Breukelen

The Hess family will be on 'A Slice of Brooklyn Tour' – a 4 1/2 hour tour of pizza and the city, from Grimaldi's under the Brooklyn Bridge,

to L&B Spumoni Gardens in Bensonhurst –

but I'm going to also try to keep my eye out along the way for a possible side trip north on Wyeth Avenue to Brooklyn Brewery, or south, to Prospect Park, the sight of the most significant battle in all of the Revolutionary War.

Unlike a lot of other larger 'hip' cities in the U.S., oddly NYC has had a hard time cultivating a wide range of micro brew pub eateries.  Obviously it's a fickle, demanding crowd – lots to choose from, and city fashion, if not brilliant and consistent, can come and go quickly.  Old laws, on top of it, did not promote restaurants to also be brewers. Bottling pioneer craft beer and distributing it is a nearly impossible task in such a large urban area.  Brooklyn Brewery, though, beat the system.

One of the top volume brewers in all of America now, this one was an odd and pioneering start-up.  The owner, Steve Hindy, was a journalist in the Middle East from '79 - '84.  He found then that the problem for many Americans was that Saudi Arabia had been a 'dry' country since 1953.  Hindy and others learned quickly how to home brew beer and wine.  When he returned to the states to his hometown NY, he proposed, with a partner, the business plan concept of a small brewery venture.  Nearly laughed out of the idea by consultants and investors alike, it turns out he was at the early forefront of the small brew movement and was able to make a go of it with some lucky connections and many years of struggle.  Now Brooklyn Brewery finds itself as the most prominent Brewery in New York City, and one of the true defenders of good brew.

Lew Bryson, a beer-traveler, says that one of the brewery's original brews, Brooklyn Lager, has been one of his favorite "beers  from any brewery since long before I started writing about beer.  I was lucky enough to find this beer in 1988, shortly after it came out, and drank it often.  I was terribly impressed by its hoppy nose, solidly medium body and malt heft, and bitter, clean finish – and I still am."  The swordsman in the front, Garrett Oliver, eventually took over as brewmaster and wrote what is considered a definitive book on beer and food pairings, The Brewmaster's Table.

The only place a beer traveler can find Brooklyn Beer here in the coulee region is La Crescent, a short tour across the Cass Bridge and back onto the Minnesota mainland.