Australian craft beer fan Ryan Lester dropped this awesome note in our inbox (subject: “G’day from Down Under”):

“G’day Brooklyn brew-crew!

Just thought I’d share a picture of my wife & I on our wedding day from Melbourne, Australia. We were married at The Melbourne Supper Club & specifically requested Brooklyn Lager to be served to guests.

Awesome Beer!

Cheers.
Ryan & Grace.”

Dear Sir, we hope the labels sent were received in good condition!

“This is how you deliver beer in Guatemala,” recently emailed our distributor in the region with the above photograph attached. “That’s how I do it in North Carolina!” replied our tenacious NC Brand Manager…

Brian, the editor of Edible East End dropped us a line recently:

“I thought you’d appreciate this use of Brewery bottles as a counterweight to prevent the two-kid stroller for falling backwards, after we had removed the one kid. (The remaining kid was napping.)”

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.”

Photo by Peter Kennedy

Dr. Steve Greenberg writes:

OK now I can tell this story. In the winter of 1996-97 an up and coming micronrewery made a magic potion, Black Chocolate Stout by the Brooklyn Brewery. That brew won many tasting contests and was SO GOOD that I saved two six packs as even at the time it was very hard to come by. Over the past 15 years I have opened these only on special occasions. Four bottles from 96-97 remain. Two at home, one at the farm in Georgia and one in my office and all are hidden and safe. Low and behold, 15 years later they reproduced the recipe (now Winter ’11-’12) and there is still some available for purchase on the imternet although many distributors are sold out. I ordered a case and just opened the first bottle. I think I am in heaven, it is the nectar of the Gods. There is still some left at www.shoppersvineyards.com, I am going to order two more cases so that I don’t have to save them just for special occasions. Get some while you can but don’t tell too many people, you’ll be sorry you did when there is no more to be had. I am already looking forward to 2016-’17….:)

Photographer Gustav Hoiland writes: “Two Brooklyns thoroughly enjoyed, four broken in the quest of great photography.”

Photo by Gustav Hoiland

“Some photographic exploration this afternoon involved shooting breaking bottles and a water-filled Brooklyn Brown made it into the mix.”

Photo by Gustav Hoiland

“I just wanted to share this picture of a wedding cake I created with Brooklyn Brewery beer labels. Some of my friends are huge fans of your beer and they encouraged me (I own a wedding cake business) to do a DIY wedding cake that involved Brooklyn Brewery beer for my blog. There’s also a video tutorial for the cake on my blog.”

["THE COWKAT -- ABOUT TO ENJOY AN OKTOBERFEST! (PHOTO #1)]

["PHOTO #2: THE COWKAT, HALF IN THE BAG!!!"]

Stalwart Brooklyn Brewery fan Ed Salvatore sports the Lager beer can hat that his (awesome) Aunt knitted for him. It is safe to say we’ve never seen a hat of this caliber before.

Hello!

Last night I ordered beer glasses and a couple of koozies. I just wanted to tell you how excited I am to be able to order glasses from you. (I laughed at the visual of you processing my order and going “Wisconsin? WTH!”) I grew up in Connecticut and my brother and I still have friends in the area–30 years later. He was in NYC in July and told me I HAD to have a Brooklyn Brewery beer. When I was visiting friends there last month I did indeed try the Brooklyn Lager. I enjoyed it so much I asked our server if I could buy a glass (the manager was amused and gave it to me). When I got home, my brother was quite envious that I scored a glass, which gave me the idea of seeing if I could purchase one. I ordered a set of pint glasses for him and an additional tulip glass to match the one I got at the bar. If you had the black t-shirt in my brother’s size I would have ordered one of those as well.

Thank you for making it possible to buy the glasses and for brewing beer that is tasty enough to inspire me LOL. Being from the Milwaukee area, I am fortunate enough to have several outstanding microbreweries in the area, and being the beer snob that I am, I pretty much only drink microbrewery beer. If you ever market to the Milwaukee area I will most certainly buy your beer.

A little while back, we were tagged in a Tweet telling us that “Charlie’s got something heavy on his mind”, including a link to the above photo. We wonder what our dog-adoring Monster would have to say about this. And this, for that matter.

[photo courtest Jeff Heilman]

“Dear Brooklyn Brewery,

The Brewery generously donated beer to a 9/11 block party event in Brooklyn on Saturday, featuring a brass band from West Yorkshire, England, and a contingent of police officers from the U.K. The event was a roaring success–thank you–and I thought the Brewery would like to see a photo of several of the British brigade raising a toast with Brooklyn Brewery beer in hand.”

