Josh G.
Yelp
Five Boroughs Brewing Co.
Sometimes I get lazy when writing reviews. I really don't mean to, but ya know, life gets in the way and occasionally I just experience way too many new places all at once. I mean it's not like I visited Five Boroughs Brewing Co. months ago. It was only a few weeks back, at the beginning of December, but if my experience (good or bad) isn't anything that makes me want to start those fingers typing, then I'd say it tells you something. Hmm...
Well the first thing that my brain tells me is that I don't often find myself in such a deep part of Brooklyn. It was due to my buddy and his girlfriend that had us traveling so far west, but due to some Yelping and our opportunistic location, we ended up at FBBC. I'm glad we did as I've known of them for a few years now, having only sampled a handful of their beers. Of memorableness, only Tiny Juicy (their hazy-ish session IPA) stood out in my mind for flavor. They did brew a beer for the broadway show Come From Away which is...cool, but not something I'd have again. Regardless of what's in cans, you'll get more straight from the source anyway and I was excited for that.
Walking into Five Boroughs I got a feel which reminded me of a few other tap rooms (KCBC for one) though this shouldn't necessarily be a strong negative. Their lax style and semi-low lit vibe set a chill mood for the hour or so we were there. The staff, on the other hand, was mixed on their welcoming, perhaps having a little too much of the "Brooklyn hipster vibe" going on. Needless to say, it didn't stop us from ordering up a flight and a couple of pints.
Being the driver, I sampled some sips of that flight, sharing with my buddy. The menu was a variety of IPAs and a few lager-style brews so we tried to mix together a little of everything. Looking back, I suppose I would've loved to see a stout or brown ale (something for the cold weather perhaps?), but maybe I'm jumping the gun (I mean it was only early December). And c,mon, Josh, you have to give credit where credit is due. Five Boroughs did have WinterPenn on tap, their winter warmer beer, which we totally tried amidst our flight. Unfortunately, it wasn't anything memorable as the spices it mentions didn't really come forward. This could've also been due to having just tried Circa's out of this world winter warmer beer only hours prior, but even so...
I will give "mad props" to Tic Tac Toe, a session IPA (different from Tiny Juicy) that really hit the palate nicely and was more of a shining memory of the place. I'm also totally not going to forgo mentioning the Industry Ale which was brewed in association with nearby Industry City (a spot I still need to check out). So it's not like Five Boroughs is doing anything wrong here, but perhaps they're just getting a little, just a smidge, too meshed together with any other ol' brewery. In the ever-growing beer scene, some originality is needed. Just sayin'.
Overall, I like Five Boroughs, don't get me wrong. They have a few great beers and several of them are canned and available near distributors by me, giving further opportunity to try more of their stuff. Though when it comes to the tap room and the entire experience of the place, I find myself at around 3.5 stars, heading south. This strongly goes against their Yelp review star total, though maybe it's just me and feeling like my history with their beers and what I've tried doesn't stand out or constitute the four star salute. If/when I find myself in the area again (perhaps for Industry City?) I'll consider another trip here in hopes that there's a little more to be loved. Only time will tell in the land of the Boroughs.