Towards the end of summer, my friends and I headed into the city for a day of beer and fun. We had been planning on visiting the Brooklyn Brewery for quite some time.
Over the years I’ve enjoyed drinking the variety that Brooklyn offers–black chocolate stout, East India pale ale, brown ale, sorachi ace, and even the weisse. I’ve also had a few seasonals.
We hopped on the PATH to the World Trade Center and took the subway to Williamsburg. One of our friends had visited the Brooklyn Brewery before and supposedly knew how to get there from the station (he really wasn’t sure, but we found it anyway).
We waited around for our tour of the brewery and purchased tokens so
we could get beer later. We didn’t expect the beer to be as expensive as it was–I could’ve paid the same at a bar in Jersey City, but at least it was cheaper than a pint at the Guinness brewery.
The tour was informative, with plenty of history of the brewery and neighborhood. However, there is little to actually see on the tour. The group stands between some brewing tanks and the guide talks about how they brew beer. In all, it lasts about twenty minutes.
There was a steady flow of people in the bar for a summer weekend afternoon–the picnic tables were full and it took us awhile to snag one. We were disappointed that there weren’t any beers on tap that we hadn’t tried before; nothing experimental. I was hoping they’d at least have the beer they make especially for Katz’s Deli. So, after finishing off our tokens, we headed out into Brooklyn in search of other bars.
It wasn’t the best brewery tour I’ve been on, but it wasn’t a waste of time either. Visiting the Brooklyn Brewery requires an element of luck to catch the best beers on tap.
