For my winery assignment, I visited Red Hook Winery. It is located at 175 Van Dyke St. Pier 41 Suite 325A, Brooklyn, NY 11231. I called them on Saturday of November 30^th at around 5:30pm, to make an appointment to visit them on Wednesday of December 4^th for around 3:00pm-5:00pm. I spoke to a man on the phone, who was very polite and kind but I didn’t get his name. I went with my friend Dzifa, who has to do this same winery assignment, but she is not in the class as me. It was my first time experiencing a winery and to see in person the things that I’ve been studying in class. It was a great tour of Red Hook Winery, and I enjoyed their wines.

It was founded in 2008 by Mark Synder, who has been in the music and sound business. He has always been on the road travelling and tasting wines with other celebrities, which gave him the idea of opening his own business. Red Hook Winery is an urban winery, whose wines are produced from grape to bottle at the site, with their own signature labels. It is stated in their official website that, “From the salty, sea-breeze-blown North Fork of Long Island to the stone, shale, and winter-dominated Finger Lakes, we work with grape farmers who give agricultural definition to New York’s nascent wine growing country.” This tells you that they get 90% grapes from North Fork of Long Island, and 10% grapes from Finger Lakes. There are three wine makers of Red Hook Winery, who are Christopher Nicolson, Robert “Bob” Foley and Abraham “Abe” Schoener. They create unique expressions of these individual vineyard sites, producing wines that reflect the climate, geology, and viticulture that make New York unlike any other growing region in the world.

We went at a perfect day and time, where they were hardly anyone there, and we took our times in going through everything. When I first entered the winery, I got greeted warm and welcoming from the staff. We stated that we were New York City College of Technology students, who had to visit a winery for an assignment. They asked if we were in Professor Goodlad’s class, and told us that a few students visited before. I stated that I called on Saturday to visit on Wednesday, which a man named Vince said, “I recalled that.” That signified that he was the person who I spoke to over the phone. Vince started at Red Hook Winery in June 2019, where he was assigned as a tasting room manager. He loves his job, and would like to move in the neighbor closer to work. Vince was the one who gave us a tour, since Christopher was busy dealing with other things. Vince first lined up four wine glasses each for us to try, alongside the bottle of the wines that he poured in the glasses, before he showed us the winery room. There were four categories of wines we chose from which were; White Wine, Rose & Orange Wine, Red Wine, and Sweet Wine.

The first wine I tried was the “Chardonnay 2014,” in the White Wine category by Christopher Nicolson, with grapes from South Vineyard, North Fork. It was a day bright/gold yellow light body wine. The smell and taste were combinations of apples, pears, etc. with medium acidity and short after taste. This can be pair with seafood, light veggies or a salad. The second wine I tried was the “Skin Fermented Chardonnay ‘Gefion’ 2016,” in the Rose & Orange Wine category by Abe Schoener, with grapes from North Fork.  It was a bright/gold orange wine, with a short finish. The smell and taste were combinations of peaches, apricots, etc. with medium acidity and medium sweetness. The third wine I tried was the “Petit Verdot 2014,” in the Red Wine category by Robert Foley, with grapes from Reilly Wine yard, North Fork. It was a very dark red/violet full body wine. The smell and taste were combinations of cherries, blueberries, plums, etc. with high acidity, tanning and a very short finish. This can be pair with red rub ribs or a lean burger. The fourth wine I tried was the “Riesling ‘Late Harvest’ 2015,” in the Sweet Wine category by Robert Foley, with grapes from Jamesport Vineyard, North Fork. It was a day bright/orange/rust color medium body wine. The smell and taste were combinations of honey, syrup, raisins, etc. with a lingering finish. It was a very sweet wine with 9% alcohol, which I hardly tasted. This wine is to be pair with desserts.

Then Vince showed us to the winery room, where the magic happens. There was the machine that presses the grapes, which was explained in class by professor. Then there was three other machines; one that cleans the bottles, fills the bottles with wine, and closes the bottles with corks along with putting labels on the bottles. After that he showed up the barrel room with about 100 barrels of wine or more, being left to age. Unfortunately, we were unable to taste wines directly from the barrels. Red Hook Winery produces about 1,500 cases a year, with 12 bottles in each case. The prices of the wines at Red Hook Winery range from $20-$50 per bottle. They usually hire people to work there in the summer. I would say that my overall experience was great, and I hope to visit a winery with actual vineyard there in the future.

