Grapes and Grains » Brooklyn

Bourbon Beer Barrels in Brooklyn

David Flaherty — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 02:35:43 +0000

Where beers go to transcend the mortal coil

There’s nothing like beer straight out of the barrel.

This past Monday, I found myself back at Kelso Brewing Company, shooting some video with Kelly Taylor, Brooklyn’s beer maestro.

After we shorted-out our camera by sticking it in a steaming brew tank while I was inside power-washing grain like I was actually helping, we retired to the other side of the warehouse to lick our wounds. It was just around midnight, when Kelly turned into a gleeful child and showed us around his barrel experiments.

Recent additions to the brewery, he had former Tuthilltown whiskey barrels, Jack Daniels bourbon barrels, Heaven Hill bourbon barrels and brandy barrels filled with various beers. We chased him around with cups as he plunged his beer thief into the bung holes—see diagram above, you sick bastard—and pulled out a range of beer delights.

We started with a barrel-aged Imperial Stout, and then moved through two different versions of the Recessionator Dopplebock; one aged in brandy barrels, the other in former Tuthilltown bourbon casks.

It was an awesome time. Well, maybe not for our camera…please say a prayer for her recovery.

Adding It Up at the Counting Room

David Flaherty — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:54:17 +0000

North Williamsburg. On a rather desolate block, a mini-Mecca for libation lovers awaits in two-story glory.

Be you beer geek, cocktail purist or refined wino, this is your place. All under one gloriously designed roof and with a level of hospitality that will warm any NY’ers heart.

The Counting Room, at 44 Barry Street in Brooklyn, plays to many strengths, and is testament to the consumate professionals behind its multi-beveraged-assault on the senses.

A cocktail program born from the classics of the 1860′s and spun into the modern world, a wine program that is diverse, current and savvy, a beer program that celebrates the craftsmen and a level of food that promises to please the refined. It has it all.

I recently sat down with co-owner and mixology wizard, Vincent Favella, for a couple of cocktails and got the low-down on what makes The Counting Room tick. Watch the video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4JmKHigI0g

The Empire Sour

2 oz Laird’s Applejack
1/4 oz Carpano Antica Formula
1/2 oz Simple Syrup
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
2 Dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters
1 Egg White

Combine the simple syrup, lemon juice, orange bitters and egg white in a shaker and shake vigorously (without ice).
Add ice and applejack and shake what your mama gave you.
Strain into a frozen 6-ounce tumbler and float Carpano Antica Formula.

Get yourself to Williamsburg and down to the cocktail lounge of the Counting Room where Vince and his crack team of mixologists are waiting for you.

Come thirsty and leave content. You may even be a bit more educated…tipsy, but educated.

My top 5 favorite breweries: Number 2

David Flaherty — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:15:45 +0000

2. Brooklyn Brewery, Williamsburg, New York

Founded: 1988

Producion: approx 53,000 barrels

(website)

When I arrived at the doorstep of the Big Apple, I was humbled and taken down at the knees like every other poor sap that washes up on her shores. Like a confused baby left alone at the mall, the world moved by quickly with no discernible rhyme nor reason. In all aspects, I had to recalibrate and start anew. And one was particularly difficult: Beer. I had grown accustomed to a myriad of beer choices at my fingertips, completely used to being flanked on all sides with unique beers, and when I walked into the corner stores and grocery stores near my apartment, I was distraught. All I saw before me was macro brewed, overpriced swill. Both my good friend, Hamilton, who moved with me from Fort Collins, and I became callous and accepting of our new plight. Eventually we began buying twelve-packs of Budweiser to meet our beer needs and appease our wallets…but I never could adapt. Why was this all there was to offer, I thought? Where are the options? The renegade small breweries? It was aggravating.

I began to see something called “Brooklyn Brewery” but wrongly assumed it to be a member of the Evil Empire and had its base on a far corner of the Death Star. (Oh, how wrong I would turn out to be…) A few years later, I found myself in the lucky position of having dinner with Tom Potter (founder of Brooklyn Brewery), and his wife in downtown DC. Hearing his story of the rise of his business, from nothing but a mere carboy and a dream, was inspiring and riveting; how could I have assumed he was one of them? This guy was one of only a select few who were brewing in NYC. Wow. I was dumbstruck.

I received his and Steve Hindy’s book, Beer School, for Christmas two years ago and was riveted. Seriously frickin not able to pull away, riveted. Their story of struggle in the challenging landscape of Brooklyn, a borough with a rich, rich history of brewing that near vanished by the end of Prohibition, will make any home brewer stop for a moment and think about his or her dream to open a brewery. It’s a whole new ballgame, kid. And these guys are super stars; they showed determination and courage in the face of multi-million dollar marketing strategies that were unleashed to beat them out at every step of the way, gangsters yielding guns and complicated distribution channels.

I dove back into their beers with a vengeance, and came to see them as a beacon, a shining light in a city owned by the big boys. Their beers are adventurous, risky, and always surprising. And with Garrett Oliver at the helm, they continue to put out an ever-growing selection of solid brews. He is known for his smooth demeanor and classy approach on the outside, and it is clear that underneath lies a thoughtful, driven craftsman with high standards and the enthusiasm to back them up. For turning my beliefs about New York beers into such an aggressive 180 and igniting my own brewing at home, Brooklyn Brewery is my number two pick.

Favorite brews: Local 1, (and soon to be Local 2!), East India Pale Ale, Lager, Pennant Ale