Brooklyn Brewery Comes To Town On Tap, at TGG Plaza Arkadia

It's always a pleasure to be invited to Carlsberg events, and when the invite is for the opening of a new craft beer bar at TGG, Plaza Arkadia, one cannot say no.  The entire upstairs of the TGG place has been decked up as a Brooklyn dedicated bar.

So what is Brooklyn? (Apart from being a place)
It was an educational session for us, to learn that Brooklyn Brewery is the no. 1 American craft beer exporter and is available in more than 30 countries.
It was founded in 1988, currently ranking #11 in volume among United States craft breweries. It has received numerous accolades and awards for its brews, including the 2018 Beer World Cup Gold Medal for Brooklyn Lager. Now who knew there was a Beer World Cup...that would be a match I wouldn't mind watching.

Carlsberg Malaysia is the exclusive distributer for two of their most popular variants – Brooklyn Lager and Brooklyn East IPA.  Hence their presence here.

The host for the night was Thomas Teo, the Commercial Development Manager of Craft and Specialty of Carlsberg Singapore, interviewed by Kim of Thirstmag, who shared with us interesting insights on craft beer and food etc.  It's exciting that these are going to be monthly events hosted by Carlsberg Malaysia, with thoughtfully paired foods from selected Carlsberg partner outlets.

At TGG, the food pairing was with five specialities including the TGG Special Fried Rice, TGG Spicy Steamed Pork Ribs, moo ping (BBQ pork skewer), salted-egg chicken, and Thai mango salad.

The pairing of Brooklyn Lager with it maltiness paired splendidly with the Moo Ping, which incidentally was superb.  I would have been happy just to eat that all night paired with the Lager. 

One of the most beautiful sounds in the world is the sound of clanking glasses to a spirited Cheers or Yam Seng, especially amongst friends.

The TGG Spicy Steamed Pork Ribs and Thai mango salad were paired  the robust, hoppy aromas in Brooklyn East IPA.  Actually food pairing is rather subjective, and to me the differences were minimal, and I felt that both the Lager and IPA would have gone well with any one of the dishes.  In fact, the IPA with the Moo Ping was also superb. 

So what are craft beers?  They're usuall brewed in smaller batches by Independent Brewers, and usually would have their distinct richer flavour which would appeal to various types of beer drinkers.  The brewers can obviously play around with their recipes to produce beers that are unique to the brewery, by playing around witht eh combinations of hops, malt, etc.

For now, craft beer lovers in Malaysia have two Brooklyn Brewery beers to choose from: the award-winning Brooklyn Lager and the hoppy Brooklyn East IPA – available in bottles since Dec ’17, and finally in draught this year!

The Brooklyn Mega Set comes with your choice of Brooklyn Lager of Brooklyn East IPA in a frozen mug at a special promo price of RM40++ (normal price: RM50++). You can also enjoy more frozen mugs of Brooklyn Lager / East IPA all night long at RM15++ only (normal price: RM19++). Both promotions are available until 28 February 2019 or while stocks last.

Visit carlsbergmalaysia.com.my for more information on Brooklyn’s craft brews!