[Disney's Tarzan]

“Dear Brooklyn Brewery,

Please make your Summer Ale all year round. I live in a two bedroom in jackson heights with 5 kids and a wife with a club foot. This brew is the only thing keeping me from stripping naked and walking about the Rego Park mall singing the soundtrack from Disney’s Tarzan.”

We recently gave away some barrels not used to age a certain Imperial Stout. Many emails did we receive, and this one stood out quite a bit:

“What would I do with a barrel not used to age a classified stout? Well I dont know what I would do with it, but I do know what I would not do. First off I would probably not use it to store bottles of my favorite beer. A beer that I definitely did not start collecting and cellaring since the winter of ’08, a beer that definitely did not start my love for craft brewing, and a beer that definitely did not make me realize how much I loved my liquids bourbon barrel aged. I will not make it so the top comes off and there will not be a small shelf for safely ageing and storing my favorite beer. The barrel will not be the centerpiece of my small but respectable beer cellar / entertainment space and it will not be used as as a place to put down drinks and will not be a spot to chat around with good friends and fellow beer lovers. It will also not be used as a leaning post for my favorite guitar in a pinch that definitely does not put my favorite brewery front and center. (a pic of the guitar). If men in black suits aks you were I found that bottom label tell them in the Brooklyn gutters near 79 north 11th street) It would not make a beer nerds home a little more complete and will not remind me why I love the local breweries. (I am indeed local and I havnt tried many NY beers I have not enjoyed, either at the brewery itself or else where) but,… It will be used to store my beanie babies and maybe if you hear about a man going over the falls in the barrel, well… maybe it will be used for that.”

The Brewery is proud to support many non-profit and arts organizations each year by providing beer to fundraisers and exhibitions. In July, Brooklyn Lager was served at an art performance and installation presented by the San Francisco Art Institute at the James Cohan Gallery as part of a celebration of the institute’s 140th anniversary. Presenting social engagement activities as art, the show recreated The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends is the Highest Form of Art, first performed in 1970 by San Francisco based conceptual artist Tom Marioni.

We’ve always known good beer is art, with or without the frame.

Brooklyn Brewery fan Reja writes:

“Just thought I’d share this photo with you guys. It’s from the day my baby daughter came home from the hospital last week. We felt that in order to properly honor the arrival of our baby daughter Brooklyn, it would only be fitting that we celebrate with some of Brooklyn’s finest!”

Thanks for the great picture, Reja! And congratulations on a particularly adorable Brooklyn.

Brooklyn fan Jillian wrote us recently to share the results of her culinary winnings:

“I made caramels using my favorite brew Brooklyn Local 2! They were amazing and I thought I’d share the tasty treats with you - http://deliriouskitchen.blogspot.com/2011/06/adventures-in-candyland.html.

Thanks for being awesome and adding to my culinary experiments/victories!

love,

baby j of brooklyn”

Thank you, Jillian, for sharing the great recipe. We will gladly accept and devour any samples you wish to send.

[p.s. check out Liddabit Sweets for more great treats made with Brooklyn Brewery beer]

Brooklyn Brewery fan Molly M. wrote in with deep disappointment as her latest purchase of East India Pale Ale contained not beer but a full grown male cat. We congratulated her on the addition to the family, but she selfishly insisted she just wants beer. What gives, Molly?!

[UPDATE // Monster did some sleuthing and found the above story to be false. The cat's name is Scrumpy and Molly lovingly devoured the EIPA.]

On a recent Small Batch Brewery Tour, a proud mother tipped us off on her crafty daughter’s handsomely designed mirror. We were quite touched to receive the above image and the note below from Caitlin:

“Hey there. My mom was at the brewery earlier today and mentioned to you how I did a bottle cap mirror. So attached is a picture of it. Now no matter where the Army sends us, we’ll have a piece of NY.”

Brooklyn Brewery fan Gina Zammit wrote in recently to say:

“I’m a huge fan of Brooklyn Brewery (and your neighbor!). Recently, I took a cake decorating class at The Brooklyn Kitchen. I had a great time, but was having trouble deciding what to do with my cake. That is, until a friendly gentlemen opened up the fridge, pulled out a case of BK Brews and asked who wanted one. I accepted, of course and my cake inspiration was found. Here are some pics, I hope you like it!”

Well, Gina: we love it.

“Dear Brooklyn Brewery Folks,

Here in Texas we are pretty proud of damn near everything we produce and do. I’ve gotta tell ya, your East India Pale Ale comes close to trumping anything we brew here! I first had it in Philly last year and was glad to see it made its way to the Lone Star State. Best to you, keep up the good work!”

Brooklyn Brewery fan Jim Allen dropped us a line last week to say: “Congratulations on brewing an outstanding Lager. It is one of my favorites, I most enjoy sipping it on my deck at my Long Lake NY Adirondack cabin. Keep up the good work!”

