Coney Island Brewing and the applied benefits of an Aussie accent

So right after our little beer brunch at Brooklyn Brewery we wandered down to the famous south eastern tip of Brooklyn, Coney Island. I had researched (yes, I occasionally try act like a professional journalist,) a  brewery that was doing interesting brews with ingredients such as cotton candy and candy apples. This place had to be found! Apparently they were only brewing a few gallons a week, putting them into the nano-brew club. After a brief walk around we found the place, literally a small hole in the wall next to the side show. We got talking to the nice folks inside and found out that their bottled range of beers is actually contract brewed by a great San Francisco brewing company, Shmaltz. The small-batch beers they brew on site are really just for fun. In fact when we walked in they had a mash boiling up to make a hazelnut flavoured brown ale. We got talking to the brewers about beers in australia and home brew techniques. This eventually lead to being able to try one of their beers, discretely poured into a soda cup! Shhhh! Most of their bottled range is available across the US at selected locations where good beer is available. The range is branded as lagers, even though most of them are dark beers. Having tasted some of them I believe this to be a mis-truth. They maybe lagers only by the way they were brewed but they certainly have some great depth of flavour and full rich body. Seek one out today!

brooklyn brewery

It was a cold and chilly sunday morning when Scott and myself woke up with the thought of local beer on our mind. So with that we caught a sub and walked a few blocks to the lovely Brooklyn Brewery. They even had a cat waiting for us

Poor Kitty was a lil cold. So we tried their now famous beers and let me tell you something, for a brewery with a bottling line that has its products pretty much all over the great state of New York and pops up on tap in a few other states, they brew a consistently good range of decent beers. The ever popular Brooklyn Lager has a good amount of body to it, malty and hoppy and a step above budweiser/coors/millers etc. The fact that its on tap in a lot of fine venues is a testament to its popularity beyond its home borough. But my pick from their line up was definately their winter seasonal beer. Chocolate Stout. A bit cold straight from the tap but when allowed to warm up and breathe a bit the full flavour shone through. Rich, malty and most certainly a distinct sweetish chocolate after taste. It was the perfect drop for a cold day in Brooklyn. I just wish they had a few bottles to take home with me. If you are staying in New york, do yourself a favour, catch the L train to Williamsburg and try a classy brew with some friendly locals.

A few cool places near McSorleys

As Ive mentioned before, McSorleys is an awesome bar, but the craft beer lover is in for a treat, because theres 3 other fantastic beer bars next door! starting with the Burp Castle, wich again only focuses on a 10 tap rotating beer menu and nothing else. They have a great mix of Belgian beers and a few east coast breweries. Plus the entire bar is painted like how I want my bedroom to be painted. With a nice beer mural or three!

I tried a Pint of Allagash Curieux, a belgian triple ale style beer made by a Maine brewery. Interestingly its been aged in Jim Beam barrels. Quite a tasty drop. Next up the street was Standings bar, a sportsbar with a huge range of craft beers on tap and available in bottles. A flight (tasting tray) of 4 4oz servings cost a measily $10. Again we tried some great IPAs, Stone arrogant bastard and smuttynose IPA stood out as seriously decent drops. And who cant love a brewery with a name like smutty nose? lastly we went down stairs to a little bar called 43 something I cant seem to remember! This place was more like a cosy restaurant with the added bonus of a nice draft beer list. We indulged in another sampler tray of some more decent beers before leaving the area. If in New York this little street is worth checking out!

McSorleys and Company

This is history folks. The oldest public house in New York. Theres old timers outside, smoking cigars and talking passionately about the yankees. I wish i could share the smell of the inside with you all, the sawdust covered floor, the smell of a million spilt beers and god knows what else on the ancient wooden  floor. Just what you would expect. To me its homely and welcoming, to others it must smell rank. The selection? well if you asked for a bud lite you probably would get asked to leave. Theres no wine list, no cocktails, hell even no spirits. You have two choices at McSorleys. Two. Light or dark beer. served in a mug. 2 for $5.  They were both delicious. So heres to you McSorleys, stay true.

picklebacks

What we are looking at here folks is a one way ticket to a messy night. $5 pickleback shots @ the backpacker bar. Its a shot of green label  evan williams bourbon whiskey followed by a shot of pickle juice. Yes you have read right. Went down a treat. Had to chase it with a pint of delicious Goose Island IPA to try and keep my tongue alive.

Heartland Brewery

So heres a brewpub chain thats pretty much all over Manhattan.  So we just HAD to try it. Seriously they have their own tourist map of manhattan with all of their brewpup locations helpfully labelled and not much else on the map. Luckily they had a tasting tray which as we learnt is called a "flight" around these parts.

So how good is it? well we are talking brewpub chain here and though I was hoping for something as decent, like our own James Squires brewhouses, my expectations were pretty low. They make all the usuals, light lager, pils, "wheat beer", IPA, stout plus a few seasonals. Starting with the light lager kinda set the mood for the rest of the tasting tray. It was light and tasted vaguely like an orange soda. The pils again was quite light on flavour or body. Both smelled more than they actually delivered. Still ok to drink ice cold on a hot day. The wheat beer was pretty much a joke. It smelt sour and slightly musty. The flavour? Well as Scott put it, like dirty dishwater. I could not finnish it. Their "west coast style"  IPA promised big things on the nose, big resiny phenols and fresh pine. The body, like the colour, was rather light. Alot more bitter than their other beers but no-were near a true IPA in terms of bitterness or body or flavour or pretty much anything. As for the west coast claim? Son, you better stick to practising before you try and step up to the big boys. Lastly we tried their stout and brown ale. Much better, not the best ive ever drunk but definately an improvement on the rest of the range. It was all comming together nicely. Good colour, decent aroma, flavour that lingered and an allright body to boot. Not bad at all. I think Heartland has a good thing going here. They are conveniently located in all the big tourist hotspots, make decent food, have a range of ok/hit and miss beers that are slightly left of center but still familiar to the masses. The service was great and friendly. Give it a go if you are in New York, just dont expect your world to move.

Its a strange world

Its great how every deli I walk into has a decent selection of local craft beer. And alot of them have budweiser cans for $1.50 ON ICE IN THE FRONT OF THE FREAKING STORE! The more I think about it, its really easy to get your booze fix on the go in New york. Southport port area, you can actually buy a beer and its licensed to carry it around the port with you. Coney Island, great little brewery (more on that later) but every second stall seems to be selling pina coladas in yard glasses or coors lite etc.  So it seems to be atleast from my visit that relaxing of liquor laws hasnt really lead to any increase in violence or anything. In every single club/bar/dice we went to we never ever once saw any sort of violence or anything. Same with street drinking. Kinda puts things into perspective. Then again almost everywhere we went we were asked for ID.