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EP 815 Beer Tasting at Brooklyn Brewery with Garrett Oliver

Gary travels to Brooklyn to visit with brewmaster Garrett Oliver, to taste some interesting beers. Gary and Garrett discuss the beer and wine industry and Garrett’s new book, The Brewmaster’s Table.

Wines tasted in this episode:

Brooklyn Brewery Local 1
Brooklyn Brewery Local 2
Brooklyn Brewery Black Ops

Links mentioned in todays episode.


Latest Comment:

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luca bercelli

91/100

I started out thinking the guest wasn’t too great but he won me over in the end and it turned out to be a fascinating and entertaining episode.

Tags: beer, Brooklyn Brewery, review, Video

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  • I'm with you on this one, he's one cool **************** ! (Fill in the blanks yourself)

    ; )

  • Agreed!

  • The new one i mean, the new single?

  • TommyB

    Listening to the DJ Jus Ed “I Still Get No Love! EP”… 1,2 1,2… yeah..

  • plcb

    Great guest.

    QOTD: ?

  • Alco Holland

    Nice I've been asking G to interview him for like 3 years now! Nice interview much better than that first beer guy you had 😉

    QOTD: I'd love to see what you could do with sours Mr Oliver. Brooklyn for me has always been the masters of sessionable beers that are spot on to style. The Brewmaster's series have been incredible. A funky flemish red from you guys would make my day.

  • Alco Holland

    Local 1 is in the farmhouse style FWIW

  • Anonymous

    you just mentioned my two favorite styles of beer! Do you know of anywhere around Sacramento I could get that? Bevmo perhaps?

  • wayno daaa wiiiiinooooooo

    YEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAW, GREEN DAY!!!!!! Didn't get their last album, but Ya got
    me motivated ta get it NOOOOOOOW!!!!! :o)

  • richritterinny

    QOTD: Put your brewmaster/marketing cap on and make that Vayniac Brew. Your audience plus Gary's audience, sprinkle in several hundred Vayniacs to help out at a “recipe” party, a label contest, etc. etc. and you have yourself a guaranteed winner.

  • corkscrew

    Great guest, when someone has passion for what they do it's always enjoyable to listen and learn. My son being in college enjoys beer and has good taste with some of these micro brews, I will stick to wine but will enjoy a beer now and then. Garrett, How about a carrot cake style beer? http://www.winelx.com

  • I am a Long Island Guy and I would LOVE to see a big (as in sour) Saison Brett. Long Island beer And Malt Entusiast would love to have a beer with you guys 🙂

  • Nice shout out to Victory Brewing – love their stuff!

  • jbgoode

    Great episode…..would love to have a COLD ONE with both you guys.

    On serious note I live in the BACKWARD DICTATOR STATE OF MASS. Could use some help getting the ridiculous no wine shipped into the state law changed, how absurd! Gary use you powers of good the next time to talk to anyone to open the doors to free commerce, what are these MOOPS afraid of anyway. FREE THE PEOPLE OF MASS.

  • jayhitek

    Great episode. Thought you two girls would never shut up though!
    QOTD: Actually I have had and enjoyed Brooklyn Brewery beers before.

  • cellarrat5

    Wow. This sounds like an interlude in one of Maynard's albums (listen to 10,000 days if you have not already done so). This person is either brilliant, or on some crazy combination of uppers downers laughers and screamers. I cannot make heads or tails of the overall meaning, but there are subtle things in there I find interesting.

  • cellarrat5

    she/he/it mentions that GV was more attractive to “her” when he was starting out; “innocence… less bymybook…” etc. Also she rambles about her not being a racist and that her humor is an interesting brand at the least and people should not take her seriously. She also basically says that she can see through the bull Sh*t with her special specs she got with Crush It! She also specifically mentions a couple of people by name (I have no idea who they are) and does not seem to like what they have done as far as I can tell. There is more but I would need my Rosetta Crazy Stone to decipher it all.

  • ironmics

    Great episode and guest, but it's kind of funny seeing all of you east coast people thinking that craft beer is some new hot thing.

  • cellarrat5

    I, and many others, have always said it takes a lot of good beer to make good wine. This was fantastic, glad you did not split it up GV! That beer looked and sounded amazing, we have a lot of Micro Brews in CA, nice shout out to Russian River, their stuff is fantastic as well! Garrett was definitively one of the better guests on WLTV, obviously at the top of his art.