This picture shows my friend Dzifa and I at Red Hook Winery in the wine tasting room.

This picture shows the four wines I tasted in the wine tasting room.

This picture shows the barrel room at Red Hook Winery.

This picture shows the first machine that cleans the bottles.

This picture shows the second machine that fills the bottles with wine.

This picture shows the third machine, which closes the bottles with corks, and puts the labels on the bottles.

Reference:

The Red Hook Winery, Wine Region, https://www.redhookwinery.com/about.

    The Brooklyn Roasting Company sources and serves superb and sustainable coffees from the world’s most renowned growing regions, such as Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Brazil, Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Indonesia and many more. The 123 Navy Yard Building, Brooklyn’s Roasting Company, was founded more than 2 centuries ago has one of the most well-programmed and well-equipped systems that can control all the parameters of an individual roast on micro level. It operates two Loring roasters, the 1/2-bag Kestrel and the full-bag Peregrine. Both are fully programmable; we use Cropster software to enable us to track and control the progress of every roast and ensure consistency. The Loring roasters are also environmentally friendly: it’s 80% more efficient than any other roaster of comparable scale.

According to Sarah, who was assisting me throughout the tour, the art of roasting is in determining how much time and resulting color best suit the bean. There is a point; however, when the bean’s original flavor is overtaken by the flavor the roasting gives it. Hence, darker roasts, a quality preferred by some drinkers actually taste less like their original bean. Light and medium roasts find a balance to capture the bean’s qualities and flavor notes as determined by a bean’s geographical origin or variety. Roasting brings out the aroma and flavor that is locked inside the green coffee beans. Beans are stored green, a state in which they can be kept without loss of quality or taste.  A green bean has none of the characteristics of a roasted bean; it’s soft and spongy to the bite and smells grassy.

Raw coffee beans are dropped into loaders and then into a rotating drum. The drum is pre-heated to a temperature of around 400 F degrees. Roasting causes chemical changes to take place as the beans are rapidly brought to very high temperatures. After 12-15 minutes depending on the type of roast, the roasted beans will exit the drum at around 360 F degrees and are then taken out into a cooling tray at the front of the roaster. When they reach the peak of perfection, they are quickly cooled to stop the process They are then passed through a machine that removes any stones or debris before being checked by hand for any defects, and once cooled completely, finally packaged in reusable cans of tin-steel. Roasted beans smell like coffee, and weigh less because the moisture has been roasted out. They are crunchy to the bite, ready to be ground and brewed.

Quality control begins with the selection of only the finest coffees from trusted suppliers with whom Brooklyn Roasting Company has cultivated lasting relationships. The company visits growers when possible and seeks detailed knowledge of every grower’s farming practices, working conditions, and commitment to quality and sustainability. When green beans arrive at the facility, they are checked for moisture content using a Sinar MCal Moisture Analyser. It is looked for a moisture content of 11-13%; beans that fall below that threshold may be too old and are rejected. Moreover, overall quality is highly certified by Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance, USDA and OU Kosher trademarks.

I’ve never really been into distilled beverages, but I really wanted to push myself out of my box. Having the experience to go to a distillery showed me a whole new way of consuming alcohol which I had no idea about. Dipsy and I chose to do Kings County Distillery. We were on a tour and learned about the process to make it and how it is sold. It was interesting to see how such a small place could create so many different kinds of alcohol.

Introduction Room

Distilling machine

The first liquor he spoke about was straight bourbon which they made with mostly corn and a portion of English malted barley. They distill it twice in big copper pots and then let it age in the old barrels that are charred. They are usually aged for about two years.

Big copper pots

Then we learned about peated bourbon. Peated bourbon is basically bourbon whiskey that conforms to the requirements for bourbon, but instead it ́s made with malted barley that has been exposed to peat smoke. Kings County Distillery uses peat that was grown in Scotland to honor the practice which is very popular in there. They age it in new barrels and add a light smoky finish of single malt. It’s basically a mix between scotch and bourbon.

Out of the main liquors that we were going to do, there was a highlight placed on moonshine because of its history. It is the American precursor to white whiskey. Moonshine is what you get when you’re making whiskey before it is aged in the barrel. It is made with 80% corn and 20% barley. It is also distilled twice and it is brought to an 80 proof. Because of its history as a cheaper bootleg alcohol, moonshine can also mean illegally made spirit.

