Brooklyn Lager

Brooklyn Brewery is the 35th largest brewery and the 15th largest craft brewery in the U.S., and is located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn....was started by former AP Middle East Correspondent Steve Hindy and former banker Tom Potter in 1987.  The pair began brewing in upstate NY and peddled their beer, the original Brooklyn Lager, on the streets of NYC.  In 1996 the Brooklyn Brewery moved into its current home at N. 11th St. in Williamsburg (https://youngeats.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/a-day-at-the-brooklyn-brewery/).

For the brewery’s logo Hindy and Potter went to famous graphic designer Milton Glaser, best know for his I ♥ NY t-shirts, with a $20,000 budget.  Glaser rejected the money and instead asked for a small share in the company and a lifetime supply of Brooklyn Brewery beer.  Glaser is now in his nineties and still receiving free beer.
Brooklyn Lager is the top draft beer in NYC and a top craft beer all around the U.S.  The brewery, and its brewmaster Garrett Oliver, have won countless awards and accolades (https://youngeats.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/a-day-at-the-brooklyn-brewery/).

Like our namesake borough, the Brooklyn Brewery is made up of a rich collection of characters from all over the world. In our Williamsburg home, these characters are dedicated to brewing and selling great beer and enriching the communities we serve. Together, these Brooklyners have assembled the skills needed to transform a home brewing hobby into an independent brewery with a brand that has become an international beacon for good beer. Among our team is Garrett Oliver, a prolific author and James Beard Award-winning brewmaster, and cofounder Steve Hindy, author and beer industry commentator. It’s more than just a collection of relevant résumés. That dapper brewmaster of ours is also a talented chef with an impressive collection of swords and pop culture witticisms, each sharper than the next. Our CEO first honed his sales skills selling metal mixtapes in Cairo as a teenager. Our technical director owns the upstate farm she grew up on, producing maple syrup and growing crops and the hops used in our Greenmarket Wheat. Our Warehouse & Logistics Manager closes his computer each day to go play in a Ween cover band. Our brewing and packaging teams include people who speak English, Arabic, Urdu, Spanish, Mandingo and French; all of them line up during early morning shifts to buy tamales from the back of Maria’s bicycle when she stops in front of the loading dock (http://brooklynbrewery.com/about/about-the-brewery).

Brooklyn is een van de vijf stadsdelen (boroughs) van de Amerikaanse stad New York. Brooklyn valt ook samen met een van de county's van New York, Kings County. De naam is een Engelse verbastering van het Nederlandse Breuckelen. De wapenspreuk van Brooklyn luidt: "Een draght maeckt maght", waaruit de Nederlandse wortels van deze stad blijken. Brooklyn heeft een oppervlakte van 251 km² en telt ongeveer 2,5 miljoen inwoners.
Breuckelen werd in 1646 gesticht door Nederlanders die daar namens de West-Indische Compagnie zaten.
Tot 1898 was Brooklyn een afzonderlijke gemeente. In 1840 telde deze ongeveer 36.000 inwoners, in 1860 waren dat er reeds bijna 300.000, tegenover ruim 800.000 in New York, dat toen nog alleen uit Manhattan bestond. Brooklyn was hiermee, na New York, Philadelphia en Baltimore de vierde stad van de Verenigde Staten.
Tot 1883 was Brooklyn alleen door een veerpont met Manhattan verbonden; in dat jaar werd de Brooklyn Bridge voltooid. Sinds het eind van de 19e eeuw bestaat een groot deel van de bevolking van Brooklyn uit joden.
In de 20e eeuw hebben zich ook grote zwarte wijken in Brooklyn gevormd, die over het algemeen wat minder verloederd zijn dan bepaalde delen van Harlem en de Bronx, hoewel ook delen van de zwarte wijk Bedford Stuyvesant grote problemen met criminaliteit en drugsverslaving hebben gekend, die thans iets schijnen te verminderen (http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_(New_York)).

