Kronenbourg 1664

[naguere]

Edited October 7, 2005 by naguere (log)

[TongoRad]

just bought a 6pk of brooklyn lager which comes in a brown bottle, priced within range, & has date of freshness - all good; although haven't tasted yet.

It's a good beer, I hope you enjoy it. FWIW- the Brooklyn Lager is a different beer than the Brooklyn Pilsener. It is an amber lager broadly in the Vienna style and will have more caramel character and roundness on the palate than the pils. It should still suit your purposes quite well and if you do like it you will probably be able to find it easier than the Pilsener, so there's a plus. Cheers.

[jgould]

just bought a 6pk of brooklyn lager which comes in a brown bottle, priced within range, & has date of freshness - all good; although haven't tasted yet.

It's a good beer, I hope you enjoy it. FWIW- the Brooklyn Lager is a different beer than the Brooklyn Pilsener. It is an amber lager broadly in the Vienna style and will have more caramel character and roundness on the palate than the pils. It should still suit your purposes quite well and if you do like it you will probably be able to find it easier than the Pilsener, so there's a plus. Cheers.

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thx, interestingly i didn't notice, just saw: brooklyn, brown bottle, & then looked at the freshness date on the bottle. not being familiar with the brooklyn beer brand(s), did not realize til u pointed out lager v. pilsner, or that they make several types!!!

what SHOULD be the most notable differences bet the 2 (besides 1 being a lager & 1 being a pilsener )???? & which of brooklyn beers most closely match a kronenbourg or harp's or heineken??? or better yet, can anyone take a brooklyn beer type & name a close cousin of another competing brand?

i find the freshness date on the bottle to be a big plus, & have not noticed other brands that do the same. it also makes sense, as someone pointed out above, that a "locally" made beer SHOULD BE fresher in that it has a shorter distance to travel with less wear-&-tear via light, heat, etc...

also notice (finally) they make a pale ale - how does this compare to a sierra nevada pale ale?

last nite, @yankee stadium, had a yeugling (sic), ok, but not to my particular taste.

Edited October 8, 2005 by jgould (log)

[naguere]

just bought a 6pk of brooklyn lager which comes in a brown bottle, priced within range, & has date of freshness - all good; although haven't tasted yet.

It's a good beer, I hope you enjoy it. FWIW- the Brooklyn Lager is a different beer than the Brooklyn Pilsener. It is an amber lager broadly in the Vienna style and will have more caramel character and roundness on the palate than the pils. It should still suit your purposes quite well and if you do like it you will probably be able to find it easier than the Pilsener, so there's a plus. Cheers.

←

thx, interestingly i didn't notice, just saw: brooklyn, brown bottle, & then looked at the freshness date on the bottle. not being familiar with the brooklyn beer brand(s), did not realize til u pointed out lager v. pilsner, or that they make several types!!!

what SHOULD be the most notable differences bet the 2 (besides 1 being a lager & 1 being a pilsener )???? & which of brooklyn beers most closely match a kronenbourg or harp's or heineken??? or better yet, can anyone take a brooklyn beer type & name a close cousin of another competing brand?

i find the freshness date on the bottle to be a big plus, & have not noticed other brands that do the same. it also makes sense, as someone pointed out above, that a "locally" made beer SHOULD BE fresher in that it has a shorter distance to travel with less wear-&-tear via light, heat, etc...

also notice (finally) they make a pale ale - how does this compare to a sierra nevada pale ale?

last nite, @yankee stadium, had a yeugling (sic), ok, but not to my particular taste.

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http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/features/dictionary.html

I can't keep up with this, so will bow out.

[jgould]

I can't keep up with this, so will bow out.

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i really would not have thought this would be that taxing its not exactly rocket science

[TongoRad]

thx, interestingly i didn't notice, just saw: brooklyn, brown bottle, & then looked at the freshness date on the bottle. not being familiar with the brooklyn beer brand(s), did not realize til u pointed out lager v. pilsner, or that they make several types!!!

what SHOULD be the most notable differences bet the 2 (besides 1 being a lager & 1 being a pilsener  )???? & which of brooklyn beers most closely match a kronenbourg or harp's or heineken???

