One of the cool things about running beer news site and producing a craft beer terrestrial radio show is that I get to try some really unique and hard-to-get beers…and even though today’s brewery is just across the border from my home state, I’ve never encountered any of their beers.
Coming to us from Brooklyn, NY, today we be test-driving some beer from Threes Brewing. If you’re not living in Brooklyn, or not familiar with Threes Brewing they are known for “crafting approachable beers that balance simplicity and complexity with a focus on lagers, hop-forward American ales and mixed-culture beers.”
The brewery opened in 2014 with a “non-traditional tap-room” in Gowanus, a sister-bar in Greenpoint and a “seasonal outpost” on Governor’s Island in New York Harbor. Their beers can be found in over 150 bars, restaurants and shops across NY and they recently announced they will now be distributing to more of upstate NY along with CT, MA, NJ, PA and Washington, DC. With my home state on that list, I was excited to see what they have to offer….so off we go.
Threes brewing was nice enough to send along nine different beers, so I have my work cut out for me. Up first I decided to head down the hoppy highway, and work my way up. This means I started with Threes Brewing Counterpart Pale Ale. I should mention up front that this beer comes in a really cool-looking monochromatic can. The name refers to this beer being a good counterpart between a table beer and the hoppier beers on their tap list. Counterpart pours a very hazy deep straw color with sweet orange peel and a touch of stone fruit in the nose. The flavors lead with lemon and more citrus and the mouthfeel is light and drinkable. Overall this reminds me of some of the classic early east-coast hop-forward pale ales and overall I suspect this may be one of my favorites of the nine.
Next up it seemed prudent to sample Threes Brewing Logical Conclusion. I planned a funny beer name joke here (instead of the word “prudent”), but the red hand on the can packaging gave my joke the thumbs down. Logical Conclusion pours a bright golden color with a more hazy appearance than Counterpart. This juice-forward beer is loaded with hop aromas like grapefruit, passion fruit, pineapple and orange and the beer has a really refreshing mouthfeel. The flavors have an interesting light malt presence with a prominent grapefruit hop flavor that I really liked. The overall balance leans nicely into the NEIPA-style citrus hop zone that I really like and the beer is effervescent, refreshing and really drinkable. Logical conclusion….drink more of this beer.
Of course this lead me to Threes Brewing You People double dry-hopped IPA. This beer pours hazy, hazy and even hazy but you’ll quickly forget that when the aromas arrive. You can tell the hop-force is strong with this one and with aromas like citrus, orange, lemon peel, apricot and even a bit of resinous pine, this beer has a lot of good things going on in the nose. Of course the flavors follow on this juice monster and I found myself really enjoying the grapefruit, citrus and pineapple flavors as well as the slightly piney and resinous finish. The addition of oats makes for a really soft mouthfeel and overall this is perhaps my favorite of the three I’ve tried so far.
From here I decided to stay in the hoppy lane with Threes Brewing Courage My Love. This hoppy pale lager supports the ACLU with 10% of the proceeds going to support their work. The beer pours a light yellow color with a mix of biscuit and pale malt aromas with just a touch of fruit. The flavors have a nice mix of traditional pale lager malt with just a touch of citrus and grapes in the flavors. I don’t drink a lot of lagers, but the balance of malt and the mild bitterness in the mix made this a really drinkable beer.
From here I popped open Threes Brewing Vliet. This pilsner-style lager (pronounced “vleet”) “comes from the Dutch for minor stream, which is what the nearby Gowanus canal would have been when New York was once called New Amsterdam.” I am far from a pilsner drinker, but Threes Brewing tells me, “the beer has the body of a Czech lager and the crisp balance of a German Pils.” The beer pours straw yellow with cracker, biscuit and spicy hop aromas. This lager has a much more prominent hoppy presence than Courage My Love and overall I liked the malt flavors and how well they were balanced out by the grassy and citrus hops. The beer finishes a bit dry and overall I think a pilsner like this could really make me want to drink more pilsners…..assuming they are all Vliet.
On night two I decided to start with the funk! This meant Threes Brewing Eternal Return Rosé. This brett beer really seems to quietly yell out, “I want to be a wine.” Yes I know it’s a beer and it pours a bright pink/amber color, but this aged wine/beer hybrid leans nicely into the wine category. The beer is aged on grape skins and that not only imparts a really nice color, but a really pleasant vinous aroma and flavor. Of course you can’t miss the funk imparted by the brettanomyces, but it’s a nicely balanced funk. The grape/wine presence changes the intensity of the funk, and softens the overall mix in a good way. If you want to convert a wine-lover to a beer-lover, Eternal Return Rosé would be a great place to start….but you’ll have to wait for the April 2020 release.
I stayed in the Brett category and opened the Threes brewing Eternal Return Apricot. I’ll admit I loved this beer before I even took a sip. You know I love peach and apricot beers and I really enjoy tart and sour beers…and when you start with freshly picked New York apricots, it’s hard to go wrong. This beer has some really prominent sour lemon and peach aromas and the flavors follow with more tart fruit flavors. The earthy horse blanket funk really moves this beer more toward a sour ale and the overall mix of dried peaches, earthy funk and a sharp flavor I kept calling baby aspirin (this is a good thing because I love orange baby aspirin) really made for a nice drinking experience. The beer finishes clean and fruity and overall this was a really good beer that just happens to be a Brett beer…and just happens to be my favorite of the bunch.
Up next I opened Threes Brewing Wandering Bine. This beer is a foudre-fermented saison using “a Solera method typically found in the wine world to focus its character and allow the beer’s essence to keep changing over time with each blend’s strands (aged foudre bine, vintage wine barrel bine, and young stainless bine) adding vitality and depth to an otherwise simple saison base.”
The beer pours a bright yellow color with a really pleasant effervescence. The aromas are phenolic and spicy with just a bit of honeydew melon in the mix. This isn’t a traditional saison and it leans a bit into the wine world with a dry and fruity finish. The melon presence becomes more prominent with temperature and with each sip, and the baseline fruity tartness made for a really nice overall balance. The beer finishes dry and juicy, and while those descriptors don’t seem to agree, they actually do when you sample this beer. The complexity also increases with temperature and Wandering Bine will take your palate on a real journey….in a really good way.
On my final sampling day, I decided to only taste Threes Brewing Backways. This beer is a traditional English mild ale brewed in collaboration with Burial Beer from Asheville, NC. The beer pours a deep reddish brown color with aromas of soft toffee, sweet malt and brown sugar. The flavors are loaded with caramel, brown sugar and biscuit malt but I really found the cocoa and chocolate flavors to be prominent. As the beer warms it gets a bit roasty with more cereal flavors in the mix and the body is surprisingly light but really drinkable. Overall this beer smells, tastes and feels like a classic English Mild which is a really good thing.
I’ve really enjoyed not only getting a chance to test drive some beers from Threes Brewing, but to also get a chance to taste nine different unique and really enjoyable beers. With the newly announced distribution that may be delivering to your state, you should absolutely get out there and try these Threes Brewing beers for yourself….and as always, when you do try them, be sure to let us know what YOU think.
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