To finish it off, we were introduced to two very special kinds of whiskey. The first one was the chocolate whiskey which is made from moonshine and cacao bean husks that are grounded. It had a very strong taste. It was bitter and felt like drinking a liquid dark chocolate with alcohol. The other whiskey was winter spice. It is made using cinnamon, cardamom, black peppercorns, anise, cloves, nutmeg and allspice. It had a very unique taste that I was not ever exposed to. It brought me very warm memories of desserts that would be made during Christmas time. I really like that and would love to bake with it.

The different spirits we tried

Overall, I enjoyed the experience. I realize that distilled beverages aren’t my thing, but I would love to dabble with it a little bit more. I like how they placed a focused on getting organic and locally sourced ingredients from New York which I appreciate it a lot. I also noted how they don’t disturb beverages three times because that’s more of a Scottish thing and they wanted to keep a separate identity and style of whiskey that was unique to here. I think the tour guide was extremely knowledgeable about the topic but a lot of times I would zone out because it would get so technical. I can see how people who are really into whiskey would love to be that geeky about it but for somebody who’s just there at introductory level, it was a little bit of a hassle to follow.

The moment I see a cat, I already want to buy it. There was a book about how cats play an important role in distilleries.

Me trying the Winter Whiskey

Dipsy and I posing

References:

Graham, C. (2018, September 22). Key Points in the History of Bourbon in America. Retrieved    from https://www.thespruceeats.com/bourbon-history-timeline-760176.

Grabianowski, E. (2019, March 12). How Moonshine Works. Retrieved from https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/moonshine4.htm.

About. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://kingscountydistillery.com/about/.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-_-nJDhocq7n5m8jsH9yvU3HG34QbziptjcFOZ4ZX3k/edit?usp=sharing

As I got older and time began passing, the more I approached the age of legal; drinking beer tended to interest me a tad bit more than wine, spirits, and whiskey. I always thought that beer was the staple entrance, so that drove my curiosity a lot more with the help of social media, entertainment, and movies always portraying it as the drink people use for get together gatherings.

Going into this tour I had really high hopes of learning the little itty-gritty details and questions that always hovers whenever I looked at beer, which was “How do you make it?.” The Brooklyn Brewery is taking all the right steps in introducing themselves as a serious company who take serving and crafting beer as a passionate task. 

Before entering the brew house, you will be greeted and asked by two security guards for ID. As intimidating as they looked they greet you with warmth and hospitality, which to me is already a good sign if the security is greeting kindly. Stepping inside you feel that sensation of warmth and invitational vibes received from that of a family members home. There’s cozy armchairs and couches with tables to play board games, a bar that mimics that off a tavern back in medieval times, and a mingle section for people to just relax and enjoy a pint. I knew at this point, that this brewery knew and full grasped the concept of what it means to be hospitable.

My tour guide was this young gentlemen with a hat, who’s energy emitted the second he introduced himself. I was distracted by the ambiance of the place to hear his name, but what he informed about the brewery is something I made sure to listen on. The brewery began when two neighbors came together and decided to open a brewery together. The beginning was tough because they had to deal with the mafia running the area as well as the incoming rule of prohibition.

Before they acquired the brewery we were informed that the space were used to produce steel, then matzo and now beer starting 1995. When Prohibition began a lot of other brew houses closed down. However this one adapted making sodas and ice cream in order to stay above the water. The last bit of information the tour guide wanted everyone to know is that this brewery is actually the number 1 exporter within the states, and that they export more than what they currently have within the states. To top it all off, they mentioned that one of their secret ingredients also shares with that of bagels and breads here in New York; and that is our water.

Overall, my experience at this place simply was amazing! The only complaint is the machines are extremely loud; I’d recommend volume control. 

1.    https://gyazo.com/a9dc0b9a17d9d3a1922c73a221cb5e56 – Here is a picture of me at the brewery. Behind me is the line for the tours as well as large containers for the beer
2. 
   https://gyazo.com/b5231fa0c30d7ba6d047b5fdb7e1e9f2 – Here is a picture of my tour guide right before we began. He has been working with the Brooklyn Brewery for some time now, and with his speaking skills made for an excellent tour guide
3. https://gyazo.com/1a86eaff44fac1b5d52c20e3996c1782 – Our guide explained that the tubes above we sending ready to use malt into a container that would then send them across these tubes to be ready to heat and stop germination.
4. https://gyazo.com/e805d4f8d70826401c9408c77b14566c – Here is a look at their Bottling station. They claimed to be use modern techniques to help brew their beer, but the process of it all is still very traditional. They make sure that the original taste remain the same from bottling to the hands of the consumer.
5. https://gyazo.com/1186b298e1a6ae67d98724d56b17b58e – Here is something that I found very interesting. They use class bottles that they’ve used in the past as decoration throughout the main pub area.
6. https://gyazo.com/596b45e367c5dbb9f04659fabd26bb5e – The last picture that I wanted to show is the room where the bottling actually happens. It’s a fairly large room and the reason I wanted to include this is to explain how they bottle. When bottling is about to conclude, they will drop a little hot water to make the liquid bubble. In doing so they make sure to cap it, so no oxygen escapes.

