Brooklyn Brewery (New York)

This past week I spent about 5 days in New York City - so, of course, I had to visit a brewery while I was there. I'd heard about Brooklyn Brewery from a couple of friends, and since I was staying in Brooklyn, decided that was the one to hit up on this trip.

When you walk in, there's a counter where you can buy Brooklyn Brewery merchandise (shirts, koozies, etc), and where you also buy your beer tokens that can be used at the bar in the back. Pints were $4, so fairly reasonable, especially for NYC. They don't sell any food, but they do have menus for local pizza places, so you can order a pizza and have it delivered there.

After asking a few questions about what their different beers were, I settled on a pint of the Dark Matter, a bourbon-barrel aged brown ale. I liked this beer a lot; it wasn't overwhelmingly bourbony, like some bourbon aged beers I've had, but was just enough so that it was something different. There weren't any specific overwhelming flavors, but it wasn't bland or boring, either. It was somewhat sweet, but not Belgian sweet or anything. Overall, it was really well balanced; I'd definitely get this again.

My brother (who I was staying with) ordered the Pennant Ale, which was a fairly typical pale ale. It had a light, pleasant hoppiness that wasn't overwhelming but where you could still definitely taste the hops. I think this beer would be great for relaxing on a sunny day.

We also went on the brewery tour, just to see what their tour was like. I think it was one of the worst brewery tours I've ever been on. It was really just a lecture on the brewery's history, with a little lecture on the beer process. The "tour guide" just stayed in one place the whole time, and did not do much to draw your attention to any of the specific brewing equipment.

Despite the less than mediocre beer tour, I really liked Brooklyn Brewery. They had really solid beer and a good atmosphere. If I lived in Brooklyn, I think I'd make hitting up Brooklyn Brewery a fairly regular occurrence.