    QOTD: never had Brooklyn Breweries concoctions, for starters they could make friends and hook us up with BB's beer in CA! I will be your friend and single handedly hook you up with all the distributors/friends you need over here!

  • ironmics

    Russian River put out some great stuff, just wish their distribution was more consistent. For a couple months Blind Pig and Pliny the Elder was everywhere up here, now it has completely disappeared.

    Takes a lot of beer to make wine, and a lot of coffee to make beer. In my experience it takes a lot of all three to make wine 😉

  • philoxera

    A show on Beer and you don't feature Guinness 🙁

  • cellarrat5

    I agree, Pliny the Elder is extinct in most parts of CA now. Pliney the Youger, rated one of the best beers in the world, sold out in about 7 hours. My roomate drove there only to find that it was gone. I cant believe they make such small batches, but I suppose they have thier reasons.

  • ironmics

    And for good reason haha, nothing bad against Guinness. It certainly has its place, but it's just an ok beer and there are a lot of better stouts out there.

  • huskerjamie

    Best guest in WLTV history?

    QOTD: What could BB do for me? How about get distributed in Nebraska?

  • great episode.

    YES A VAYNIAC BEER WOULD BE GREAT!!!

  • Tom

    Great guest. If he created a daily video for beer, I'd probably watch it. One of the few guests that I can remember that stood up to Gary's intensity.

    QOTD: I don't think that I have had a Brooklyn Brewery beer (yet). I do love Lambic beers though.

  • Amazing Guest! I don't mind Wine's and Beer's that are a little Bretty. The smoky bacon bit flavors it gives are nice. However to much of it tastes like Band Aids.

    QOTD: Make a Beer that represents a favorite American Breakfast Dish.

  • scotty b

    Facinating episode. Garrett and you see a lot alike.

    QOTD: Bring your beers out to CA!!! I respect that you're waiting for the right deal though. I would too. Maybe this is how I can justify eating at French Laundry!

  • David,

    Can you get the Brooklyn Beers? If so, write back and I'll stop by to get some!

    Ore

  • ChicagoMatt

    Great episode.

    Loved that Garrett gave a shout out to New Glarus. Only distributed in Wisconsin (boo!), but the Spotted Cow is my favorite beer of all time.

  • Great show – well done. Garrett, when will your beers be available in Southern Cali? I could swear that I've seen them around but maybe its beer dreams from life on the East Coast. I drank a lot of Brooklyn when at the CIA but never made it down for a tour. Keep it coming.

  • caught the last 15 minutes of the ustream just now , so a white wine show tomorrow?
    Got a bottle of Black ops today here in Sweden. They released about 200 bottels at 30 bones each in Stockholm. A good stephson bought one and even picked up a CDP of god standard as well. Good lad 🙂

  • What an awesome episode! And since the gauntlet was thrown to the lurkers, I guess I'll pop out again to leave my thoughts: AMAZING SHOW. Seriously, I've had nothing but love for Brooklyn Brewery for years now, and this episode not only reminds me to get back to drinking more of it, but to try the Local 1 and Local 2, and to see if I can find that Black Ops!

    As for the QoTD: I'd definitely love Brooklyn Brewery to extend its reach a little further west if at all possible. I'm on the East Coast right now but can't share my love with folks I know on the west coast – and considering I may be headed that way sometime soon, I'd love to be able to have it where I land!

    Then again, I could just move to Brooklyn and drop by on the weekends…

  • DPnCali

    Hmm…well, thanks for trying to clear it up? :/

  • alienrelic

    Fantastic Show! A great guest! I'm reminded of my one, and unfortunately only, trip to England, where I learned that wonderful phrase “A pint of bitter, please.”
    QOTD: As far as I know, you have not come to Florida. I would love to see that change.

  • cfiore8557

    QOTD: Increase your allocations for the Connecticut market!

  • digitaltaper

    Garrett,

    Time to start inocculating some of those barrels with some Brett, Pedio and Lacto! I was driving home from CT yesterday and I took a detour through Poughkeepsie, NY yesterday to stop at Half Time beverage. I left with around 35 bottles of Lambics, Flanders and other wild beers.

  • KVM1985

    This is officially my favorite episode!!! LOVE IT. I am a huge fan of Mr. Oliver, his new book (from what I've read so far), and his beers (especially Brooklyn Local 1, 2, and Black Chocolate Stout). GREAT show! I loved the smooth, easy yet informative conversation. It didn't seem like an interview, but a dialogue. Awesome!

