Updates from Brooklyn: new beer, new book, new fermenters

There’s a lot going on over on North 11th Street in Brooklyn these days. Some of the happenings at Brooklyn Brewery are pretty obvious to see - like the massive 200-barrel fermenters above that were craned into their newly-expanded space last week. This was one of 17 (!) new tanks at the brewery to complete its multi-million dollar expansion that will let them brew a whole lot more beer in Brooklyn.

Other happenings at the brewery are a little less obvious, like the new book that brewmaster Garrett Oliver is about to publish, and the accompanying new beer that will be brewed to celebrate its release…

As Editor-in-Chief, Garrett Oliver has been working with a team of contributors on The Oxford Companion to Beer. The book will have an A-to-Z list of over 1,100 important topics and definitions on beer, from Adjuncts to Zymergy and everything in between. The 848-page book will have dozens of photographs, and contributions from over 150 different beer writers, experts, and scientists.

The book will be released in September. But just signing books and visiting bookstores isn’t the right way to celebrate the most comprehensive book ever written on beer, so Brooklyn Brewery will be brewing up their next Brewmaster’s Reserve beer to mark the book’s release.

Meet The Companion - a wheat wine (yes, like a barleywine, except with much more wheat in the grain bill) brewed with 55% wheat malt from Weyermann Maltings, whose technical manager Thomas Kraus-Weyermann also contributed to the new book. The beer’s description, from the brewery:

Thomas created special new floor malts for The Companion, which is brewed in an old style called “wheat wine”, a wheat-based equivalent to barley wine. The floor malts give this beer a juicy malt character of considerable depth, 55% malted wheat gives it a surprising lightness on the palate, while our house ale yeast lends a gentle fruitiness.

Not surprisingly, the beer will also be released in September - during New York Craft Beer Week, in fact. We’ll keep an eye out for it and let you know when it’s available!

August 5, 2011

5 notes /