APRIL 8, 2000: Charlotte, NC -- Imagine having a choice of brews from over 48 different breweries in your own town! Well, that's what it was like about a century ago in the most famous borough of New York City. I'm speaking, of course, of Brooklyn, USA. In the 19th century, Brooklyn was usually the first stop for thousands upon thousands of European immigrants seeking out a new life in America. Among these immigrants were Germans who brought with them a taste for good quality beer and the traditions of brewing in strict accordance to the reinheitsgebot, the German purity law of 1516. Brooklyn, along with other now historical brewing cities such as St. Louis and Milwaukee, quickly became the new American brewing centers of the past century.

Unfortunately, by the later half of the 20th century, most of these Brooklyn breweries closed their doors because of the various socioeconomic pressures such as the mass production breweries that sprouted shortly after the repeal of the Volstead (Prohibition) act. The last of these breweries, Schaefer and Rheingold, shut down in 1976. But then in 1987, journalist Steve Hindy and banker Tom Potter quit their jobs and established the Brooklyn Brewery. Their mission was simple: bring good beer back to New York City, and they did

Garret Oliver joined Brooklyn Brewery in 1993 and the brewmaster and designed the new brewhouse in Brooklyn. A native New Yorker, Garrett is widely regarded as one of the leading brewmasters in America. He co-founded the New York City Homebrewer’s Guild in the mid-1980’s and later left his job with a prestigious Manhattan law firm to become an apprentice brewer at the Manhattan Brewing Co., the first brewpub in New York City.

SInce it opened its doors back in '87, the Brooklyn Brewery has found a loyal following all along the east coast and has grown by leaps and bounds. The company's new 25 barrel brewery, opened May 1996 by Mayor Rudy Giuliani, is one of the largest in the East and Brooklyn's first commercial brewery in 20 years. They now offer 11 different brews ranging in styles from lagers to "Brooklyner Weisse"

Brooklyn Beers

The first beer to be produced at the Brooklyn Brewery was the Brooklyn Lager. This brew is a pre-Prohibition recipe that dates back to the days when Brooklyn was the brewing capital of the East Coast. Other recent additions to the brew line up include: BROOKLYN BLACK CHOCOLATE STOUT BROOKLYN PILSNER BROOKLYN PENNANT PALE ALE '55 BROOKLYNER WEISSE BROOKLYNER DUNKEL WEISSE BREUKELEN ABBEY ALE BLANCHE DE BROOKLYN BROOKLYN MONSTER ALE

So, next time you find yourself in New York, cross over the Brooklyn Bridge at stop by the premiere New York Brewery. The brewery is open Saturdays from noon to 4 pm EST for guided tours and beer tastings. The Tasting Room can be rented for private functions, catered by the highly rated Brooklyn chef Michael Ayoub of Cucina and Mike 'n Tony's.

For more information: info@brooklynbrewery.com

The Good Beer Book   by Timothy Harper, Garrett Oliver (Contributor)  Editorial Reviews From Booklist , March 15, 1997 Harper and Oliver's beer book is twice good: it is about good--flavorful, zesty, attractive--beer, and it is a good--amusing, informative, lively--book. It covers beer history, how and of what beer is made, the major styles of lagers and ales, the rebirth of American craft brewing, the rise of brewpubs, big brewers' response to craft brewing, and proper beer handling and tasting, and it provides advice on beer and food, annotated lists of outstanding American and European breweries, a little gazetteer of brewpubs and beer bars, some home brew recipes, online and periodical resource lists, and a glossary. Other books are more comprehensive on one or another, even several, of these matters (e.g., there are book-length beer gazetteers), but none treats them all so well at so reasonable a price. Skoal! Ray Olson