    QOTD: I don't know about “bread,” but I do enjoy sour beers from time to time (they are always fun and different to sample). I guess it was already mentioned as happening, but I love it when breweries collaborate, so keep doing that as much as possible! It's great to see breweries swapping ideas and ingredients to see how the end product differs from the products of any one single-source.

  • sara l

    qotd: the second the idea about a carrot cake beer–complete with a lil cream cheese frosting…

  • jbrady175

    After lurking for quite awhile I had to finally post a few comments. I got really psyched about wine after geeking out on craft beers for several years and enjoy great examples of both tremendously – so much that I am an avid home winemaker and sometimes homebrewer. This was the meeting of the minds I always wanted to see. Knowledgeable beer people meeting with knowledgeable wine people. Awesome – both beverages have a lot to offer.

    Also have to mention the book by the founders of Brooklyn Brewery is one of the two best and most inspiring business books I've read in the past year (the other being Crush-it). Awesome read. I've been slacking on buying Garrett's book, but I'll be grabbing that soon as well.

    qotd: I'm super-pumped about Brett/sour beers, especially those aged in wine barrels (Russian River BC has the best examples but there are many others). I would love to see more of these widely distributed, but I also see many brewers pushing to make beers that are from the hot new categories (Imperial stouts, Double IPAs, various barrel aged projects) only to come out with a mediocre effort. I consider Brooklyn Brewery to be very good at putting out some wonderful regular offerings and exciting one-offs. I would love to see some really well made Sour/Brett stuff from them, but I wonder if this is too far away from their bread and butter.

    Keep up the good work!

  • Grill Factor

    One of my favorite episodes ever.

    QOTD: How about an old school English brewed alcoholic ginger beer!!!

  • SourGrapesFC

    O My God that was a great show. Garrett, I had a Local 1 on Friday night– thank you. I'm glad to know that such a nice guy made the beer that brought me so much pleasure. I live in Austin, Tx, and I enjoy your brews from time to time (mixed in with the local Central Texas breweries, of course). I agree with you about Allagash and Victory (I had some of their brews on Saturday): both are stellar players. If you get a chance, you should check out Real Ale, St Arnolds and Live Oak from here in Texas (St Arnolds is a Houston company; the other two from around Austin). Live Oak's “Big Bark” tastes like Brooklyn Lager's long lost brother. I think you should go all in with the Brett; I love sour beers and hope to see more of them in the US in general. We've got hoppy nailed, and we're doing some great things with wheats and stouts, so it's time to bring Brett out to play in the States. Thank you, Mr Brewmaster, and keep doing what you're doing.

  • SourGrapesFC

    Guinness is swill, especially when it's been shipped all the way to the States. Stouts aren't really made for shipping, and Guinness isn't that great to begin with.

  • Joseph

    QOTD: Going for the first question, Bret is GREAT in moderation. The hint of stinky sock on the nose is intriguing but it can quickly over power the flavor. Sour beer is fun and I like to buy a bottle or two a year but it is definitely not an everyday beer. I don't know what to tell you to do differently that you're not already doing! Expand and sell to the masses!

  • SourGrapesFC

    I had Victory's American Strong ale on Saturday. Really, really good stuff. I drink the heck out of their pilsner in the summer.

  • SourGrapesFC

    I had a great Boulevard Saison a couple of weeks ago, and I have some of their Irish Ale in the fridge right now. They make consistently great products.

  • That was a ROUGH zoomy-zoom…

    +1 for the book. One of my favorite books of all time. Really, really great book with TONS of useful information on just about every style of beer.

    Garrrett had some great shout outs for breweries. But how about a little more West Coast love. 🙂

    QOTD: How about make your beer more available on the West Coast. The Washington beer scene is HUGE but finding Brooklyn beer is tough.

    As for the brett, the more the merrier as long as it's done well. Don't let it infect the entire brewhouse.

  • SourGrapesFC

    Sam Adams is consistently high quality, interesting and drinkable. Gary should try to have Jim Koch on for the next beer episode (though there may be some Jets/Pats issues to work through).

  • SourGrapesFC

    Yep, most people miss out on beer’s aromatics because they drink it out of the bottle. It’s hard to get a sniffy-sniff through a long-neck.

  • SourGrapesFC

    Tsingtao is a pretty good Chinese beer; it comes from the former German sphere of influence in the north.

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