I can hear you all thinking, “A lager? on Beer Reviews??” It’s not the first time – I reviewed Brewdog’s 77 Lager a while back, and when this one was sent to me I thought it would be rude not go give it a go.
With Brooklyn Lager, the word “Lager” is a bit misleading as it’s not what most people would class as lager and I think it’s got more in common with something like Flying Dog Doggie Style.
Brooklyn Lager...or should it be beer?
For a start it pours a lovely golden amber colour with a big frothy head and has a wickedly hoppy aroma, it’s quite floral which comes from the cascade hops that they have used (which just happen to be one of my favourite hops).
Taste wise Brooklyn Lager is great, its light and bubbly but silky smooth, the floral hops really come through along with some citrus and a malty sweetness and then finished off with a dry bitterness from the hops which lasts a good while and makes the beer very moorish.
I drank the beer with a rather tasty steak served with a spicy sauce and potato rosti, the beer really held it’s own against the strong flavours and really complimented both the spice and the beef.
Since I first wrote this review I also found Brooklyn Lager in the Giraffe restaurant in Manchester Airport’s Terminal one, and in my opinion it was the best beer available in the whole of the terminal, their burgers were pretty tasty too and they had stacks of chilli sauces.
Brooklyn Lager is available from Oddbins and retails at £1.69, which for an ale that has to come all the way from the USA is a really really good price and I will certainly be buying a case or two of this come the summer time.
You can find more about Brooklyn Brewery on their website here
Brooklyn is a great lager indeed.
It does bug me though that people get all sniffy about lager as if it’s some kind of poor relation. Lager is just a style of beer and there are some good and some bad just like ale or stout but somehow they don’t seem to get the same bad press!!
Seems to me that all lagers are bad until a good one like Brooklyn comes along and then it’s called a beer so people don’t have to feel so bad about drinking it. Be brave – admit you like lager, we’ll still talk to you ;o)
heheh thanks Kristy, the first bit was meant to be a bit tongue in cheek and I do like some lagers – harviestoun schiehallion, brewdog 77 and hopdaemon hellas to name but a few. Actually I used to be quite partial to a pint of Carling premier.
I have also seen a few craft lagers kicking around that I want to get my hands on in the summer (do I remember seeing you drinking one from Worthingtons?), but for me Brooklyn fell into more of the beer than lager category, it was darker, flatter and creamier than what I would tend to class as Lager.
You are right though about the sniffy about lager bit, I wonder if it’s just because people are usually presented with bland, fizzy and boring pints, that they get a bit sick of it, a bit like some of the boring bitters that are kicking around.
About 90% of what I drink in Germany is lager of some sort. Schwarzbiers, Bocks, Pils, Export, whatever, I live in lagerland, and there’s a lot of different flavours to be had!