Get Your Growlers Filled: Green Flash Brewing at Bierkraft
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One of the nice things about the craft beer explosion of the past few years is that it brought with it the proliferation of bars, bottle shops, and even high-end grocery stores that will sell and fill growlers—64oz glass jugs of fresh beer poured straight from a tap. In this recurring series, we’ll highlight some of the more exciting beers currently available for growler fills around Brooklyn.
Where to go: Bierkraft, (191 Fifth Ave, Park Slope)
What to Drink: Well, there’s no shortage of really, really good options currently on tap at this Park Slope institution, including the Bruery’s unbelievably delicious sour stout, Tart of Darkness, but that one will set you back $47 and 64oz of it is an awful lot, even if you’re splitting it with a friend. Today, focus on two offerings from Green Flash Brewing, an outstanding San Diego based brewery that recently gave its lineup a bit of a makeover. For some beers, the changes were only on the surface—the labels were redesigned—but for one in particular, it went a little deeper than that. Green Flash West Coast IPA, long one of the highest rated American IPAs, was recently reformulated and made into a Double IPA, its ABV jumping from 7.3 to 8.1%. Its defining characteristics have remained pretty much intact: bright orange in color, with a super fluffy bright white head, its an aggressively hoppy beer that’s bursting with bright citrus and dank earthiness. If there’s a noticeable change, it’s that there’s a more pronounced malt presence to balance out the borderline extreme bitterness of the hops, a sweetness that rounds things out and coats the mouth in a really pleasant way. The other Green Flash beer on tap at Bierkraft is their Double Stout, one of the first stouts I really fell in love with and, I still contend, one of the most underrated beers in the whole craft world. It’s a straightforward take on the style that clocks in at a substantial bot not entirely mind-erasing 8.8% ABV and boasts a nice balance of coffee and chocolate with a touch of char and a subtle hop presence.
What it’ll cost you: The West Coast IPA is $11.95 for 64oz and $8.95 for 32oz–obviously you should just go for the 64. As for the Double Stout, it’s $13.95 for 64oz and $9.95 for 32oz–in this case, the 32 might not be a bad idea.