In the late 1800s Brooklyn was one of the largest brewing centers in the country, home to more than 45 breweries. Lager beer in the Vienna style was one of the local favorites. Brooklyn Lager is amber-gold in color and displays a firm malt center supported by a refreshing bitterness and floral hop aroma. Caramel malts show in the finish. The aromatic qualities of the beer are enhanced by dry-hopping, the centuries-old practice of steeping the beer with fresh hops as it undergoes a long, cold maturation. The result is a wonderfully flavorful beer, smooth, refreshing and very versatile with food. Dry-hopping is largely a British technique, which we’ve used in a Viennese-style beer to create an American original (http://amoskeagbeverages.com/beverages/brooklyn-lager/).

In 1984, Steve Hindy ended a five and a half-year tour as the Middle East Correspondent for the Associated Press where he covered wars and assassinations in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Sudan. On his last night in Beirut, his hotel was hit by a mortar barrage. Steve picked up a still-warm piece of shrapnel as a memento, packed up his family and returned to New York City. During his years in the Middle East, Steve befriended diplomats based in Saudi Arabia, where Islamic law prohibits alcoholic beverages. The envoys were avid homebrewers and happily plied Steve with their flavorful beers. Returning to live in Brooklyn and editing foreign news for Newsday, Steve started brewing at home. Eventually, he enlisted his downstairs neighbor, banker Tom Potter, and they set out to establish the Brooklyn Brewery. Steve placed that shrapnel on his desk as a reminder of his days in the Middle East, where it still sits today.
Brooklyn has long been the home of immigrants, movers, artists, creative geniuses and small business idols. Over the years plenty of trades and traditions have come and gone, but one has been constant: beer. Some of the earliest residents from Germany, Belgium, Ireland and other brew-centric countries brought their passion and knowledge to our shores, making Brooklyn one of the most productive brewing centers of the country in the 19th century (http://brooklynbrewery.com/about/about-the-brewery#history-link).

Prohibition scored a crushing hit when most forms of alcohol were banned in 1919. A bare handful of Brooklyn breweries survived the dark years of the “Great Experiment” by marketing malt beverages and medicinal tonics, emerging in the light of repeal a mere shadow of the robust brewing scene that had characterized Brooklyn for so long. The businesses slowly dwindled, with the last two great brewing families-- Schaefer and Liebmann (Rheingold)-- shuttering in 1976. Aside from a few dependable bars, Brooklyn’s beer scene had been laid low.
Intent on starting a brewery that would pay homage to the rich history of their beloved borough, Steve and Tom set their sights on bringing in the legendary graphic designer Milton Glaser to create a logo that would give their fledgling Brooklyn Eagle Brewery brand an instant identity. Steve was particularly insistent on the name as a reference to the venerable Brooklyn Eagle newspaper. After months of repeated phone calls, Milton finally agreed to a five-minute meeting with the eager entrepreneurs. Knowing they had only a few minutes to make a strong impression, Steve and Tom employed a bold tactic: they entered Milton’s office and told Milton their stories, instead of just pitching him their business. Two hours later, Milton was persuaded to join in with the bold plan set forth by Steve and Tom. He first insisted on changing the name to Brooklyn Brewery, saying: “You’ve got Brooklyn here, who needs an eagle!” He even agreed to waive his usual fees in exchange for an equity stake in the company. Steve and Tom had no problem with that; after all, they had no money. With handshakes all around, Steve, Tom and Milton established a professional relationship (and personal friendship) that continues to this day. Milton designs every label produced by the Brooklyn Brewery, and the Brewery in turn keeps his office well-supplied with fresh beer.
With their Milton Glaser logo on the cover of their business plan, Steve and Tom raised $500,000 from family and friends, personally persuading each to share with them in their plan to build a “microbrewery.” They showed their plan to their neighbor, Sophia Collier, founder of Soho Natural Soda, a 10-year-old all-natural carbonated beverage company that was being sold to the liquor giant Seagrams for $22 million. Sophia was impressed by the Brooklyn Brewery logo and a test batch of Brooklyn Lager, but she told the budding entrepreneurs that distribution was the key to the beverage business. She said Soho failed when distributed first by health food wholesalers, then soda distributors and finally beer distributors. She said the product only took off when she bought a van, put her logo on the side panel and peddled the product herself (http://brooklynbrewery.com/about/about-the-brewery#history-link).

