BROOKLYN BREWERY at THE HOXTON, Shoreditch
I am really excited to write this first post about an event that I went to with Sam on Wednesday night. You know those really random Instagram ads that pop up on your feed? Well that's what led us to finding this event at The Hoxton Hotel in Shoreditch, for Brooklyn Brewery. The tickets were £20 each and it included beer and food pairing. This was spot on for us since Brooklyn Brewery is one of the first places that I brought Sam when he visited New York when we were first dating. We've been huge fans of the craft brewery ever since, and it was even more exciting because not that many people in London really know about the brand. This meant more freebies for us! The purpose of this event was because of the new Hoxton Hotel opening up in Williamsburg Brooklyn in New York. If you've ever been to or go to New York, Williamsburg is one of the most liveliest areas apart from New York City itself. I can only assume the reason why Brooklyn Brewery teamed up with The Hoxton was because it is probably the biggest tourist spot in Williamsburg. Brooklyn Brewery was founded in 1988 so it's recently celebrating it's 30th anniversary, which was another reason this was a special night. How convenient that Sam is also celebrating his 30th year of life!
Now when you think of tasting beer you wouldn't really think eating would go hand in hand with it, but it did! There were six different dishes paired with each FULL beer. Right there in itself was worth the £20 paid for the tickets. And by no means were these small samples of food. I was actually stuffed about midway through the tasting, but that was of my own fault for trying to finish each beer before the next dish came out (I didn't win that game). Not to mention the food was DELICIOUS. Check out this menu.
I am really excited to write this first post about an event that I went to with Sam on Wednesday night. You know those really random Instagram ads that pop up on your feed? Well that's what led us to finding this event at The Hoxton Hotel in Shoreditch, for Brooklyn Brewery. The tickets were £20 each and it included beer and food pairing. This was spot on for us since Brooklyn Brewery is one of the first places that I brought Sam when he visited New York when we were first dating. We've been huge fans of the craft brewery ever since, and it was even more exciting because not that many people in London really know about the brand. This meant more freebies for us! The purpose of this event was because of the new Hoxton Hotel opening up in Williamsburg Brooklyn in New York. If you've ever been to or go to New York, Williamsburg is one of the most liveliest areas apart from New York City itself. I can only assume the reason why Brooklyn Brewery teamed up with The Hoxton was because it is probably the biggest tourist spot in Williamsburg. Brooklyn Brewery was founded in 1988 so it's recently celebrating it's 30th anniversary, which was another reason this was a special night. How convenient that Sam is also celebrating his 30th year of life!
Now when you think of tasting beer you wouldn't really think eating would go hand in hand with it, but it did! There were six different dishes paired with each FULL beer. Right there in itself was worth the £20 paid for the tickets. And by no means were these small samples of food. I was actually stuffed about midway through the tasting, but that was of my own fault for trying to finish each beer before the next dish came out (I didn't win that game). Not to mention the food was DELICIOUS. Check out this menu.
So the top line shows the beer being served and under it is the meat dish it was paired with, and under that was the vegetarian meal. We were able to try every dish because I don't think any of the vegetarians showed up, THANKS! I'd have to say the my favourite dish was the Reuben sandwich paired with the Brooklyn Scorcher. These people really know what they are doing with this pairing because I have never been a big fan of IPA beers but the Scorcher with the Reuben was the perfect match. Brooklyn Scorcher is a good way for newbies to IPAs to get a taste of it. It's a low percentage IPA which is rare. Definitely a good one to look out for if you're cooking anything with sour taste to it.
My favourite of all the Brooklyn beers is the Sorachi Ace. But it comes with warning that I say drink these with caution! They are so tasty but dangerously high in alcohol percentage at 7.2%. Also worth checking out is one of the newest Brooklyn Brewery beers, Naranjito (Spanish for Orange). Although it's already been in New York for a year, it's only been available in the UK since this past spring! This beer is really worth picking up if you're lucky enough to come across it in the shops. It has a citrus orange (hence the clever name!) taste to it that was so good with the breaded chicken with chipotle mayo pairing. The beer really made the flavours of the dish pop, and I'm sure it would taste good with any Mexican meal.
The setting of this tasting was very intimate, I wanna say there was about 20 people there. I love how the place was set up in the Garden Room, which was located in the middle of the ground floor of the hotel. There were a lot of plants around, hence the name of the room, and just felt like you were hanging out in a backyard. The tables were setup in a German beerfest style, which I really liked because it meant that we would have the opportunity to talk to the other people going to the event. The people that sat next to us were all so nice, and funny enough weren't English themselves. No other Americans, but it was nice to not feel like the only foreigner in the room. Strangely enough even the people sitting next to us had never really tried a Brooklyn beer until that night. I really was so shocked when the woman presenting asked how many people had tried Brooklyn beers before and only a few people held up their hands! How was this possible?! The event itself was great because you got to really talk to the people working for Brooklyn Brewery on the UK side, and we got loads of Brooklyn Brewery half pint glasses which now take over my entire kitchen counter. If you're interested in learning more about Brooklyn Brewery you should definitely read about the owner Steve Hindy. He has a really interesting story of how the brewery came to be http://brooklynbrewery.com/about/history#welcome-link
Going to the Hoxton Hotel was also a new spot for me to explore in Shoreditch. The area really reminds me of Williamsburg Brooklyn. It's very trendy and for going out on a Wednesday night it was packed out! I figured most of the people in there would be going to the same event I was there for but NOPE! It's got a lot going on and a great happy hour selection. The Hoxton Grill is a good spot for date night, and after sampling a good amount of their food it is worth every penny! (or should I say pence?) I can definitely see myself going back there for some weekday drinks, and giving the new hotel in Williamsburg a look when I'm back in New York. https://thehoxton.com/london/shoreditch/hotels
So the moral of the story is..... although sometimes annoying, always check out the Instagram ads for events going on near you. They may end up being more than you hoped for!
Please feel free to leave a comment about Brooklyn beers you've tried or maybe any upcoming beer events you know of for the company.
Since it's Friday and I won't be posting again until Sunday, where I will talk about somewhere that I will be checking out tonight, I wanted to end with some American to English translation that I've been learning/using since moving.
Word of the day:
Zucchini ------ English way to say it Courgette
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