How can a beer be abstract? Well, in tasting some of what Brew York has to offer, you would assume that some of these bizarre flavours would have remained in the netherworld. But no, Brew York have materialised the conceptual, and produced some truly abstract beers.
When a fellow member of the Vision team and I arrived at Brew York, we were presented with a dazzling array of beers, and we wasted no time in sampling. I kicked things off with a taster of ‘Dreams of Brew York’, a smooth and fruity sour, which, somewhat surprisingly, I really enjoyed. I had never really experienced sour beer until the last year or so, and I cant say it’s an area I’m always comfortable in. Having a pint of what is essentially toxic waste (the popular sweet) becomes unpleasant relatively quickly after the initial novelty has worn off, but this sour is different. The smooth and fruity cherry overtones are accompanied by a bite of cranberry as the beer hits the back of your throat. Oh wait, is that a hint of cinnamon? Yes it is. ‘Dreams of Brew York’ is a special Christmas brew, and at 6.5 abv, this sour doesn’t hold back.
Next, we both took a sip of another sour, ‘Granny Smith’s Brambling Habit’. The drink is tangy and sweet, and neither of us can believe it’s not cider. Good, but not up to the standard of the first sour we tried. We then moved onto some sterner stuff: Brew York’s range of award winning stouts. Sadly my vegan accomplice could not partake in these delights, although it was later explained that they are aiming to phase lactose out of all their beers. I tried two of the more alternative stouts, a Blueberry and a Banoffee. Both were very interesting, but for me at least, maybe more of a half pint sort of drink.
Now it was time for one of Brew York’s big hitters, a permanent member of their exclusive ‘core range’, ‘Rhubarbra Streisand’. It was delicious. Tart but creamy, this milkshake-IPA is unlike anything else I had ever drunk, and definitely worth a try. We then wound things down with a glass of another one of their classics, ‘Big Eagle’. It was big and bold much like the country that inspired it. This west coast IPA was packed with hoppiness, great stuff.
At this point, we both realised that we had lectures to attend later in the day, the drinking halted, and it was time for a tour of the brewery. The main brewing plant has now moved to Osbaldwick, but the central site still does some brewing, often trying out the more experimental stuff. Back in 2016, when Brew York began, they had 20 staff.
They now have over 70, and tap rooms in Pocklington and Leeds as well as York. This is testament to the quality of their beers, and their business savvy, now offering a huge variety of their beers for purchase online.
To round off our visit, it was time to sample their internal food vendor, Yuzu Street Food. We settled down with a pint of ‘Big Eagle’ and marveled at the menu in front of us. We both went for bao buns in the end. It was braised beef and fried chicken for me, and fried tofu for my partner in crime, both were stunning and just what we needed to bring the world back into focus after an afternoon of beer tasting.