If you're looking for something akin to the Kronenbourg or Heineken then the Brooklyn Pils is definitely what you should be after. It is a pale beer with a crisp slightly bitter finish and a hop (herbal, grassy) accented nose. Stylistically it is in the same ballpark as those beers, and a better beer IMO. The Brooklyn Lager is an amber beer that pulls back on the hops a bit and has more of a rounded malt quality- similar to Samuel Adams or Saranac Amber. For accompaniment to pizza, Chinese food, etc., and a ballgame those are all enjoyable beers at a good price point, but aren't in the same style as the Pilsener.

also notice (finally) they make a pale ale - how does this compare to a sierra nevada pale ale?

No comparisson. Sierra Nevada is far superior. In fact, the Pale Ale(blue label) is probably the only Brooklyn beer that I flat out just don't like- muddy flavors, overly dry finish, no complexity to speak of...Their East India Pale Ale, otoh, really nails it (big floral hops and malt, fruity overtones of pineapple and mango) but at 7% AbV is getting pretty far afield of what you are looking for.

[jgould]

thx v. much, the detail i was looking for. also enjoyed your mentioning the other beers brooklyn's beers were similar to. btw, what beer(s) compare to brklyn's e. india pale ale; & why is the e. india so good, & the pale ale, so bad???

the amber, which i bought somewhat in error (see above) turns out to be very good, but a little too heavy. possibly my bias.

the pils "sounds like" the one i wanted, particularly when having chinese, watching ballgame, hamburgers, etc...

however, your description of the e. india pale ale, strikes me as the creme-de-la-creme, as well as my next purchase for comparison to the "amber".

my tastes find sierra a little too bitter, anchor steam ok, but missing that "something...", harp's "has been" my go-to beer. each time i change, i find others do not compare. i know harp's is not considered anything special, but again, for my taste, it satisfies.

lastly, although i said i liked the freshness dates on brklyn's bottles, hard to understand the drink-by date via their bar chart - can u interpret?

also, what others provide a sell-by date, or a drink-by date?

Edited October 10, 2005 by jgould (log)

[jgould]

additionally (to the above), is there someplace in manhattan that carries san miquel dark??

[TongoRad]

why is the e. india so good, & the pale ale, so bad???...

however, your description of the e. india pale ale, strikes me as the creme-de-la-creme, as well as my next purchase for comparison to the "amber".

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If it's the creme-de-la-creme that you want just wait a few months for the Black Chocolate Stout, a winter seasonal and an all-around killer beer. Maybe even gild the lilly and use it to make a float with vanilla ice cream.

As to what I said regarding the Brooklyn Ale/East India Pale Ale- the long and the short of it is that with the Brooklyn Ale (formerly Pennant Ale, an English Pale Ale) it comes across to me that they are pulling their punches, particularly in terms of a yeast signature (almost like a bland half-hearted version of Bass Ale). You can easily get better but similar beers at the same price, so that one really doesn't do it for me.

The East India Pale Ale (a different style, BTW, an English IPA) is geared to let the hops and malt shine through and it does so with style. Again- it is big, has a lot of alcohol, and a ton of those floral Kent Golding hops. It also drinks pretty easily for all that. If you thought that the Sierra Nevada was too bitter, though, then this may not be the beer for you, but if you do try some I'd advise against drinking it straight from the fridge. This is one of those beers that should be served at 45F at the coldest, maybe even closer to 50F, or it will seem unbalanced.

lastly, although i said i liked the freshness dates on brklyn's bottles, hard to understand the drink-by date via their bar chart - can u interpret?

also, what others provide a sell-by date, or a drink-by date?

The chart on the side of the label should have a cut notch in one of the months- that is the 'best by' date. I'm pretty sure that they date their bottles a year out. Sam Adams does the same thing. A 'produced on' date is definitely more desirable- some of the German producers mentioned earlier (Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr) have recently begun using that system. They are stamped on the bottom of the label (and the case as well). SN only stamps the case, unless I have missed something (but that is something I usually buy by the case, anyway). Victory also stamps the labels with an 'enjoy by' date on the left hand side (if you ever run into the Lager or the Prima Pils), although I think their seasonals get the 'bottled on' date. I've even seen dates on the bottom of the sixpack holders, which is better than nothing I guess...sometimes you just gotta look harder than other times.

