Author Archives: BIQING LIU

Beverage Production Experience: Brooklyn Brewery

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For the Beverage Production Experiential Learning Analysis, I visited the Brooklyn Brewery. I chose this brewery because I have seen it so often and their logo with a big B is just so recognizable that made it my first choice. the brewery has two main parts; the lobby and the production behind it. When I entered the brewery the lobby is packed with visitors, there is a counter that sells draft beer and the line is just so long that I didn’t even want to wait.

After a few minutes of waiting, a tour guide called Sean came to lead us the production line to see how the beer is been made. He was so knowledgeable that was able to answer everybody’s question and encouraged people to ask more questions. Their beer is made with four main ingredients; Grain, Hops, Yeast and water. The process of making beer is actually pretty simple. After chosen the malt, they will crash it and mix it in a tank with hot but not boiling water for an hour to release the sugar for later fermentation. After an hour they transfer the sweet liquid to a vessel called kettle and add hops. the mixture will ferment in the Whirlpool; it’s just another big tank. Then the tank will remove the unwanted malt and hops to get a sweet liquid that is later been fermented.

Fermentation tanks were in a different area about 20 steps away. In the fermentation tank, they will add yeast and sugar to produce alcohol. During the fermentation process, they will also add hops for aromas. They used about three to six hops depends on the beer. Then when the beer is matured they will be filtered and carbonated and transferred to another tank. Beer will be bottled when it is ready. Right next to the fermentation tanks are the bottling line and the machines that make cage beer.

Some facts about the Brooklyn Brewery are their highest alcohol beer were 13.3%, they sell beer in more country than states and they do a collaboration with other breweries in a different area. Sean also told us that there are only two types of yeast which made it only two types of beer; Ale and Lager. However, there can be many sub-categories of both.

Since they have so many beers I asked how do they brew new beer and I got a very surprising answer. Every other month, Brooklyn Brewery will rotate their employees to brew their own beer from imagination; almost every employees have to take terms, even the Bottling staff. Beer brewed from their imagination then will be tested for sell, if it sells well they will produce more.

The only thing I didn’t like was the waiting line, it takes about 20 minutes to get a draft beer and space is kind overcrowded were a lot of people were standing.

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. This is me and Sean at the brewery. He is indeed a very knowledgeable staff and well prepared for any question.

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. This area is where people buy draft beer and sit down for a drink.

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. This is the Whirlpool where the sweet liquid will be separated from the hops and malt.

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. These huge fermentations tank are used to ferment beer and hops will also be added in.

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. This is the bottling line of Brooklyn Brewery.

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. This machines makes cage beer.

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. This is be alone with the big B logo of Brooklyn Brewery

Reference:

Brewery, B. (n.d.). Welcome to Brooklyn : Brooklyn Brewery. Retrieved from https://brooklynbrewery.com/about/about-the-brewery

Brooklyn Brewery | Brooklyn, NY | Beers. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/45/

Brooklyn Brewery Expands Distribution to California, Begins Test Brewing at 21st Amendment. (2019, January 16). Retrieved from https://www.brewbound.com/news/brooklyn-brewery-expands-distribution-to-california-begins-test-brewing-at-21st-amendment

Beverage Production Experiential Learning Analysis- Brooklyn Roasting Company

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For the Project, I chose to visit a coffee roaster instead of a vineyard with a winery. I went to the Brooklyn Roasting Company, this coffee roaster expanded from a single location at 25 jay street to now three different locations. (Eldredge 2015)

The entire place looks like a warehouse and built-in coffee machines. When I spoke with the staff at the front, he was willing to talk but was kind perfunctory. Maybe there were students visit the company every year, therefore, the staff is impatient about what I was about to ask. Despite the attitude, I was able to get enough information out of his mouth because I at least made a purchase so I was a customer. I purchased a Nitro Cold Brew, I think this is a new trend about coffee because I only saw this kind brew recently. Cold brewed coffee with the infuse of Nitrogen can bring a hint of sweetness, however, I found a hint of sourness instead.