   (For some reason I can’t add Media so I also attached links as proof of me visit just in case the pictures do not show.)

Brewery Visit

Five Boroughs

I feel like I got the complete industry hookup when it came to my visit at Five Boroughs Brewery. Looking for a location for my brewery visit was harder than expected. Every place I looked up didn’t respond or didn’t give tours. I really wanted to stray away from all the other locations my classmates were going. No professor wants to read papers on the same place even if experiences did differ. I had to do an interview for my marketing class. I interviewed my restaurants general manager who in the interview was telling my about a distributor who she was having delivery issues with but she loved the team and the quality of the beer. She said she really loved the fact that they were brewed locally but for some reason my job location is hard to fit into the delivery schedule. I then in turned asked if they did tours. She said they have an industry night and sometimes gives tours but she could ask the team if and when the next industry day was. Shortly after me interview I received confirmation that I was able to tour the brewery and receive a free tour and tasting.

Entering the Five Boroughs taproom it felt fresh and new. I introduced myself to Brian who introduced himself as one of teams of sales department. He gave a short history on the company. He said that Blake Tomnitz and Kevin O’Donnell started five boroughs in their college dorm room. They expanded after a few years and in 2017 opened United NYC by Beer. Which quickly turned to the catchier Five Boroughs connecting to the fact that this is a beer from New York by New Yorkers. Not only is the company a New York City based but the grains, hops and yeast all come from various farms across the state of NY. He said that we were going to go through a quick tasting; which lasted two hours as he discussed the process of each beer. There were beers on the menu that collaborate with other breweries and NY based companies like All Wise that has a bee farm (Tremblay Apiary) located in Williamsburg, NY. Five boroughs sales their staple beers that are sold year round are the Tiny Juicy which has hints of citrus fruits, the IPA which had a Smokey flavor, and the Gridlock which is similar to the tiny juicy with more if a prominent bold citrus flavor with a little bit of heat towards the end. Throughout the year they collaborate with several companies like the Tremblay Apiary, or Heatonist Hot sauce to make their winter stout

Our tour started a peek inside of the inspection room where all the beer is inspected my qualified taste testers or new beer flavors are created then we went inside the beer walk-in where all the kegs and cans are located waiting to be delivered. We walked through the process that it takes to make beer from starting in the brew house, where the barley and others grains are milled together until grains are fine so the sugars are released. this is called he grist. Then milled grains are transferred into a mash tun, where it is mixed with heated water in a process called mash conversion. This process turns the starch into sugar. The wort liquid as it is called is then transferred to the Boiler/kettle where it is brought to a controlled boil before the hops are added. The hops are added as preservative. The spent grains are then transferred to rolling carts where they transferred by other company who turns it into animal feed or compose.  After the wort is finished boiling, the wort is transferred by hoses to the CO2 tanks to be distilled. Depending on the type of beer being made depends on how long the beer stays in fermentation. If it is a larger it is 28 days to ferment in low 45f-65f temperature, or an Ale which only takes 14 days to ferment on a higher temperature of 75f-95f.  throughout the fermentation the CO2 is released is buckets. Brian said that if we pull the hose out and air gets into the tank it could ruin the whole batch of beer. After the tour of the brewery we took a few short steps to the canning section where all the cans of finished brewed beer gets put into the cans and then labeled.  nest to the canning station there wine barrels. Brian said they use the wine barells to make all the sour beers. Then those cans and kegs get transferred to the walk-in waiting to get picked up for delivery. Overall the experience was informative and I would visit the five boroughs tap house again for a night out. I would definitely go to another industry day to taste and give opinions on the new collaborations and flavors.

Tap Room Menu

beer tasted

Barley before milling

miller

Mash Tun and  Boiler

CO2 tanks

original brew station

adjunct beer (honey wise)

inspection room

spent grains

Canning

Barrels for sour