EMPIRE STATE OF MIND (Empire Brewing Company’s Cream Ale at Puck Fair)

My search for the best beer in New York continues….

I met the owners of Empire Brewing Company a few weeks back when they caught me taking photos of the beers at Birreria. I guess I piqued their interest and we started chatting. And I’m glad we did because they convinced me that I should be including their beers on my search. I knew they were based out of Syracuse and that was geographically a little far out of my jurisdiction. Then they informed me that most of their production actually occurs in Brooklyn at Greenpoint Beer Works. Well that changes everything, doesn’t it?

Ever since that meeting I’ve been trying to hunt down one of their beers in New York. They are served at a handful of bars (including Birreria now), but I’m just never there at the right time. I was excited when I checked out the lineup of 20 drafts at Puck Fair and discovered the name Empire. Finally! They were only serving their cream ale, which seems to be the easiest to find in NYC, but I was happy to finally get a taste.

Puck Fair is a strange place. I had been to this Irish pub before and thought it had a nice, chill vibe with wonderful beer selections and little nooks and crannies. But when I walked in on a sports day Saturday, I was inundated with frat boys. It sort of dispersed as I sat at the bar and found a different crowd, but that immediate sports bar vibe surprised me.

I was pleased they had the Empire Cream Ale on tap and even though it was not what I was in the mood for, I cozied up to a pint. The full creamy white head was the first thing to strike me. It had been poured through a nitrogen tap, so that enables the foam to stick around for quite a while and was a beautiful topper to the clear golden color.

Nothing too strong revealed itself on the nose, but I did gets some whiffs of malt and earth. It actually smelled slightly dirty, which I found strange. This tasted different than most cream ales I’ve had in the past. Empire’s version didn’t have the overwhelming sweet quality, but instead a creamy texture with bold bready, grain flavors. The mild, drinkable beer had a very thick mouthfeel. In fact, it was so milky on the mouth that I kept wiping my face in fear of a beer moustache.

I kind of think of this as an entry-level beer. The feel isn’t too dissimilar to the commercially produced lagers in this country, but it’s much stronger with bolder flavors and body. Almost reminded me of a Guinness, but with different lighter flavor components. The guys at Empire are certainly doing something right and I’m glad my chance meeting inspired me to include them on this journey.

Is Empire Brewing Company’s Cream Ale the best beer in NY? It’s light bodied and subtle, but has an interesting thick mouthfeel that lets the mild grain and bread flavors linger for an 8 out of 10.