Brooklyn Bloggery

Beer Dinner w/ Garrett Oliver @ The JakeWalk

The JakeWalk, part of a foodtastic triumvirate including cheese and artisanal provisions outlet Stinky Brooklyn and wine/liquor outpost Smith & Vine, rolled out a scrumptious 3-course beer dinner earlier this evening including a delightfully odorous cheese finale, all paired with some of Brooklyn’s most illusive imbibables, and each introduced in detail by Brewmaster Oliver:

You’ll find that all the doors are locked, and the windows are barred. There was no escaping the bottle-conditioned, vintage, barrel-aged and funky-yeast beers to come.

Bottle-conditioned Radius, at a highly sessionable 4.8%, stretches its legs.

Arguably the best course of the night, the chicken liver crostini drenched in kabocha squash soup and paired with the original batch of Local 1 was the edible equivalent of running the game-opening kickoff to a touchdown (sorry, football on the brain).

This trio of goat cheese ravioli displayed a mild hint of wasabi, the perfect accompaniment to Sorachi Ace.

Hold on to your butts: this beef sirloin and Brussels sprouts loved to publicly display its affection for Cuvée Elijah, Cuvée Noire aged in Elijah Craig barrels.

And last, but certainly in no way least, we reveled in the raucous, funky, downright stinky flavors of Grayson, paired up with “Wild 1″ — an adaptation of Local 1 aged in the same barrels from which a certain classified imperial stout develops its riotously delicious character, and then refermented with wild yeast.

Brooklyn Reps The Big Apple in Men’s Health

A recent report in Men’s Health lists the best beers in the 32 cities that teams from the National Football League call home. Serendipitously, we got Big Blue:

Brooklyn brewmaster Garrett Oliver plies his trade on the opposite side of Manhattan from the Giants’ actual homeland (the Meadowlands, in New Jersey) but Giants fans and hearty beers aplenty can be found on weekend nights at the confines in Williamsburg, all available for the low cost of a wooden token (five for a picture of Andrew Jackson, available at the front desk). What’s more, Oliver’s more experimental brews—from the face-melting Brooklyn Blast to the bottle-fermented variants Brooklyn Local 1, Local 2, and Sorachi Ace—are a treat when you find yourself in a championship mood, as Eli and company have in recent years. Savor the suds. And Jersey, you make good beer, too, but it’s all in the name.

Eat This: Homemade Oreos with Chocolate Beer Ganache

Photo by Amy Wilkinson

The sweet smell of baking (with eye candy in tow) came wafting over the wire of the World Wide Web last week courtesy of food blog CookBakeLove. Featured are homemade Oreos with chocolate beer ganache, but not just any old chocolate beer mind you. Not just any chocolate beer at all.

UPDATE As of the posting of this news, no one has yet baked us any of the aforementioned goodies. Until then…

Tap That Glass: Draft List, Friday January 20

Below is the roster of beers you can expect to find here at The Brewery on Friday, January 20 (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 Dry Irish Stout (4.2% abv)

Brooklyn Lager (5.2% abv)
Brooklyn Brown Ale (5.6% abv)
Brooklyn BLAST! (9.0% abv) - 2 tokens
Brooklyn Companion Ale (9.1% abv) - 2 tokens
Brooklyn East India Pale Ale (6.9% abv)
Brooklyn Radius (4.8% abv)
Brooklyner Weisse (5.1% abv)
Brooklyn Pilsner (5.1% 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.

Wednesday Cheese Pairing, Jan 18

Brooklyn Brown Ale with Mt. Tam. Luscious, creamy and fully of vegetal goodness, this triple cream cheese is made from cow’s milk in northern California. Its bright intense flavors and sumptuous texture will pair with the complex malt-iness and hoppy flavors of the Brown Ale.

Martin Johnson runs The Joy of Cheese, a series of informal cheese tastings held at several venues around Manhattan and Brooklyn; he blogs about cheese daily at www.thejoyofcheese.com.