Anyway- I hope you find, and enjoy, the Brooklyn Pils after all this. Sorry, but I can't help with the San Miguel- though I have seen it around the area. It's gotta be in Manhattan somewhere...

[jgould]

there is a cut at the end, at the 06, i bought just recently. so assume "fresh thru 2006?? doesn't really make any sense, & assume its a marketing gimmick. as u state, there should be a "produced on" date to really define freshness.

just how long does a non-refriged bottle of beer last, stored decently, whatever that means?

thought u might find the following of interest re: several examples of ratings:

ales: brooklyn's e. ipa 4.1 of 5, sierra nv's pale ale 3.2, yuengling's porter 4.1,

chimay's red label 4.7

stouts: rogue shakespeare 4.8

lagers/pilsners: san miquel dark 4.4

[jgould]

there is a cut at the end, at the 06, i bought just recently. so assume "fresh thru 2006?? doesn't really make any sense, & assume its a marketing gimmick. as u state, there should be a "produced on" date to really define freshness.

just how long does a non-refriged bottle of beer last, stored decently, whatever that means?

thought u might find the following of interest re: several examples of ratings:

ales: brooklyn's e. ipa 4.1 of 5, sierra nv's pale ale 3.2, yuengling's porter 4.1,

chimay's red label 4.7

stouts: rogue shakespeare 4.8

lagers/pilsners: san miquel dark 4.4

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recently communicated with brooklyn brewery - very professional, very helpful, makes u want to support there good products!

[TongoRad]

there is a cut at the end, at the 06, i bought just recently. so assume "fresh thru 2006?? doesn't really make any sense, & assume its a marketing gimmick. as u state, there should be a "produced on" date to really define freshness.

just how long does a non-refriged bottle of beer last, stored decently, whatever that means?

thought u might find the following of interest re: several examples of ratings:

ales: brooklyn's e. ipa 4.1 of 5, sierra nv's pale ale 3.2, yuengling's porter 4.1,

chimay's red label 4.7

stouts: rogue shakespeare 4.8

lagers/pilsners: san miquel dark 4.4

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recently communicated with brooklyn brewery - very professional, very helpful, makes u want to support there good products!

←

Glad to hear it, and I agree!

I was just coming by to post that on the way home today I stopped for some beer and I took a look at the Brooklyn Lager label to see if there was a labeling glitch. The ones here in NJ do have the 2006 slot notched but also the month of Feb. The notches are very faint, but they're there. In your case it was probably just a case of mistakes happening.

I'm not sure what to make of those ratings you posted but I'll just add this: even the venerable beer writer Michael Jackson doesn't get it correct all of the time Some of them I agree with, and some of them I don't, which seems to be the way of things.

Also- just to correct myself I also checked:

SN only stamps the case, unless I have missed something

Sierra Nevada apparantly does date their bottles. Look for a very small white code in the lower left hand part of the label, right by where it says 'Pale Ale'. The one I just picked up has the #5186, or the 186th day of 200'5'. I haven't done the math, but that would be bottled sometime in June (?).

We may be getting to the point where all this stuff about date stamping deserves its own thread...

[jgould]

on closer inspection, michael, there are 2 somewhat faint notches/scratches!! one on the feb, the other on the 06; therefore the "best before" 2/06 does = the co's statements of about 6mo freshness which is another + for brooklyn brewery. i don't know about others, but when a product does things right & is responsive to customers &/or potential customers, it creates a helluva lot of goodwill in my book.

my initial response to a "brooklyn" brewery product was more of "how could a locally produced beer be any good" particularly when compared with many other well thought of beers? to "why shouldn't it be?"

btw, fyi, the date u are referring to is called the "julian" calendar, which BB also uses on their bottles.

the rtgs are just rtgs, somewhat similar to wine tastings, but i added just to get an indication where certain beers "kinda" ranked relative to those i was drinking, a la harps heineken sierra nv, anchor steam chimay. the only beer on the highly ranked that i would like to re-taste is the san miquel dark. i don't remember where or when, but i do remember how excellent it tasted. hope it wasn't just the "place of mind".

also, have noticed recently, the very limited selection of local places i go. the same bottled beers - heineken, corrona, bud light, etc... i have been told draft is the way to go, BUT i have also been told that unless a bar is scrupulous about keeping its lines very clean, etc... draft tastes quite bad. plus, i have also been told many many times about bars that simply move the line from any empty keg to another, so those who think they are drinking what they ordered, are not!!! at least in a bottle, u know.