Brooklyn Roasting Company only selects the finest Arabic coffee beans from the suppliers they trust and have a direct relationship with. All beans before the roasting process will have a moisture check, only the beans with the moisture content within 11%-13% will be kept and roasted. All BRC coffee roasting process is done by fully computer programmed roasters, therefore, they were able to track the progress and control every roast. The machines they use are also environmentally friendly and more efficient than others. When the beans are roasted to the ideal roast it will be canned or bagged at the same facility, this is also part of the quality control. (BRC 2019)
After the roasting, they also send the beans to their retail store to sell. They also sell all kind of equipment needed to brew coffee.

BRC source their beans all over the place and work with all types of farmers but only when they have met with the member of the coffee co-ops and built a direct relationship because they want to make sure the coffees beans are sustainably grown and harvest. BRC also work with the Fair Trade USA to make sure the farmers they purchased the beans from are paid with a proper wage.

What makes this company unique are the combinations of all trait of them. 100% Arabic beans, Fairtrade, reusable containers, and environmentally friendly coffee roasters, all these together makes the company a great reputation company.

I like that they work with the fair trade to provide proper pay for the farmers because some companies work with the partner that pays barely anything to the farmers and uses child labor at the farm.

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. that is the cafe, where you can sit.

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. The finished coffee product they sell

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. they also sell coffee mugs

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. This is the roaster they use to roast the coffee

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. Tools like french press they sell

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. This is me at the door with their brand name

Reference:

About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.brooklynroasting.com/about

Eldredge, B. (2016, March 24). Sneak Peek at the New Brooklyn Roasting Company HQ. Retrieved from https://www.brownstoner.com/brooklyn-life/sneak-peek-brooklyn-roasting-companys-new-hq-brooklyn-navy-yard/

Brooklyn Roasting Company | Brooklyn | Restaurants. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nycgo.com/restaurants/brooklyn-roasting-company

Moore Brothers Wine Company Analysis

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I went to the Moore Brothers Wine Company at 51 35th st for my retail beverage shop analysis. The moment of truth I had when I first walked into the shop was small. The wine shop was smaller than I expected with a counter in front of the entrance and the rest space occupied with shelves. I told the staff about my purpose of coming here and obtained permission to take photos.

 

One of the friendly staff called Bill was kind enough to walk me around the shop and gave a tour as I walked around the shop I have discovered a few disadvantages such as lack of labelling. The only tag they have on the shelf was the price, no shelf talkers were used, and no region labels were attached to the rack for the customer. The staff answered my question about the organization of wines; they organize wine by regions. But I discovered that they don’t label the shelf with which country or areas. Imagine a customer walked in for a bottle of red from France and had to look through every bottle to find the one.

 

I also asked about the source of wine, marketing plan used and how to decide which wine to sell. After given the answer I found that this shop is unique because they work straight with producers and have a long term relationship with them. All the wines are directly shipped from the producer with temperature controlled at 56 degrees through the entire journey. This relationship is a good thing because they can monitor the quality of the wine, and can trace back to the producer if any of their wine were terrible. However, because they work directly with the producers, they have a limited choice. They choose wines mainly based on what the producer instead of primarily based on the demand of the market. For instance, they only had two bottles of wine that is from Spain, and both were white. This method of work directly with producers limited the choice for their customers.

Overall I think the wine shop has more advantages than a disadvantage. They were able to maintain their quality through working with the producer but the wine shop is limited with not a lot of choices and space of the shop wasn’t so big. But since their clienteles are based on the word of the mouth of an existing client, they only do business with the limited customer

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. This is a bottle of Sparking red wine from Italy. I use this as an alternative to the shelf talkers because the shop I went to did not use any shelf talkers.

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. This is me standing in front of the sine shop. Entrance was big but the internal space was limited.

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. This is a bottle of sparkling wine that is not from France. I is a bottle of 2013 riesling from Mittelrhein, German.

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. This bottle of red is from Vinsobres which I did not know makes wine.

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. This is also a bottle of sparkling white wine that is not from France. It is from Italy.