Microbrewed Adventures - Charles Papazian [35]
Beer in the Big Apple
Brooklyn Brewery
THERE HAVE BEEN several breweries that have come and gone in New York City. The Manhattan Brewing Company and the New Amsterdam Brewing Company were ambitious brewery projects that succeeded only for a brief time. The oldest of the active breweries and brewpubs in the New York City area is the Brooklyn Brewing Company. Founded in 1988, at first it had its beer made exclusively in Utica, in upstate New York, at the F. X. Matt Brewing Company. Stephen Hindy, co-founder and still active CEO and president, made homebrew before leaving his job as an Associated Press Middle East correspondent, taking the plunge into the world of microbreweries.
Based on a pre-Prohibition Brooklyn brewery’s all-malt light lager recipe, Brooklyn Lager has become New York City’s best-selling draft beer. That’s quite an accomplishment. As Steve emphasizes, “New York City beer drinkers want the best and they don’t necessarily care where it comes from. That’s a tall order. An important element that differentiates Brooklyn Brewery’s beers from all the others available in New York City is that we’re a local brewery. People really take quite a bit of pride in having the opportunity and choice to enjoy locally made beer.”
Steve, like most every other microbrewer in America, was inspired by his homebrewing hobby and the popularity of his beers. He says, “Good dark beer seemed easier to make at home than lighter beer and in the beginning I really took a liking to roasted barley and chocolate and black malt. My chocolate stout quickly became my résumé. Once I brought a case of what I thought was our Brooklyn Lager to a beer tasting and by mistake I had 12 bottles of my own homebrewed chocolate stout in the box. The stout was all that anyone wanted to talk about.” Steve is quick to give his brewmaster, Garrett Oliver, all the credit for the success enjoyed by the brewery-versioned Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout.
Steve Hindy, Brooklyn Beer
Steve Hindy. Courtesy of Brooklyn Brewing Co.
When Steve has time to relax and enjoy a beer, he reflects “on the days when I would come home from selling beer and crack open my own homebrew. We’re extremely proud that the Brooklyn Brewery is a part of New York City’s community. It warms my heart whenever I see one of our trucks rumbling down a Manhattan avenue.”
The beer’s success, along with the establishment of a craft beer distributing company, allows Steve and Garrett to pursue their passion for making several unique styles of beer. Their seemingly slow and deliberate growth has provided a means to offer consumers diversity and flavor, especially with skillfully brewed beers such as Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, English-American-style Brooklyn East India Pale Ale, German-style Brooklyner Weisse and Belgian-inspired Saison de Brooklyn and Blanche de Brooklyn, as well as seasonal brown ales, Oktoberfest lagers and Monster Mash Barley wine ales.
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BROOKLYN’S ORIGINAL CHOCOLATE STOUT
Steve Hindy shares his original recipe. A robust roasted malt and barley character rounds off the combination of English and American hops. The balance is reminiscent of cocoa with a pleasant hop finish. The result is simple, straightforward and deliciously inspiring. This recipe can be found in About the Recipes.
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In the fall of 1994 on a trip to East Coast, Steve and I sat down to discuss specialty beers and beer distributors. We had concluded with disappointment that most beer distributors have little knowledge about providing beer drinkers access to microbrewery beers. This was a time when several microbrewers in America were beginning to grow quite rapidly. Most mainstream beer businesspeople perceived the growing phenomenon and popularity of microbrewed beers as an overnight success.
As we enjoyed our Brooklyn beers, we both agreed that it takes a lot of time and patience to be perceived as successful. No one is really that interested in all the hard work and failures that come before success. Admired for his product, passion and creativity, Steve was once