Brooklyn Brewery AMA Bionda

This past Monday eve I was graciously invited to the Brooklyn Brewery to help them celebrate their newest release and latest collaboration, AMA Bionda.



Here's the official description from the Brewery:

Brewed by Amarcord Brewery in the small medieval town of Apecchio, Italy, AMA Bionda is a beer made specifically for the Italian dinner table. Designed by Brooklyn Brewmaster Garrett Oliver, this golden beer is born of aromatic malts, three types of hops, Italian Orange Blossom honey from Sicily, and water from springs that date to Roman times. Ama means “loves” in Italian, and AMA Bionda loves Italian food as much as we do. Join us in Brooklyn to celebrate this landmark collaboration and welcome AMA to the United States with much food, drink and revelry.

And boy did we have a chance to pair it with some fine Italian foods. This release party took on a bit of a different feel from other ones, as candles lit the displays of the new bottled beer and waiters ventured around the party with delicious hors d'oeuvres.like Italian meats and cheeses.



Its hard to describe this beer. It's on the lighter side with a tinge of orange citrus from the Orange Blossom honey, but it did seem like a great beer to have on the dinner table. I'm hoping to be able to pair this with a nice chicken and pasta dish when the bottles hit the shelves.



Brooklyn Brewery President Steve Hindy and Brewmaster Garrett Oliver each took their turn addressing the crowd about how much fun this collaboration was for them. Even Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz made an appearance.




Meatsticks!

The Oxford Companion to Beer

On top of Brooklyn Brewery's newest bottled adventure, Brewmaster Garrett Oliver recently released The Oxford Companion to Beer which is literally a complete encyclopedia of all things beer. This book is for anyone from the beer novice to the Certified Cicerone. You may remember my coverage of The Companion's release party in September, but I've only been able to get my hands on the book recently. Let me tell you, this is a must-have for any craft beer fan. What am I saying? If you're reading this, I'm willing to be you already have it.

As a compendium to the companion of the companion, I thought you might like this video of Garrett talking about the book:



If you want to see more of Garrett discussing beer in general, check this out.