Edited October 15, 2005 by jgould (log)

[TongoRad]

on closer inspection, michael, there are 2  somewhat faint notches/scratches!! one on the feb, the other on the 06; therefore the "best before" 2/06 does = the co's statements of about 6mo freshness which is another + for brooklyn brewery. i don't know about others, but when a product does things right & is responsive to customers &/or potential customers, it creates a helluva lot of goodwill in my book.

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6 months is great, although I could swear that I have their seen bottles dated 9 or 10 months from the time that I bought them. Then again, the old mental notebook may not be what it is cracked up to be Either way, I might stretch it to 9 months for certain styles, but keep it to 6 months for the light lagers and you'll be fine.

also, have noticed recently, the very limited selection of local places i go. the same bottled beers - heineken, corrona, bud light, etc... i have been told draft is the way to go, BUT i have also been told that unless a bar is scrupulous about keeping its lines very clean, etc... draft tastes quite bad. plus, i have also been told many many times about bars that simply move the line from any empty keg to another, so those who think they are drinking what they ordered, are not!!! at least in a bottle, u know.

All things being equal draft beer is a superior product. The bottling process involves a whole other layer of filtration and/or pasteurization, which definitely impacts the beer's flavor. The way I figure it- I can drink any bottled beer at home any time I want to, so I will always go for draft when I'm out. I'm sure that those unsavory things happen, but I don't recall the last time I encountered anything like that. What sorts of places do you hang out in, anyway? I guess if you ever do get a beer that has been infected by dirty lines, or the wrong brand, etc., you could just send it back and go to bottles from there on out. It's a bummer, but I wouldn't avoid all draft beer as a rule because something like that could happen.

[jgould]

on closer inspection, michael, there are 2  somewhat faint notches/scratches!! one on the feb, the other on the 06; therefore the "best before" 2/06 does = the co's statements of about 6mo freshness which is another + for brooklyn brewery. i don't know about others, but when a product does things right & is responsive to customers &/or potential customers, it creates a helluva lot of goodwill in my book.

←

6 months is great, although I could swear that I have their seen bottles dated 9 or 10 months from the time that I bought them. Then again, the old mental notebook may not be what it is cracked up to be Either way, I might stretch it to 9 months for certain styles, but keep it to 6 months for the light lagers and you'll be fine.

also, have noticed recently, the very limited selection of local places i go. the same bottled beers - heineken, corrona, bud light, etc... i have been told draft is the way to go, BUT i have also been told that unless a bar is scrupulous about keeping its lines very clean, etc... draft tastes quite bad. plus, i have also been told many many times about bars that simply move the line from any empty keg to another, so those who think they are drinking what they ordered, are not!!! at least in a bottle, u know.

All things being equal draft beer is a superior product. The bottling process involves a whole other layer of filtration and/or pasteurization, which definitely impacts the beer's flavor. The way I figure it- I can drink any bottled beer at home any time I want to, so I will always go for draft when I'm out. I'm sure that those unsavory things happen, but I don't recall the last time I encountered anything like that. What sorts of places do you hang out in, anyway? I guess if you ever do get a beer that has been infected by dirty lines, or the wrong brand, etc., you could just send it back and go to bottles from there on out. It's a bummer, but I wouldn't avoid all draft beer as a rule because something like that could happen.

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quite frankly, i'm NOT a big connoisseur of beer, in general, & i do understand your point, but doubt "IF" i could tell the difference between a harp's bottle vs. harps on draft!

actually, i don't really "hang out", but do go to a # of restaurants, bistros, brasseries in manhattan - actually too many

[Susan in FL]

Finally I know what you guys are talking about. I found a sixer of this in a "gourmet" food store. I must say it's the best French beer I've ever tasted. I think it's the only French beer I've tasted.

...Sorry, I couldn't resist. It was fine, but not my favorite style. It struck me as crisp, European-tasting, and mostly lemony. I was happy to find it. It's my mission to taste every beer that's discussed!

[AzianBrewer]

I will take French cider over any French beer. Kronenbourg 1664 tastes like Stella, Bud and Heinny here in the States.