco. He saw my brewery hoodie and mentioned that a lot of people come in and ask him for the lager… Hope your holidays were amazing. I got a great gift from my wife.”