A Look Back at 2011 Part 3 – Brooklyn, Captain Lawrence, Troegs and Victory
Dan recaps some memorable moments in the craft beer year of 2011 by running down some milestones from the likes of east coast players Brooklyn Brewery, Captain Lawrence, Troegs Brewing and Victory Brewing. Cheers!
Brooklyn Brewery: Brooklyn put their name in the craft can hat this year, canning a batch of Brooklyn Summer ale. I would like to see all of their lighter beers canned eventually. Brewmaster Garret Oliver released The Oxford Companion to Beer. We received an advanced copy for review, and I can tell you that is an amazing body of work, and quite the feat to put such a comprehensive book together. Sadly, some of the facts in the book were publicly corrected in a real crappy way by Martyn Cornell. Luckily Mr. Oliver had the last word..”In my 22 years in brewing, this most convivial of professions, it is the most intemperate and inconsiderate thing I have ever seen a member of the beer community say about any of his peers. I do not agree with or believe everything I read in Mr. Cornell’s books either, but it would never have occurred to me to vilify him in public.”
Captain Lawrence Brewing: While serving up their locals year round with tasty offerings, Captain Lawrence gets national notoriety from beer enthusiasts through their small batch sour ale release parties. This years Cuvee de Castleton release can be added to the list of quick sellouts involving lots of hype, line cutting and subsequent bitch threads on RateBeer,BeerAdvocate and now Facebook. Wonderful right?
Troegs: A usually quiet bunch, Troegs was busy doin’ things this year. They were working hard on their Hershey expansion, while pumping out their brand alongside the Scratch Beer series. John Troegner worked with Stone on arguably the best Stone Collaboration of 2011, Cherry Chocolate Stout. One of the most underrated breweries in the east, this expansion should be real good for them.
Victory: Victory is still impressing craft beer enthusiasts with spot on, clean tasty recipes. They’ve brought Summer of Love, Otto, Headwaters Pale Ale and brought back Helios. Of note, they skipped on Old Horizontal this year due to production constraints. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Click here for Part 1
Click here for Part 2
Click here for Part 4
Click here for Part 5
Click here for Part 6
Click here for Part 7
We will continue to recap the year in craft brew until the ball drops, so stay tuned loyal readers. Cheers!
December 30, 2011 @ 10:57 am
“Luckily Mr. Oliver had the last word.”
Luckily Martyn Cornell had the last word, or, rather, words – 8,500 of them so far, all correcting errors in the OCB (and I’m only up to L).
I was never rude about Garrett Oliver, whom I admire greatly for all he’s done for good beer. I merely pointed out that the OCB repeats a great many errors that others (including me) had previously corrected.