Mr. Allen attached the above photo of a full glass of Brooklyn Lager, showing an exceptionally orange hue as it sits soaking in sunlight. As we endure a rather snowy winter in NYC, this picture makes us pine for pines… and Brooklyn Lager, of course.

Subject: Brooklyn Pennant Ale is fueling my marathon training

“I’m writing you because of an age old, no doubt prohibition-fueled, misconception that beer and athletics cannot coexist peacefully in our world. I’m here to shatter that myth with solid empirical evidence to the contrary. You see, as an active marathoner, I’m pretty obsessive when it comes to what goes into my body – chicken, veggies, brown rice, whole wheat bread and pasta, and of course, beer. Yes, I said beer. And I’m not talking about your watered-down,mass-produced diet fizzy water either. Every night, I enjoy one or two bottles of Brooklyn’s finest – often your Pennant Ale, which I find goes great with grilled salmon and chicken. I also am a huge fan the East India IPA, and as I type this, am enjoying a delicious 2009 Black Chocolate Stout that I’ve been aging (picture attached).

Brooklyn beer has become an essential part of my training: the carbs help fuel me before my long runs of 20 – 22 miles, and the alcohol helps ease the throbbing pain afterward. And despite the unfortunate overuse of the term “beer-gut,” I’ve actually managed to lose weight and improve my racing times since I started my Brooklyn beer training regimen. I ran one of my fastest half marathons two weekends ago in Staten Island, and celebrated with a bottle of EIPA later that night. It’s all about exercise, determination, and drinking good beer in moderation. I just wanted to share my story to let other Brooklyn lovers know that its possible to love your beer and stay in shape – even run a marathon, or in my case, a faster one than you ran last year.

As I run down Bedford Ave in the morning hours of November 7th and pass N 11th st., I hope to see a big Brooklyn banner cheering on the runners, so I can salute you guys for a job well done.”

Over the Easter Holiday, I traveled from my home here in Atlanta, GA, to my Mother’s house up in Tennessee. As usual, my weekend consisted of many great brews, some from Bell’s, SweetWater, New Belgium, Terrapin, and, of course, Brooklyn. My fiancé and I have loved Local 1 since the first time we tried it a couple of years back. She loves Belgian Wits, Saisons, etc and I’m more of the Hop-Head. One beer I grab often is Local 1 so we can share it. It’s something we both like and it goes really well with some of the meals we make together, especially Chicken Alfredo.

Well, apparently Local 1 isn’t just for humans…

My Mom’s English Bulldog, Bugsy, has been a beer lover since day one. He’s about 5 years old now, weighs about 60 lbs, and is one of the most perfect Bulldog’s ever made! Starting mostly as a BMC drinker, I’ve tried to convert him to a true beer connoisseur over the years. He would swig swill at family gatherings, try to turn over friends’ drinks to steal a drink or two, or simply beg if you’re drinking something that even remotely resembled a beer, but now he apparently is getting it. My fiancé and I were having some glasses of L1 when I hear:

My Mom: “What does he have?”

My Aunt: “Who??”

My Mom: “Bugsy, he has something in his mouth. What is it?”

My Aunt: “Well, it looks like a cork or something”

Me and my Fiance: “Oh $&%t!”

To my surprise, the aroma of Local 1 was just too much for him. I’m not sure where I sat the cork down, but apparently it was in paw’s reach for him. He then hid under the swing outside so we couldn’t reach him and enjoyed all the Local 1 he could contrive from the cork! I saw the Brooklyn Brewery’s logo hanging out of his mouth and thought “What a great picture!”. So, I had to send it on to you guys. Obviously, he doesn’t drink much beer as we know it’s bad for him. We actually stopped giving him anything at all as of a couple years ago, but apparently he couldn’t resist the temptation of your wonderful Local 1. We had to offer him a treat to give it up but he still licked those lips for 5 minutes after we took it away from him!

I hope you like the picture as much as I do!

Cheers,

Marc Powell

BJCP Certified Judge F0412

If you’re curious, Remains Lighting is a super picky local lighting manufacturing company that employs lots of tree-hugging tactics to ensure their product makes as light of a footprint as possible on the environment. How’s that for late Friday afternoon pun?

Thanks for the photos, guys!

Dear Brooklyn Brewery,

As you know, we were hit with a big snow storm yesterday which closed many schools and businesses all day.  Some friends and I took advantage of the snow day by enjoying some Brooklyn Lager and playing in the snow.  We made a pretty nice snowman, and as a tribute to your fine product, put a nice bottle of beer in the thirsty snowman’s hand.  Thought you might like to see it.

Cheers,
Shane