Grimm Artisanal Ales: A New Craft Brewery In Gowanus
NO. 20
Grimm Artisanal Ales
A New Craft Brewery In Gowanus
Those who remain unconvinced of the degree to which craft beer culture has taken off over the past few years need look no farther than our own city. Big-time players like Brooklyn Brewery and Sixpoint have been joined by myriad startups, from Singlecut in Queens to the Bronx Brewery up north. The most recent addition to the local scene, though, is based here in Brooklyn.
Grimm Artisanal Ales’ headquarters is a beautiful, modern two-floor apartment on a quiet Gowanus street. It doubles as the home of husband-and-wife team Joe and Lauren Grimm, who started the brewery earlier this year after getting their start with other assorted fermentables: mead, kombucha, kvass, and some other stuff that’s way less delicious than beer. But when Joe (who you may recognize from his side gig as a bartender at Double Windsor) paid a visit to Belgium and learned about the indigenous styles that make it such a worthy pilgrimage for beer nerds, they shifted gears and began brewing five-gallon test batches of their own at home.
When it came time to start brewing commercially, they made a decision that’s become popular of late—they embraced the nomadic approach, essentially renting out the space and equipment of established brick-and-mortar breweries to craft their own beers. So far they’ve cooked up three different selections at Paper City Brewing Company’s Holyoke, Massachusetts, facility: From the Hip, a Belgian Pale Ale brewed with rose hips; Bees in the Trappe, a Belgian Tripel brewed with honey; and Going Awry, a classic Trappist-style ale brewed with rye malts. It’s still at their Brooklyn apartment, though, where they come up with the recipes that will eventually pop up at bars and beer stores all over the city—big imperial stouts, a double IPA, and even an unexpectedly great cross between a Saison and an Oktoberfest.
