First Impressions
The craft beer boom in the United States has been an exciting, sprawling journey — especially over the past twenty years or so. You don’t need to travel far to find a new brewery, which makes finding a great one all the more exciting.
Other Half Brewing isn’t the newest craft brewery, but it’s not the oldest either. Founded in 2014, this Brooklyn, New York based company has had plenty of time to refine and perfect their brand. With multiple locations, you’ll no doubt be treated to some expert brews whichever one you choose.
For our beerventure, we journeyed to their Domino Park location. With tall windows and wide views of the Manhattan skyline right outside across the East River, it’s hard not to enjoy this easily accessible and expansive spot. But how do the beers themselves stack up?
But What About the Beer?
With no shortage of breweries churning our high percentage IPAs, it’s sometimes a challenge to find a place that truly balances hops in a beautiful, flavor-bursting combination. A brewery that features IPAs sets the expectation even higher.
Such is the case with Other Half. Almost all of their beers listed were IPAs, but luckily for us, they were all “A” grade range! So which were our favs?
Jackie’s Favorite Brew
While I’m not typically a huge fan of hazier IPAs, I can definitely get on board with pretty much any brew style that is in “A” grade territory. I would have to say that most of Other Half’s beers taste within this range!
My biggest gripe with IPAs are when breweries go for “hoppiness” over flavor. Such is not the case with Other Half. These IPAs are clearly expertly brewed with specific flavor profiles in mind. Perhaps such an advanced process is no more experienced than through my personal favorite, their “Krocodile Broc” — a collaborative drink with Cerebral Brewing featuring Citra, Nelson Sauvin, Strata, Hallertau Blanc, and Cascade hops.
I’m not sure how else to describe it other than almost a “wine-like” hoppy/broccoli conglomeration. If I can be satiated by such a complex flavor profile, then no doubt anyone will enjoy no matter your beer style preference!
Joe’s Favorite Brew
Usually I find that breweries sporting a dozen or more IPAs tend to have a lot of overlap. That is, many of these drinks end up tasting somewhat similar — or sometimes pretty much almost indistinguishable from one to the next. This is not the case with Other Half’s unique, crisp, and creative brews.
It’s hard to select a favorite drink when Other Half is doing so well with so many IPAs. It’s such a refreshing pleasure to rotate from one to the next and appreciate that while each one is indeed hoppy, each one also has its own identity — and a delicious one at that.
If I had to pick, I might recommend the “11 Pounders”. It’s a relatively lighter IPA at just 5.8% — but percentage isn’t everything. With Citra, Mosaic, Galaxy, El Dorado, and Amarillo hops; this is pretty much a perfectly balanced IPA that I can’t see a true beer drinker not absolutely loving.
Listen to our Full Thoughts (and Grade)!
So what did we think of the “other half” of their beers? The bathrooms? Crack a beverage of your own and join us on our podcast to hear our full review (and grade)! Click below to listen or check out “A Grade” wherever you listen to podcasts!
Joe & Jackie
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