A Beer Grows in Brooklyn, Part III

The last day of my journey in the capital of the world brought me to the source of all things evil: Yankee Stadium. Granted, the purpose of my visit to the Evil Empire was not beer related (it had a lot more to do with showing off my favorite hat to the local fans), but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to enjoy a few cold ones while I was there.

As is unfortunately the case at most stadiums, the beer options were quite limited and the prices were through the roof. Fenway’s not much better in terms of price, but at least you have the option of upgrading to something of actual quality if you want to. At a Sox game earlier this year, vendors had Guinness and multiple varieties of Sam Adams. In the Bronx, if you don’t want to drink yellow water, your only other option is imported yellow water. That’s kind of sad, especially when you consider that even my minor league Providence Bruins have some local offerings at their games. Oh well, maybe they’ll throw us beer aficionados a bone when they finish the new stadium.

After the game we were all itching for something drinkable so we headed over to the Alligator Lounge. It’s pretty much a standard bar with a handful of nice options on tap but what makes it special is that you get a free personal pan pizza with your first beer. It’s not like they’re microwaving some Domino's crap either, this was coming straight out of a brick oven and was made to order. Call me cheap, but I thought this was fantastic.

Knowing nothing about it, I ordered a Ramstein Classic. (It was the name that got me. It called out to my German ancestry and, come on, who doesn’t love “Du Hast”?) I did some research later and learned that it’s produced by the New Jersey based High Point Brewing Company, which specializes in wheat beers.

This was much darker than other wheat beers I’ve had. Even the darkest dunkelweizens aren’t opaque like this beer is and the head was an off white/tan color, reminiscent of some of the poorer stouts I’ve tried. I normally love dark beers but this one just didn’t work for me. Also, it really didn’t drink like a dark beer (which probably makes about as much sense as this). It's not particularly full bodied and, honestly, the flavor was virtually non-existent. It’s brewed with Tettnanger hops, which are some my favorites when homebrewing because of their great taste and pungent aroma, but I didn’t even know they were there until I looked at High Point’s website. After seeing all the wonderfully flavorful ingredients that go into this completely bland beer, I think what's most impressive is the brewers’ ability to mask them so effectively.

I found a review that called the Ramstein Classic a “guide for what a 21st century dunkelweizen might be.” I sure as hell hope not.