Shelving the “microbrewery” plan, Steve and Tom commissioned fourth-generation brewmaster William M. Moeller, a former head brewer at Philadelphia’s Schmidt Brewery, to brew Brooklyn Lager at the FX Matt Brewery in Utica, New York. Moeller pored over the brewing logs of a grandfather of his who had brewed in Brooklyn at the turn of the last century to develop a recipe for Brooklyn Lager. The result was an all-malt lager beer with a tangy aroma created by “dry-hopping,” an age-old technique of adding hops during the maturation process to create a robust aroma. Brooklyn Lager made quite a splash in the 1980’s beer scene in New York City, dominated by the light, rice and corn lagers sold by Budweiser, Miller and Coors.
In 1988, Steve and Tom delivered their first cases of beer, and flickerings of brewed glory began to appear in Brooklyn once again. First on their list was Williamsburg local Teddy’s, an upstart bar run by longtime neighborhood activist Felice Kirby and her husband in the old Peter Doelger’s Extra Beer pub. Word started to spread that the two men could be found at bars and restaurants pouring this (relatively) shocking concoction that was darker than Heineken and smelled strongly of hops, of all things. Steve and Tom were hitting the streets to educate consumers from the bottom up, exposing a new generation of beer drinkers to flavorful beers that had been all but lost to the American beer scene. The fledgling Brooklyn Brewery found a following and began to grow (http://brooklynbrewery.com/about/about-the-brewery#history-link).

In 1994, Garrett Oliver was brought on board as brewmaster to helm the brewing program and work on establishing the brand new Williamsburg brewhouse. Garrett began homebrewing in the 1980’s after living in England for a time, where he discovered cask-fermented real ale in between gigs managing rock bands. Garrett’s talents and personal flair led to his tenure as President of the New York City Homebrewer’s Guild, where he met Steve Hindy. Whether or not Garrett was wearing a cape (a matter of mild contention between the two men to this day), this meeting included Garrett describing the recipe that would become Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout. Not long after, Garrett left his post as brewmaster of Manhattan Brewing to cross the East River and join Brooklyn Brewery. On May 28, 1996, Mayor Rudy Giuliani cut the ribbon at the grand opening of the new Brooklyn Brewery brewhouse, Tasting Room and offices in Brooklyn. Steve introduced Guiliani to about 100 reporters assembled in the street in front of the brewery’s towering front doors. The mayor, who had a combative relationship with New York City’s notoriously prickly press corps, pulled Steve up next to him and said, “I want all you journalists to look at this man. He used to be a reporter, but now he is making an honest living.” The press loved it, and Giuliani joined Garrett, Steve and Tom in pouring the brand-new Brooklyner Weisse to the thirsty celebrants that day. Garrett went on to develop recipes from Black Chocolate Stout to East IPA, seasonal favorites to limited run Brewmaster’s Reserve releases (http://brooklynbrewery.com/about/about-the-brewery#history-link).



In the late 1800’s Brooklyn was one of the largest brewing centers in the country, home to more than 45 breweries. Lager beer in the “Vienna” style was one of the local favorites. Brooklyn Lager is amber-gold in color and displays a firm malt center supported by a refreshing bitterness and floral hop aroma. Caramel malts show in the finish. The aromatic qualities of the beer are enhanced by “dry-hopping”, the centuries-old practice of steeping the beer with fresh hops as it undergoes a long, cold maturation. The result is a wonderfully flavorful beer, smooth, refreshing and very versatile with food. Dry-hopping is largely a British technique, which we’ve used in a Viennese-style beer to create an American original.
Style: American Amber Lager
Malts: American Two-row Malts
Hops: Hallertauer Mittelfrueh, Vanguard and Cascade
Alcohol by Volume: 5.2%
IBUs: 33
Original Gravity: 13° Plato
Calories: 170
(http://brooklynbrewery.com/brooklyn-beers/perennial-brews/brooklyn-lager)

Starting with our flagship Brooklyn Lager, the portfolio of Brooklyn Brewery has grown to a wide-ranging collection of beers, always keeping an eye to traditional brewing techniques, even as Brewmaster Garrett Oliver and his team seek to push the boundaries of beer (http://brooklynbrewery.com/about/about-the-brewery).

