Past Newsletters
Vol. 10 No. 2
| Brewery | Beers Featured |
| Brooklyn Brewing Company | East India Pale Ale |
| Brooklyn Brewing Company | Brooklyn Pilsner |
| Bohannon Brewing Company | Nut Brown Ale |
| Bohannon Brewing Company | Market Street Pilsner |
Brooklyn Brewing Company
The Brooklyn Brewing Company was founded in 1987 by Steve Hindy, a journalist, and Tom Potter, a banker. A journalist and banker?!? You might ask, what do a journalist and banker know about making beer? Well, Steve Hindy was an Associated Press correspondent who spent six years in the Middle East. And for those of you that were not aware of it, alcoholic beverages are not allowed in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Better give that travel agent another call and rethink the family vacation to the desert!
So, what did the young, resourceful journalist do? He learned how to brew his own beer of course. When he returned to New York in 1984, Steve quit his job and, along with his neighbor Tom Potter, a former lending officer at Chemical Bank, turned their passion for beer into a full time venture. Steve and Tom teamed up with fourth generation German brewer William Moeller to create the recipe for their first brew . Brooklyn Lager.
It was hard going at first for the two. They made a test batch of beer in their Brooklyn basement only to find that most distributors were controlled by the big breweries and uninterested in small, local brands. They bought a van and began distributing Brooklyn Lager on their own, however hard-boiled New York tavern owners were skeptical about a full-flavored beer that cost as much as the leading imports and was unadvertised.
Slowly but surely, the lager caught on and soon they were distributing more than a dozen microbrews. Their brewhouse is set in an 1860 .s steel foundry in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Brewery .s 50,000 square-foot brewing facility includes a tasting room, a 300-person party room, and a gallery for local artists.
In 1994, they hired the highly respected New York brewmaster, Garrett Oliver. A native New Yorker, Garrett is widely regarded as one of the leading brewmasters in America. An interesting lad himself, Garrett co-authored The Good Beer Book, published by Berkeley Press, was featured in an "Emeril Live!" segment, and is the American Dairy Association's spokesman on matching beer and cheese. Oliver developed other new Brooklyn beers as well such as Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, Brooklyn East India Pale Ale, Brooklyn Pennant Pale Ale '55 and a range of seasonal and special products.
For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (718) 486-7422 or check out their web site at www.brooklynbrewery.com.
Serving Temperature: 47-52° F
Original Gravity: 17.0° Plato
Final Gravity: N/A
Int'l Bittering Units: 40.0
Alcohol by Volume: 6.9%
Garrett uses East Kent Goldings, Willamette, and Cascade hops to give this deep golden East IPA its incredible floral, fruity hop aroma. Balancing out the hops is a generous supply of two-row English pale ale, two-row English Pilsner, and wheat malts. We found the body to be full-flavored, offering heaps of maltiness which are balanced nicely with a huge hop bitterness and plenty of alcohol content. It’'ll warm ya right up. Note a clean, dry, hop finish leaving you wanting more immediately. It's what an IPA should taste like. A perfect complement to your favorite spicy Thai dish!
Serving Temperature: 45-50° F
Original Gravity: 12.0° Plato
Final Gravity: 3.0° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 30.0
Alcohol by Volume: 4.9%
Brooklyn Pilsner is a true-to-style European Pilsner, brewed with two-row German and Pilsner malts, and German Perle and Hallertau mf (Mittelfrueh) hops. Garret brews this pils in the style that was favored by New York's pre-Prohibition brewers. This lager is golden in color with a creamy, white head. The mild aroma gives off fresh floral characteristics along with hints of sweet malt. Look for a crisp, but restrained bitterness to start, which quickly moves into a light, sweet, dry, malty finish. This is a great summertime, BBQ beer.
Bohannon Brewing Company
The Bohannon Brewing Company was founded in 1988 by Lindsay Bohannon, gaining the recognition as Tennessee's original micro/pub brewery. In 1994, Bohannon opened the Market Street Brewery and Public House on Second Avenue. Keeping history alive, this location was the site of the very first brewery in Nashville which was established in 1849! The building itself was built in 1888 and was the warehouse for Tennessee's largest distillery. Nope - not Jack Daniels, but Charles Nelson, is Greenbriar Distillery.
Lindsay's love for great tasting beer came about during a visit to Geissen, Germany in the early 1980s. When he returned home, there were no other beers on the market that could compare to what he drank in the land of the big sauerkraut. So he did what most of us would do and he turned his passion for beer into a lifelong adventure. And what an adventure it was! His first year in business, he walked away with a gold medal from the Great American Beer Festival! And since that time, the brewery has won more than 40 national and international awards.
The Bohannon Brewing Company also features a full restaurant with a menu and atmosphere consistent with a traditional English style pub. If you get a chance to visit, check out their copper brew kettle in the front of the restaurant and in the back, you can visit the Churchill Bar, which was the office of Charles Nelson. Along with their beers on tap, you can enjoy a vast selection of martinis, single malt scotches, and single barrel bourbons.
