Brooklyn Brewery

Lore & Background

Steve Hindy learned to brew beer during a six-year stay in Middle Eastern nations including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. After returning to Brooklyn in 1984, he and his downstairs neighbor Tom Potter quit their jobs to found the brewery. They hired Milton Glaser, who received a share in the company, to create the logo and identity. Originally, all beer was brewed by contract at Matt Brewing Company, and the founders personally distributed and marketed their beer in New York City. In 1996, they acquired a former matzo factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and converted it into a functional brewery. Due to limited capacity, most production—including all Brooklyn Lager and bottled products—continued to be brewed by contract in Utica, New York. An economic recession allowed them to remain in Williamsburg and undertake a $6.5 million expansion in 2009. In 2016, they announced plans to relocate their specialty brewing operation from Williamsburg after their landlord put the building up for sale, and also planned to move their main brewery to a $70 million, 200,000-square-foot facility on Staten Island.

Reader's Guide

Brooklyn Brewery's significance lies in its role as an early craft brewery in New York City, founded by two neighbors who turned homebrewing experience into a business. The brewery's marketing relied on word-of-mouth, brand visibility at bars, and sponsorship of nonprofits such as the World Cares Center, Eat Drink Local Week, Desertfest, the Culinary Institute of America's Hyde Park campus, New York Harbor Restoration, the Brooklyn Museum, and The New York Poetry Festival. Brewmaster Garrett Oliver, appointed in 1994, published the book 'The Brewmaster's Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food' in 2003 and served as a judge at the Great American Beer Festival for eleven years. In 2005, Hindy and Potter published 'Beer School: Bottling Success At The Brooklyn Brewery', a guide to entrepreneurship and brewing. The brewery's distribution expanded through a 2016 agreement with Carlsberg Group for Europe, the UK, and Hong Kong, and Carlsberg opened a craft brewery in Lithuania to produce Brooklyn Lager under license. Brooklyn Brewery also acquired London Fields Brewery in a joint venture with Carlsberg. Esquire magazine selected Brooklyn Lager 16 ounce as one of the 'Best Canned Beers to Drink Now' in February 2012.

Did You Know?

• Steve Hindy learned to brew beer while living in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
• The brewery's logo was designed by Milton Glaser, creator of the I Love New York logo.
• Garrett Oliver has been brewmaster since 1994 and published 'The Brewmaster's Table' in 2003.
• Kirin acquired a 24.5% stake in the brewery in October 2016.