Brooklyn Brewery

Brooklyn Brewery is a brewery in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. It was started in 1988 by Steve Hindy and Tom Potter.

Brooklyn Brewery
LocationBrooklyn, New York
U.S.
Opened1988 (1988)
Annual production volume217,000 US beer barrels (255,000 hL) in 2013[1]
Websitewww.brooklynbrewery.com
Active beers
Name Type
Brooklyn Lager Vienna Lager
Brooklyn American Ale American Pale Ale
Brooklyn Brown Ale American Brown Ale
East India Pale Ale India Pale Ale
Brooklyn Pilsner Pilsner
Brooklyn Defender IPA India Pale Ale
Hecla Iron Ale Dark Ale
Brooklyn Blast! Double IPA
Brooklyn Greenmarket Wheat Weisse
Scorcher IPA Session IPA
Brooklyn Brewery 1/2 Ale - Saison
Local 1 Golden Ale
Local 2 Dark Abbey Ale
Sorachi Ace Farmhouse Saison
Brooklyn Shackmeister Ale Bitter
Special Effects Alkohol Free 0.4 ALC |style=Hoppy Lager Hoppy Lager

History

Hindy learned to brew beer during a six-year stay in various Middle Eastern nations such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Upon his return to his home in Brooklyn in 1984, he and Potter, his downstairs neighbor from Park Slope, quit their jobs and founded the brewery.[2] The pair hired graphic designer Milton Glaser, best known as the creator of the logo for the I Love New York campaign, to create the company logo and identity.[3][4] Glaser received a share in the company in return.[5]

Originally all their beer was brewed by contract by Matt Brewing Company, and the pair started their own distribution company and personally transported and marketed their beer to bars and retailers around New York City.[6] In 1996, they acquired a former matzo factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and converted it into a functional brewery.[2][7]

Although the brewery looked to expand its brewing capacity in the City, originally most of the production, including all Brooklyn Lager and all bottled products, were brewed by contract in the upstate New York city of Utica, due to the limited ability to meet demand at the Williamsburg brewery, its lack of a bottling line, and the cost benefits of contract brewing. The company later sought to expand its facilities in Brooklyn, but had difficulty finding a suitable site within the borough.[8] However, an economic recession allowed them to remain in Williamsburg and undertake a $6.5 million expansion of the brewery in 2009.[9]

Since 1994, Garrett Oliver has been the Brooklyn Brewery brewmaster. He had first been appointed brewmaster at the Manhattan Brewing Company of New York in 1993 where he began brewing professionally as an apprentice in 1989. In 2003 he published the book "The Brewmaster's Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food". Garrett has also been a judge at the Great American Beer Festival for eleven years.[10]

In 2016, they announced that they were looking to relocate their specialty brewing operation in Williamsburg after their landlord, Yoel Goldman, put the building up for sale as they would not be able to renew their lease for a reasonable price given escalating real estate prices.[11] They also plan to relocate their main brewery in Utica, New York to a $70 million, 200,000-square-foot facility on Staten Island.[11]

Japanese corporation Kirin acquired a 24.5% stake in the brewery in October 2016.[12]

Distribution

Since December 30, 2016, the Carlsberg Group has an agreement with Brooklyn Brewery to distribute its beers in Europe, the UK, and Hong Kong. Carlsberg has opened a craft brewery in Lithuania to produce Brooklyn Lager under license.[13] Brooklyn Brewery has acquired London Fields Brewery in a joint venture with Carlsberg.[14]

Marketing

The brewery has taken a less conventional approach to marketing and advertising, relying more on word-of-mouth, brand visibility at bars as well as donations to, and sponsorship of, nonprofits.[15] Organizations sponsored by the brewery include Eat Drink Local Week,[16] Desertfest,[17] the Culinary Institute of America's Hyde Park campus,[18] New York Harbor Restoration,[19] the Brooklyn Museum[20] and The New York Poetry Festival.[21]

