New NYC Brewery: Folksbier Brauerei

I cant keep up with all these new NYC breweries

 

Craft beer problems.

 

well to be fair, NYC is still lagging behind places like Philly, SoCal, The Bay Area, PNW in terms of breweries per capita. considering that Manhattan used to house 112 breweries pre prohibition, I'd say that we still have some catching up to do.

 

Apparently they're making it a selling point that their beer is "never too bitter." Not going for the hopheads, it seems.

 

The website is pretty strange, particularly this paragraph on branding...

"Our brand is based on this melding of old and new world influences and it shows as much in our logo and media materials as it does in the beer. Folksbier is a timeless brand as much at home in the ancient Alpine Kingdoms of Tyrol as it is today on the streets of Brooklyn as it will be 100 years from now. Our beer and branding appeals to the sensibilities of our community issuing universal truths embodied in everything we make, beer and branding included. We target the enlightened beer drinker in all of us."

 

My sense is that he's writing about the design of the logo and (eventual) packaging, the aesthetic, more than anything. Not being very careful with the use of that term, though.

Heard the brewer talk on Beer Sessions Radio, seemed worth trying. He's interested in blending older German styles with newer techniques and ingredients, or so I remember.

 

If it's half as good as Jacks Abbey it will be awesome.

 

That sounds like a very good reason to try it.
I love hoppy ales as much as anyone (and they're the easiest brews to make) but they do start to taste "same old, same old" after a while.
Folksbier sounds like something worth checking out, and I hope they do well (especially since doing business in NYC is a mighty expensive proposition). On the downside, two of the very best brewery/restaurants NYC has ever seen (Zip City and New Amsterdam) both concentrated on lagers (excellent ones by any measure) but didn't have a very long run; Zip City managed to hang on for a few years but New Amsterdam opened and closed in less than 11 months.
Perhaps they were just ahead of their time.

 

Per capita, yes, but damn if there aren't a bunch of great brews coming out!

I like the idea of a brewery that's not obsessed with hops; NYC needs something like that to counterbalance Other Half and their taplist that's like 95% IPAs. haha.

But Dirck the Norseman may have already beat this new place to the punch, I had a Helles and an English Mild when I visited there. Plus Singlecut has some great lagers.

 

Barrier in Oceanside doesn't get enough attention here on BA but they make a ton of great beers in more styles than anyone else in the area. Not solely IPA/BA/Brett like others recently.

 

I agree. I've had a few great beers from them. Would love to try more.

 

I have had Echo Maker, The Morning Dew, and Helles Simple all at Prime Meats. It's no coincidence they were poured here first as Folksbier was started by the owners of Prime Meats (Frank and Frank). The beer first started popping up this fall and until recently was only being poured at PM. My favorite of those I have had is the helles. The beer fits well with the food they serve at Prime Meats. In my view they are solid local brewery that is focusing on German style beer. Even though they are close to OH, they couldn't be more different. Full disclosure I am a mug clug member at Prime Meats but have no affiliation with them.

 

I thought Keystone Light was the "never bitter beer."

 

They've had beers of theirs on at Threes now and then, but I haven't had a chance to try one yet.

 

I have been to Prime Meats in the past 3 months and also tried their core beers - was not impressed.
Willing to gve them another chance though...
When I had contacted the brewery in February they had told me they were expanding from 3-5 bars to 15-20 or so bars distribution wise.. hence why it has started popping up a little more..

 

Hah, the first thing I thought was the exact opposite, as in "there's no such thing as beer that's too bitter."