The Brooklyn Quarterly Experiment is a small batch of specialty beers that reincarnates every three or four months. These are beers we spend altogether too much time on in an effort to reach something transcendent. Released in terribly small quantities, if seen in the wild these 750ml bottles should be approached while armed with care and an open palate.
Limited quantity. Unlimited possibility.
For Q3 2014, we are pleased to introduce Hand & Seal. In celebration of Garrett Oliver’s 20th year as Brewmaster here at Brooklyn Brewery, he and the Brooklyn brewing team put their heads together to create a massive yet surprisingly smooth barleywine. It’s delicious right now, bringing the rich complexity and assertive sweetness that barleywines strive for to the palate, but the true beauty of the liquid, as with all of our BQE releases, will come to bloom as the bottle ages over time. Flavors will blend and deepen, the sugars will dry out and you’ll find yourself in awe in the presence of brewing magic that stretches back for generations. Pick up one to celebrate today and a couple for occasions down the road. Future you will be grateful. Check out our beer finder to track it down, and read the full story from Garrett below.
Want to get your First Taste before anyone else (plus an open beer bar, breakfast from Ovenly, and the opportunity to buy a second bottle)? Get your tickets here.
From the Brewmaster himself:
In the 20th season of his reign, the year Anno Brooklynius 26, our Brewmaster brought forth a new wonderment for the People. Barleywine-style ale, once the exclusive drink of the British nobility, would be produced anew in Brooklyn. Linking together their twin brewhouses, the Brooklyn brewing team toiled a great many hours to create the most robust beer they had ever produced. Then it was set to rest for months in casks of Bourbon oak, and finally re-fermented in the bottle.
The result is one of the richest, tastiest beers to ever emerge from our brewery. The deep flavors of floor-malted Maris Otter barley shine through layers of vanilla, coconut, toast and floral notes given by aging in Four Roses bourbon wood. Hand & Seal is complex without being perfumey, subtly sweet without becoming cloying. Its naturally gentle carbonation suits a contemplative drink. The size of the bottle connotes a spirit of generosity, for it is an ale to be shared with friends and family.
At dinner you will find it a fine partner to pates, game meats and sausages and a wonderful accompaniment to cheese. And if your evening should involve much laughter around a fireplace, all the better. Hand & Seal is ready to enjoy now, yet good things shall also come to those who cellar it.
Hereupon witness both our Hand and our Seal, both of them demonstrations of our promise that this fine ale shall be worthy of your table and all the brilliant times that you bring to it. So say we all.