Brooklyn Ale

Brewed by Brooklyn Brewery
Style: English Pale Ale
Brooklyn, New York USA

A vigorous pours produces a standard golden colour with a thick, creamy off-white head that fades quickly to a spotty film. The date on the bottle assures that it was brewed this month. The nose is floral and grassy hops, honey and some bready malts. The flavour is balanced but bland, with doughy malt and light fruity hops, with a crisp, grainy and bitter finish. The body is watery and the palate duration is short. Nice for hot summer days, but as I drink this in my tube socks with a foot of snow outside, it is definitely lacking.

Labeled Pennant Ale. Not a fan of English pale ales at all. More malt than hops in this, but not too much of anything. Caramel malty flavor like a bitter or ESB. Crisp finish. Pretty drinkable though.

Bottle. Pours amber with medium off-white head. Aroma is malty with a little light fruit. Taste is semi-sweet with a very light hop finish. Simple but very drinkable.

Clear amber pour with a medium frothy tan head. Malty aroma, buttery, mild hop presence. Butterscotch aroma and flavor to start. Rich malty presence, watering out considerably middle/finish. Thin mouthfeel, hint of lingering roasted maltiness and mild hop bittering to finish. Pretty good.

Bottle. Pours orangish-brown with a nice beige head. Smells of malt and spicy. Tastes of bread, malt and nice hop presence. Lasting aftertaste. Some carmel taste. Pretty good.

Sweet mild malt aroma. Rusty dary copper with a very thin head. Sweet malts with mild hop notes. Mild bitter finish.

Brooklyn Brewery is proud of their Brooklyn heritage and hometown. Brooklyn, New York has a rich history, some good and some bad but all interesting, and the story of how Brooklyn Brewery got started is just as fascinating. As all Brooklynites should be, the fine folks at Brooklyn Brewery are huge baseball fans, and their tribute to America’s favorite past-time is the Pennant Ale. This beer celebrates the year 1955 when the Brooklyn Dodgers won the Pennant. I’m not sure if the Pennant Ale has won any awards yet, but nonetheless, it is a winner in my book.

Burnished copper, she shimmers as if frozen in time, her beauty preserved for all to enjoy. A faintly tinged copper head sits gracefully atop the glimmering beauty below, all while lace threatens to creep up and out of her glassy confines. I stir her depths a few times, releasing a wonderfully bouquet of apples, summer fruits, and butterscotch candies; Werther’s Originals come to mind. Furthering her sweet, fresh fruit bouquet are pears, peaches, cantaloupe, honeydew and kiwi. A touch of prune juice offers an earthy tart snap at the end while a continual undercurrent of butterscotch and caramel carries me away to beervana where the glass is never empty and the sky is always sunny with a gently cooling ocean breeze. As we grow ever more intimate, I surrender myself to her wet and naughty embrace. A very smooth mouthfeel coats gently with butterscotch and caramel while the top of my tongue tingles with lemon seltzer. Applesauce, cantaloupe, honeydew, pears and peaches perfectly match their aromatic presence; she is crisp, refreshing, and exciting with each thirst-quenching quaff. Crunchy bread and sweet rolls flesh out the background as the butterscotch and caramel acts as a sweet glaze for all the fruits. A sprinkling of cinnamon lingers in my breath, even as I savor the last quaff.

An amazing session beer with gobs of flavor and enough drinkability to rival two beers from another brewer. Every now and then Brooklyn Brewery will release a bombtastic beer, but truly their specialty is exquisitely produced beers gleaming with classic style and refined finesse. Well done. Now all we need is for the Brooklyn Dodgers to win a Pennant again.