Garrett Oliver, best known today as the brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery. With a career in beer spanning back to the '80s, Oliver has been a vital and consistent link between the founders of the craft-beer movement and its current moment of unprecedented growth. He tasted some of the earliest microbrews—from San Francisco's Anchor Steam, as well as the now-defunct Manhattan Brewing Company—and filtered them through what he learned about beer while traveling through Europe to form his own brewing philosophy: Respectful of old-world traditions and techniques, yet never afraid to embrace the artistry and individuality of beer-making (http://firstwefeast.com/drink/garrett-oliver-brooklyn-brewery-10-career-changing-beers/).

Brooklyn Brewery Brewmaster Garrett Oliver is widely known for his debonair personal style, his elegant lectures on the history of beer and the art of brewing, his extensive knowledge of movies and literature and his two hats. He is also the brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewery, editor-in-chief of The Oxford Companion to Beer, author of The Brewmaster’s Table and winner of the 2014 James Beard Award for Excellent Wine, Beer or Spirits Professional. He’s a world traveler, snazzy dancer and we’re starting to suspect he doesn’t sleep (http://brooklynbrewery.com/about/about-the-brewery#the-brewmaster-link).

Oliver began homebrewing almost 30 years ago, he says, “in order to have something to drink other than Wonder Bread.” A friend bought him a beer-making kit, and pretty soon, recalls Oliver, “beer was taking over my life.” We are lucky it did (www.ediblebrooklyn.com/2015/02/17/video-brooklyn-brewmaster-garrett-oliver-isnt-interested-silly-beers/)

Garrett continued developing his tastes and techniques as a homebrewer, eventually becoming president of the New York City Homebrewer’s Guild. During this tenure he met Steve Hindy, who was attending a Guild meeting in downtown Manhattan. (Steve claims that Garrett was wearing a cape for this meeting, while Garrett maintains it was a French lieutenant’s greatcoat from the late 1800s. This point of debate remains open to this day.) They discussed a recipe Garrett was tinkering with that would later become the award-winning Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout  (http://brooklynbrewery.com/about/about-the-brewery#the-brewmaster-link).

The men remained friends and drinking buddies as Garrett left a perfectly respectable banking position in order to brew professionally with now-defunct Manhattan Brewing Company, where he was promoted to brewmaster in 1993. In 1994, Steve approached Garrett with an offer to be the brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery and help design their planned Williamsburg brewhouse. Garrett signed on, crossing the river to open the new brewhouse and unleash a torrent of new beers offered by the Brooklyn Brewery as year-round releases, treasured seasonals, cult hit limited releases and experimental batches (http://brooklynbrewery.com/about/about-the-brewery#the-brewmaster-link).

Brooklyn Brewery persuaded him to join as a brewmaster and partner and, in 1995 moved their existing headquarters to a nowheresville warehouse in an industrial sector where nobody would ever dream a Beacon’s Closet would one day draw crowds. Today the place is the beating heart of hipster Williamsburg; Brooklyn Brewery is the 27th-largest brewery in the country; and Garrett Oliver is one of the brightest stars in the business.
“He’s the ultimate authority on beer,” says Grace Labatt, who serves as Oliver’s editor at the ultra-prestigious Oxford University Press, which tapped him to compile the first-ever Oxford Companion to Beer. “Few people in the world know every aspect of beer,” she says, but Oliver is an expert on topics like technology, science, history, philosophy, traditional styles, flavors and food pairings: “He’s a renaissance man,” she says. “When we have meetings, he just spouts off facts.” (www.ediblebrooklyn.com/2015/02/17/video-brooklyn-brewmaster-garrett-oliver-isnt-interested-silly-beers/)