Beer School
Beer School: Bottling Success At The Brooklyn Brewery
AuthorSteve Hindy and Tom Potter
LanguageEnglish
GenreBusiness
PublisherJohn Wiley & Sons
Publication date
September 21, 2005
Pages304
ISBN0471735124

In 2005 Hindy and Potter published Beer School: Bottling Success At The Brooklyn Brewery through John Wiley & Sons.[6] The book is both a guide to entrepreneurship and beer brewing as well as a memoir of the authors' time together while building the Brooklyn Brewery. Beer School goes over topics such as building teams as well as guerrilla marketing and publicity, with each chapter being written around a theme in the brewery's history. The book is told through the perspectives of both Hindy and Potter, and received mostly positive reviews from critics.[22][23]

Honors

Esquire magazine selected the Brooklyn Lager 16 ounce as one of the "Best Canned Beers to Drink Now" in a February, 2012 article.[24]

Examples of Beers Brewed by Brooklyn Brewery
  • Brooklyn Lager
  • Brooklyn East India Pale Ale

See also

References
  1. "Ottaway Brothers Assume Leadership Roles at Brooklyn Brewery". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-10-28.
  2. Williams, Lena (June 2, 1996). "Could the Dodgers Follow? Brewing Returns to Brooklyn". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
  3. Foltz, Kim (November 13, 1990). "Lotas Minard Swaps Work for Equity Stake". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-01-22.
  4. "Case Studies: Brooklyn Brewery". Milton Glaser Inc. Archived from the original on 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2011-10-01.
  5. Acitelli, Tom (2013). The Audacity of Hops: The History of America's Craft Beer Revolution. Chicago: Chicago Review Press. p. 158. ISBN 9781613743881. OCLC 828193572.
  6. Hindy, Steve; Potter, Tom (2005). Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-73512-4.
  7. Furman, Phyllis (April 16, 2007). "Brooklyn's King of Beers". Daily News. New York. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
  8. McGeehan, Patrick (July 20, 2008). "Double Edge to Brooklyn's Success". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
  9. McGeehan, Patrick (November 1, 2009). "Soft Real Estate Market Is a Key Ingredient at Brooklyn Brewery". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
  10. Smagalski, Carolyn. "Garrett Oliver - Brooklyn Brewmaster of Beer and Food". BellaOnline.com. Retrieved 2010-01-22.
  11. The Real Deal: "Brooklyn Brewery looking for 60K sf for brewing operation - The well-known beer brand is checking out Navy Yard, Industry City for space" February 23, 2016
  12. "Here's why Brooklyn Brewery sold a 24% stake to Japan's Kirin". Fortune. Retrieved 2019-02-09.
  13. "Newsroom » Carlsberg and Brooklyn open new craft brewery in Lithuania « Carlsberg Group". Carlsberg Group. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  14. +AmericanCraftBeer.com (2017-07-04). "Carlsberg UK Buys London Fields Brewery And Brooklyn Brewery's In The Mix!". American Craft Beer. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
  15. "How Brooklyn Brewery Tripled Sales In 5 Years Without Traditional Advertising". Business Insider. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  16. "Meet our Eat Drink Local Week Sponsors: Brooklyn Brewery". Edible Manhattan. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  17. "Brooklyn Brewery to Sponsor Desertfest and Host Free Show". Desertfest. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  18. "Brooklyn Brewery to Open at CIA Hyde Park in 2015". Eater. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  19. "Brooklyn Brewery Promotes New York Harbor Restoration with Billion Oyster Saison". Brewbound. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  20. "Brooklyn Museum Corporate Sponsorships". Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  21. "Prepare ye for the New York Poetry Festival". Literary Manhattan. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  22. "Nonfiction Review: Beer School". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
  23. "Book Report – Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery". Seattle PI. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
  24. "Best Canned Beers to Drink Now". Esquire magazine via Yahoo news website. 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2012-02-22.

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