Well, since Brooklyn Brewery didn't distribute to Wisconsin, I didn't quite know what to expect with this place. Moreover, we were all in quite a sleep-deprived shock upon arriving into NYC. We had to leave Cleveland at 5 in the morning which really meant 4, kudos to daylight saving's time, and none of us had ever driven through NYC traffic before. Frankly, I was just relieved we even made it to Brooklyn in time for a tour.
Beer (★★★) - On tap at the brewery was their Lager, East India Pale Ale, Brown Ale, Winter Ale, and Local 2. The winter ale was subpar, lager and brown ale were okay, east india pale ale was pretty darn good, and the local 2 was thoroughly enjoyable. I got to talking with one of the assistant brewers who was serving up beers and somehow managed a trade of my six-pack of Spotted Cow for three bottles of their Local 1 and three bottles of Local 2. It was pretty magnificent. I have concluded that just about any beer served in a champagne bottle is almost always going to please my taste buds.
Tour (★★) - In 2005, the owners of Brooklyn Brewery published a book called Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery, of which I was a proud owner. So perhaps I came into the tour too knowledgeable, and this could account for my boredom with what the overly enthusiastic tour guide had to say. I learned the most from my day at Brooklyn Brewery from the assistant brewer I had befriended over my Spotted Cow trade. Since I am quite the anomaly in the brewery tour world, though, I have to make sure to state that I am sure the handsome tour guide did more than a sufficient job for everyone else.
Brewery (★★) - When we first walked in, I was honestly a little intimidated. I had read about the mob encounter the brewery had when they started, and the guy who stood at the entrance of the brewery checking for IDs reminded me of someone straight out of The Sopranos. Inside, all around, The Sopranos family seemed to be watching all corners of the brewery. I don't know if it was just my sleep-deprivation, but I wasn't entirely comfortable with the place. Something just seemed off. The fact that the brewery was just a massive warehouse and that there was a wandering cat named Monster also didn't quite add positively to my feelings about the place either. Nonetheless, my conversation with the assistant brewer serving beer proved informative. Among other things, I found out that the brewery was in the midst of a massive expansion, with a goal in mind of 120,000 bbls in 2012.
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