Beer by Brooklyn Brewery
Brooklyn Sorachi Ace

Most Brooklyn beers are made with a blend of hop varietals. As a chef does with spices, we look to get the best qualities of each hop and create a harmony of flavors and aromas. However, a few years ago, their brewmaster ran into a hop unique enough to deserve its own moment in the sun. A large Japanese brewery first developed the hop variety “Sorachi Ace” in 1988. A cross between the British “Brewer’s Gold” and the Czech “Saaz” varieties, it exhibited a quality that was unexpected – it smelled really lemony.

The unique flavor of Sorachi Ace was bypassed by the big brewers, but Brooklyn thought it was pretty cool. So they made a special brew with it, and added the beer to their Brewmaster’s Reserve special draft program.

Brewmaster’s Reserves are only available for a short time, and then they’re gone. But they liked this one so much, they decided to bring it back and give it the star treatment. Brooklyn Sorachi Ace is a classic, cracklingly dry, hoppy unfiltered golden farmhouse ale, but made entirely with now-rare Sorachi Ace hops grown by a single farm in Washington. It is fermented with Brooklyn's special Belgian ale strain, and then more Sorachi Ace hops are added post-fermentation. After the dry-hopping, it merges with a bright spicy lemongrass / lemon zest aroma backed by a wonderfully clean malt flavor.