CHANGING SUMMER (Brooklyn Brewery’s Summer Ale at The Half Pint)

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

While I’ve been drinking my fair share of beer these last few months, I’m still no expert. I’m also a bit of a coward. When it comes to the idea of sending a beer back due to a bad tap line at a bar, I’d almost always rather cower in the corner.

At The Half Pint, which is situated in the midst of NYU territory (although with it’s exposed brick would also be appropriate in Brooklyn), the pint of Brooklyn Brewery’s Summer Ale tasted different than when I tried it a few weeks earlier out of a bottle.

That concerned me. Was it my tastebuds? Or was there something wrong with the tap line here? I honestly didn’t know, so I didn’t say anything. I drank some of it because it didn’t taste bad or dirty – just not quite right.

The beer still poured a light translucent amber with a strong short head that disappeared rather quickly. I got cereal malts on the nose with maybe a hint of tropical fruits, but it wasn’t terribly aromatic. That surprised me. The flavor was mostly crisp malt sweetness with a hint of burnt hair at the end. It was heavier than I remembered with a lingering sweet aftertaste.

As a follow up, I found myself at Brooklyn Brewery recently where they were pouring the Summer Ale on tap (and you can bet those tap lines are clean!) It had been a few days since I tasted it at The Half Pint, yet I got a little more citrus and it was easier, lighter drinking.

It just goes to show how unfair this rating of beers is because so much depends  on the time, place, and not to mention my mood. Who knows what went wrong on that day at The Half Pint? Could my expectations have been too high or was there something wrong at this bar? Maybe a real beer expert would know what to do.

Is Brooklyn Brewery’s Summer Ale the best beer in NY? Depends where and when you taste it, I think. I loved it the first time out of a bottle, but found it a little too heavy and sweet at this particular bar. It evens out to get an 8 out of 10, although maybe higher or lower on a different day.