Events — 12 July 2012
Brooklyn Pig & Pickle at The Brooklyn Brewery

It seems these days that people cannot get enough of food pairings. Be it salty and sweet or savory and sour, these taste combinations have invaded our culinary lexicon. Whenever we indulge in such pairings, we work our minds and bellies and on Wednesday night, the LocalBozo crew headed to Williamsburg’s “Brooklyn Brewery” to test our palate on some summery taste combinations. The great people at “The Weekly Pint,” “McClure’s Pickles,” and “Mable’s Smokehouse” banded together to produce this spirited testing of one’s taste senses aptly titled the “Brooklyn Pig & Pickle.”

Since we were at the “Brooklyn Brewery” home base, it seemed only right for us to grab some pints before this mash-up tasting. Our crew headed over to the bar area to make a selection of what we thought worked best with the food options at hand. “Brooklyn” had a wide variety of ales on tap so the choice was not necessarily an easy one. In the end we went for a seasonal ‘Summer Ale’ and ‘Wheat’ variety. With each sip of the cold brews, the summer mentality grew as did our appetites. With brew in hand, our crew hit the tasting tables shared by McClure’s Pickles and Mable’s Smokehouse respectively. Several paper boats filled with pickles lined the table, which we picked up with very little hesitation. The pickles looked to be traditional upon first glance, but the flavor was a different story altogether. The first bite brought a distinct mixture of vinegar and sour, both at highly pleasurable levels. McClure’s is known for bold pickling, and Wednesday’s selection was no different.

In keeping with the model that there’s never too much of a good thing, we picked up a few extra pickles to pair with Mable’s Smokehouse’s smoked selections. Mable’s is located directly down the street from the brewery so it was great to see neighborhood pride and coordination in action. Another thing that was in “action” was their “Berkshire Pulled Pork served in Bacon Cups with Collard Greens.” As to make our mothers proud, we started with the veggie selection. The collard greens were cooked to a salty level of our liking. Each bite was juicy and satisfying. The main dish featured one of our favorite food characteristics as the smokehouse placed meat on-top of more meat. The perfectly smoked and not overly sauced Berkshire pork would have been terrific on it’s own. But when you place it on a venerable “crown” of bacon you have a true winner. Thankfully we had plenty of pickles to munch on along the way, yielding a delightful mix of bitter vinegar to the savory meats and sauces. Needless to say, we made a few more trips back to the bar for ice cold pints.

The event itself was popular, causing line build ups for both beer and ‘cue. But, even with waits we could tell the sell out crowd was enjoying the seasonal pairings of two of summer’s favorite delicacies. With the success of the first “Brooklyn Pig & Pickle,” the brewery and partnering restaurants plan on making this a yearly tradition. So if you love these two taste treats and, of course, beer- be sure to be on the lookout for upcoming events at the Brewery. Just get there early!

- Jay Rubin

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(2) Readers Comments

  1. I totally disagree with this review. Mable’s ran out of food 45 minutes into the event, that’s why there was a line for food. Because people took so much food at the beginning of the event, the pickle servings were cut in half and once they got more pulled pork you were only given a fork full with no bacon cup. Brooklyn Brewery did a great job with the beer, but in no way would I call this even a success.

  2. Highly pleasurable write up,
    J u are the man for sure