Style: Brown Ale
ABV: 7.5%
IBU: unknown
Availability: limited release, draft only
Pairing: caramelized pork chops, wash-rind cheese, vanilla ice cream, cheeescake

Last night, New York received another great opportunity to visit the Brooklyn Brewery for the invite-only release of Dark Matter, their latest in the Brewmaster’s Reserve series. Brewmaster Garrett Oliver was on hand along along with a laundry list of the city’s finest pub owners, food editors and beer bloggers. Once again, the tap room flowed with some of brewery’s best drafts: Cookie Jar Porter, Monster ’09, Blast, Black Chocolate Stout ’09, Pilsner and more. The Bedford Cheese Shop and The Meat Hook were on hand to supply a nice meat and cheese compliment Dark Matter’s vanilla-oaked, sweet palate of flavors.

Look at that lacing! Lindsay (@icantdrive) enjoys her first sips of Dark Matter

Style: English Porter
ABV: 7.8%
IBU: unknown
Availability: limited release, draft only
Pairing: oatmeal cookies, braised pork, bbq, funky cheese, Brooklyn Brewery Carbonade

Last night I had a chance to swing by the Brooklyn Brewery for the premier tasting of their latest in the Brewmaster’s Reserve series, Cookie Jar Porter. Brewmaster Garrett Oliver was on hand to discuss the beer and the tasting room flowed freely with some of brewery’s best drafts: Cookie Jar Porter, Monster ’07, Manhattan Project (a personal favorite), Blast, Brooklyner Weiss and more. The Cookie Jar Porter was paired with the brew’s inspiration, Oatmeal cookies from Feed Your Soul Bakery, as well as select cheese from the Bedford Cheese Shop.  Overall it was a great event and good to see the whole Brooklyn Brewery team and NYC craft beer family out enjoying themselves.

Appearance: Draft pours a deep brown color with a dark tan head. Due to the draft pour, there was little to no lacing initially but a slight swirl developed a subtle head and some nice residual lacing.

Smell: Chocolate and roasted malts on the nose. The Marris-Otter malt – a favorite of European beers – comes through as well. Hints of raisin and some pine hop notes

Taste: There’s a surprisingly light body to the Cookie Jar Porter and a more tart flavor than I was expecting. Lots and lots of raisin notes come forward (the source of the tart/sour flavors) as well as chocolate and caramel flavors and some herbal, woody hints from the Willamette hops. As the beer warms, som vanilla and honey flavors develop but they primarily the supporting cast for the chocolate malt.

Mouthfeel: A fine light carbonation and bitterness hit the tongue. Slightly dry finish.

Drinkability: Cookie Jar Porter has a surprisingly light bodied for having such a heavy sounding name. If you like malty beers with tart and bitter notes then this will go down easy. Initially, I thought one was enough but ended up drinking three to hunt down all the flavors. Its not a growler fill, per say, but a pint or two will go down without question.

Overall: The name Cookie Jar Porter threw me for a loop on this one. I was expecting something candy sweet, almost like a Breury 2 Turtle Doves. Instead, this is much more like a traditional English porter (with American Willamette hops rather than the British Fuggles). Once I realigned my palate out of “desert beer mode” I really appreciated all of the subtle tart and bitter notes to be found here. This reminds me a bit of a Dogfish Head Raison D’Etre but with more British Ale elements.

Brewing Note:
Malts: Floor Malted Maris Otter, British crystal, chocolate and caramel malts.
Other Grains: Whole Golden Oats
Other Sugars: Brown sugar, pureed raisins, wildflower honey
Hops: Willamette
OG: 19% Plato
ABV: 7.8% ABV

Style: IPA, American
ABV: 6.9%
IBU: 65
Availability: year round
Pairing: onion rings, brie cheese, pizza, pasta puttanesca, brined olives
Summary: A well balanced year round IPA that’s a great standby for pizza night or on your local tap.

Continuing my goal to rekindle a love for the IPA, this time I turn to Lakewood, New York’s Southern Tier Brewery to check out what they consider the great American IPA. This one pours a clear orange-amber color with a one-finger white head that settles to a slight film leaving little lacing on the glass. The aroma is pleasant and more malt-forward than your typical IPA registering a balance of sweet, caramel notes and floral hops. The flavor is right inline with the nose and it’s a caramel malt and pale malt palate with a mildly assertive bitterness from the floral and citrus hop flavors flavors. Without getting too technical, there is a nice cascade hop flavor which is one of my favorites so this one goes down easy with some nice surprise woody undertones that arise as the flavor lingers.

This is a pretty middle of the road take on an American IPA which seems like exactly what Southern Tier are going for in a year round offering. It’s a nice standby – both well balanced and drinkable – and the darker caramel malt does add some unique character. One drawback for me is the 6.9% ABV which makes something this drinkable a tough a session beer and , while there are not enough stand-out flavors to make it worth hunting down, Iwould not hesitate to grab one on tap with dinner.