Serving Temperature: 48-53° F
Original Gravity: 12.0° Plato
Final Gravity: 3.0° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 26.0
Alcohol by Volume: 4.7%
Bohannon's Nut Brown Ale is an English style brew utilizing Perle and Cascade hops, roasted barley, and five kinds of malts' two-row pale, victory, carapils, caramel 40, and chocolate. This complex cornucopia of components (sickening isn't it?) gives this beer its beautiful mahogany color and off-white head. Look for a very nutty aroma, with hints of chocolate and light caramel malts. Note a deep malt nuttiness with the perfect amount of herbal hops to balance it out. Overall, a pretty complex malt profile for a brown ale. Smoked salmon is a suitable sidekick!
Serving Temperature: 40-45° F
Original Gravity: 12.5° Plato
Final Gravity: 3.0° Plato
Int'l Bittering Units: 40.0
Alcohol by Volume: 5.0%
We thought that it might be fun to do a style comparison this month and show you a second interpretation of a classic pilsner. Market Street Pilsner is an authentic Bohemian style pilsner and Gold Medal winner at the 1996 World Beer Championships. It is brewed with 2-row pale and Munich malts, balanced out with Nugget, Perle, Czech Saaz, and Hersbrucker hops. It is on the dark end of the spectrum for pilsners, coming in at a deep gold color. Look for a frothy white head and a pleasant Saaz hop aroma. This pilsner is slightly sweet, with a malty body and light hoppy finish. With a perfect balance of malts and hops, you .ll understand why this is a gold medal winner. Try pairing this beer up with the seafood fest recipe in this newsletter!
Ask Murl
Hey Murl,
I've heard folks talk about some beers being "top fermenting" vs. "bottom fermenting"” before. Can you tell me what the difference is? Call me clueless!
Robbie Wittle
Omaha, NB
Yo Robbie, Bob, Robert, Bob-O!
Remember that guy? "You can call me Ray. Or you can call me Jay. Or you can call me Ray-Jay. Or your can call me Jay-Ray. But ya doesn't have ta call me AJ" ! Okay, maybe that wasn't it 'cause I remember it being a lot more funny than what I just read back to myself. Maybe it would have been funnier if I used your name. Nope. Just tried it and it's still not funny. 70's comedy. We used to think Sonny Bono was funny then too. Go figure.
Okay. Here it is Wittleman. There are two basic categories of beer styles: Ales which are top-fermenters beer and lagers, which do that fermentation thang on the bottom. Generally speaking, top-fermenting beers are more complex with fruity characteristics, and bottom-fermenting beers tend to be cleaner. Some of your basic top-fermenting beers include hefeweizens, stouts, porters, India pale ales, red ales, and pale ales. Common bottom-fermenters include: bocks, marzens, pilsners, amber lagers, and malt liquors. Does that help clear it up for ya Inspector Clouseau?
Woof!
Murl.
Food For Thought...
Market Street Beer & Seafood Fest
This is a serious recipe for serious appetites. What more could you want? You got your potatoes, your shellfish, your fatty fish, your meaty fish, some nice spice and a vegi to boot. And of course, one of the best handcrafted Pilsners in the country. So what are ya waitin' for Emeril? Get busy!
- 12 oz. Seabass fillet (skin on)
- 12 oz. Salmon fillet (skin on)
- 8 oysters in shell, brushed and cleaned
- ½ lb. Cleaned mussels
- 4 russet potatoes peeled and cut in an oval
- 1 lb. Asparagus tips
- ¼ tsp. Caraway seeds
- 3 oz. Good butter
- 12 oz. Market Street Pilsner
- 2 Tbsp. Chopped parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
Cook potatoes thoroughly in salty water. Cook asparagus al dente in salty water, then refresh in iced water. Cut each fish fillet in 4 slices and season with salt and pepper. Butter bottom of a lg. Sauce pan, add fish pieces plus the 8 oysters and pour the beer and caraway seeds into pan. Bring to boil, cover and reduce heat. After 2 min., add potatoes and mussels. Cover and let simmer until mussels open. Remove the fish, shellfish and potatoes to a deep plate. Bring the remaining liquid to a boil. With a whisk, gently introduce the cold butter to the liquid a little at a time. Turn the flame on and off to keep the butter from breaking. Add the asparagus to the liquid and pour over the seafood. Sprinkle with fresh parsley and proceed to inhale food in mass quantities. Recline to the couch and pop in “"Josey Whales or Cool Hand Luke" if your feeling tough, "Raising Arizona or Best of Show" for a good laugh and "9 ½ weeks" if you're feeling lucky! Do not attempt to clean kitchen.
Norm's Corner...
As spoken by Cheers' Norm
Norm: Women. Can't live with 'em, pass the beer nuts.
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