Brewery Spotlight: Sixpoint Craft Ales
Welcome to the Brewery Spotlight. Every week, I’ll take a look at one deserving brewery and talk a bit about their beers. This week: Sixpoint Craft Ales, Brooklyn, NY.
I just spent the weekend in New York, so why not use a NYC brewery for this week’s spotlight. Like Brooklyn Brewery, Sixpoint is a relatively big craft brewer, and they’ve taken to the can more than any other craft brewer in America. This means that pretty much everything they make is readily available in a can, and you know that makes me happy. They get their name from the hexagram that old time brewers would put on their barrels. Each point of the star represents a critical part of the brewing process: the brewer, water, malt, hops, yeast, and grain. They blended this star with the more familiar nautical star to get their logo. If you have time, I recommend taking a look at their website. As sad as it is, Brooklyn Brewery is no longer the great place it was. They’ve started to rest on their laurels a bit and the beer has suffered. They’re still better than 95% of breweries out there, but I believe that Sixpoint is now the preeminent brewery in Brooklyn (and they’re fighting Ommegang for best in the state). I love the cans, but I had a few draft Sixpoints that were incredibly fresh, so if you’re in NYC, track down a place with Sixpoint. It won’t be hard. Now, let’s look at some beers.
Sixpoint Sweet Action
It’s possible that I like Sweet Action too much. I wrote about this in the “can revolution” article, but it’s worth mentioning again because it’s insanely delicious. Sweet Action could be called a cream ale, but I don’t think that’s entirely accurate. I had one of these yesterday after a long walk through the city, and I quaffed it in about 10 seconds. This beer is amazing, and since it’s just over 5%, it’s a borderline session beer (for psychos like me, of course).
Sixpoint Bengali Tiger
I have a well-documented problem with IPAs. It’s common knowledge at this point, so I won’t try to justify my obsession with India pale ales. Bengali Tiger is a wonderful IPA that really tastes bitter at first, but mellows nicely and explodes into a fruit and pine extravaganza in your mouth. It’s not as strong as I’d like, but it’s absolutely delicious, so who cares.
Sixpoint Diesel
I don’t think Sixpoint cans Diesel, which would make sense as I’ve never seen it other than on tap. It’s a stout, and a strong one at that. I love this style of beer so I don’t mind the crude oil color. It’s actually a very smooth stout, and one you could probably drink all day (except that it’s very, very strong for a stout). Sixpoint doesn’t make the same mistakes many American brewers do. They keep this stout interesting without being gimmicky or crazy.
Sixpoint Crisp Lager
Crisp Lager is a very drinkable Sixpoint brew, although it’s really more of a pilsner. This goes down very easily, so don’t drink too many. This might be my least favorite Sixpoint beer, but it’s still good, and one of the more popular beers they make.