MONSTER’S LOG: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18

[I Am The Not The Walrus]

By way of Gothamist, I’ve come across a fascinating Internet page dedicated solely to John Lennon’s cats. Needless to say, I’m not surprised that one of the world’s foremost songwriters drew inspiration from felines, and can only surmise that Yoko was a dog lover. Paul, too. Come to think of it, was this the rift that broke up the Beatles? I’m going to say yes, definitely.

Brooklyn In The News | Dec-Jan, 2012

The Italian bureau of Vogue – arguably the most fashionable of the fashionable — recognizes One Brewers Row as a Brooklyn “Hot Spot” (pictured above).

NY Post talks with Steve Hindy about Brooklyn the brand, and features the Brooklyn Box Set in its holiday guide:

The Washington Times names Sorachi Ace one the Top Beers of 2011.

Brooklyn Lager wins 3rd Place in the Lager/Pilsner category in CraftCans.com‘s 2011 reader poll:

El Vocero  Escenario reports on the arrival of three new artisanal beers in Puerto Rico:

Michael Fassbender (of Inglourious Basterds fame) enjoys a Brooklyn Lager in Shame:

Garrett talks “beerology” on Canada radio waves courtesy of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

AMA Bionda, The Companion Ale and BAMboozle all get some love in Yankee Brew News.

Finnish daily Ilta-Sanomat names Black Chocolate Stout the second best selection in their Christmas beer tasting:

Garrett jumps the pond to promote The Oxford Companion to Beer, pictured below at the Hook Norton Brewery in (the appropriately named) Oxfordshire.

CNN International bids farewell to “The Boss”:

Tap That Glass: Draft List, Friday January 13

Below is the roster of beers you can expect to find here at The Brewery on Friday, January 13 (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 Bitter (5.0%)

Brooklyn Lager (5.2% abv)
Brooklyn Brown Ale (5.6% abv)
Brooklyn BLAST! (9% abv) - 2 tokens
Brooklyn Companion Ale (9% abv) - 2 tokens
Brooklyn Winter Ale (6.1% abv)
Brooklyn Radius (4.8% abv)
Brooklyner Weisse (5.1%)
Brooklyn Pilsner (5.1%)

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

Brooklyn Local 1 (9% abv)
Brooklyn Local 2 (9% abv)
Sorachi Ace (7.4% abv)
AMA Bionda (6.0%) – 2 tokens

View our complete public hours here.

Vintage Map of The Month: Engagement on the Heights, ca. 1776

Plan of New York island and part of Long Island, showing the position of the American and British armies before, at, and after the engagement on the Heights, August 27th, 1776. ca. 1776. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.

From Brooklyn Historical Society (click here to enlarge):

This month’s featured map dates from approximately 1776 and shows the routes of American and British troops throughout the New York area before, during, and after the “Engagement on the Heights” of August 27th, 1776. Known alternately as the Battle of Long Island, the Battle of Brooklyn, and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, this event was a significant moment in the Revolutionary War. Some historical sites relevant to the battle can still be visited today, including Battle Pass in Prospect Park, the Prison Ships Martyrs Monument, and the Old Stone House.

Vintage Photo Of The Week: Transformations on Furman

[East side of Furman Street.], ca. 1940, v1974.16.228; Edna Huntington papers and photographs, ARC.044, Brooklyn Historical Society.

From Brooklyn Historical Society:

From the desk of Julie May, Photo Archivist: The first noticeable and great thing about this photograph is the cars, I think. While the new Fiat is sweetly round and compact, I personally don’t think it compares to the curvy lines of the cars above. I imagine they were pretty utilitarian, but I find them romantically stylish. This picture depicts Furman Street – a Furman Street that is no longer. It has transformed from a small street with trees and brick-front buildings to the roaring BQE on the east side of the street and the waterfront on the other side with an occasional building or two. In addition, the new Brooklyn Bridge Park in all its manicured and bike-friendly glory is now between the road and the water. That’s quite a change in a mere seventy years, but that’s Brooklyn for you – always changing.

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