Last week ACB got a first-hand look (and taste) of Brooklyn Brewery’s new Quarterly Experiment beer: Improved Old Fashioned and it was a great night for drinking.

Despite the poor weather, this event was packed. There was a line stretching down the block when I arrived but it luckily moved quickly and anxious fans were finally rewarded for braving the rain.

Live jazz played against the backdrop of a raucous crowd including a busy Brewmaster, Garrett Oliver – and the event organizers did a great job transforming a warehouse party into a cocktail lounge hybrid.

Brooklyn’s Improved Old Fashioned is barrel aged and cocktail inspired – and it comes in at a hardy 12.8% ABV. The flavor of the added gentian root, whole clove, assia cinnamon chips, hulled cardamom, whole mace and cinchona bark worked to recreate that classic Old Fashioned cocktail feel and medium mouthfeel.

The brewery essentially made their own bitters by adding those ingredients and derived bittering components from them (there was a Brooklyn staff member on hand to explain each one). There are also excellent vanilla notes from well-executed barrel aging.

The beer itself drank fairly easily for such high alcohol content and the warming sensation was perfect for such a cold and rainy night. This beer would be perfect during a snowstorm especially when paired with the heat of a roaring fireplace.

The Improved Old Fashioned Release Party was a wonderful event. And in spite the large crowd, it was well planned, organized and executed.

Just like the beer, the event had a little something for everyone and we’d like to thank the whole Brooklyn Brewery crew for having us down