In addition to helping turn Brooklyn Brewery into the 11th largest craft brewery in the country, Oliver has established himself as one of the industry's most revered figures. Scholarly and hyper-articulate, he's helped to codify many of the wild-west antics of American brewing, from bottle-conditioning (which he studied to create Brooklyn's beloved Local 1), to food pairings (he literally wrote the book—The Brewmaster's Table—on it in 2003), and everything in between (two years ago, he edited the first Oxford Companion to Beer, 960 pages of pure beer geekery). He's also been a key ambassador for American craft-beer movement, solidifying ties to old European stalwarts like Brakspear and Schneider-Weisse through collaborations (a concept Oliver seems to have invented), and most recently breaking ground on a new Brooklyn Brewery project in Stockholm (http://firstwefeast.com/drink/garrett-oliver-brooklyn-brewery-10-career-changing-beers/).

“I think Garrett is the greatest ambassador for craft beer in this country for the past 10 years,” says Eric Asimov, the esteemed wine and occasional beer critic for the Times. “He’s dignified, he’s intellectual about it,” he adds of Oliver’s ability to talk beer to consumers, “and it’s incredibly productive and powerful.”
But don’t take their word for it. Our photo editor Scott Gordon Bleicher recently sat down with Oliver, and true to form, “the ambassador” spouted big ideas — about what beer is for, why he hates the word “artisanal” and how beer’s craft comeback is a wonderful microcosm of the American food renaissance (http://www.ediblebrooklyn.com/2015/02/17/video-brooklyn-brewmaster-garrett-oliver-isnt-interested-silly-beers/). Zie hier een filmpje van een interview met hem.


Oliver is the author of The Brewmaster's Table and an avid and lecturer. He regularly hosts beer tastings and dinners, and he's internationally recognized as an expert on traditional beer styles and their affinity with good food. In a recent summer issue, All About Beer magazine described Oliver as "the Beau Brummel of the brewing community ... best known for bringing media attention to the pairing of beer and food." (www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/brooklyn-brewery-at-chais-beer-dinner/Content?oid=1409588)


2003 was a year of big changes for Brooklyn Brewery. Years of growth made the brewery large enough to be taken seriously by big distributors, so the distribution arm of Brooklyn Brewery was sold off. Tom, who had been heavily involved in the distribution division for the previous fifteen years, decided the time was right for him to retire and sold his shares to the Ottaway family. (Not long after, Tom grew bored with retirement and filled his time by founding the New York Distilling Company not far from the Brooklyn Brewery.) (http://brooklynbrewery.com/about/about-the-brewery#history-link)

Today, the Brooklyn Brewery is continuing to thrive, spreading good beer around the world. Bars and restaurants from Texas to Sweden to Australia proudly pour Brooklyn beer and display our iconic logo in great cities and far-flung reaches. Here in Brooklyn, Garrett and his team push the boundaries of brewing with an expanded barrel aging program housed in the historic Brooklyn Navy Yard down the road from the brewery and an extensive roster of experimental batches tucked away for study (and tasting.) The borough itself has been revitalized around the Brooklyn Brewery, with over 100 businesses proudly dubbing themselves Brooklyn. Entrepreneurs, dreamers and creators have created successful companies ranging from the Red Hook Winery and Mast Brothers Chocolate to tech giants including Makerbot, Kickstarter and Tumblr. Steiner Studios, located not far from the Brooklyn Brewery barrel aging program in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, is the largest television and film studio outside of Hollywood. It is an exciting time to be from Brooklyn.
The brewery is also currently planning an expansion site to boost production and send even more beer to old and new markets worldwide (http://brooklynbrewery.com/about/about-the-brewery#history-link).

Een van die nieuwe markten is AH. Daar in het schap staat Brooklyn Lager. Ik kocht een flesje en proef deze Brooklyn Lager....