Brooklyn Brewery Showcase

As the story goes it was during the 1986 World Series that Stephen Hindy and his neighbor Thomas Potter, pulling for the home team, of course, the Mets, were drinking lager beer they had brewed from an old recipe as they sat listening to the game on the radio. By the time the Mets were triumphant and the series was over Steve and Tom were convinced that the beer they were drink was good enough to sell. So they took the recipe to a contract brewer and brewed up the very first batch of Brooklyn Lager. Back then all they had was a van loaded with cases of their lager and a dream. The rest is brewing history.

It's easy to understand why the Brooklyn Brewery is one of the most successful and highly regarded microbreweries in the Northeast,they simply brew great beer, with several medals from The Great American Beer Festival to their credit. World-reknowned brewmaster Garrett Oliver, hired in 1994, has expanded Brooklyn's line-up to include such seasonal specialities as Monster Barleywine, Abbey de Brooklyn, Black Chocolate Stout, Blanche de Brooklyn, and Irish Stout, along with such perennials as Brooklyn Lager, Brown Ale, Brooklyner Weisse and, their latest, Pennant Pale Ale '55. The Brooklyn Brewery is also a major emmisary of good beer in their role as The Craft Brewer's Guild, one of the main distributors of fine imported beers and domestic micros in New York City.

Visiting the brewery, located in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, is a joy. Visiting hours run from noon to five on Saturdays only. The brewery occupies a large building, divided inside between a large tasting area, filled with benches and tables, and the brewing area filled with massive gleaming metal vats and machinery. The staff is knowledgable and extremely friendly. After savoring a complementary freshly brewed pint visitors can take a tour of the brewery's facilities and and learn how beer is made. Brooklyn currently brews its Weisse and Pennant Pale Ale '55 on the premises along with their seasonal line, while the Lager and Brown, are brewed at F.X. Matt, located in Utica, New York.

Check out their website at www.brooklynbrewery.com for details events at the brewery, or call (718) 486-7422.