Brooklyn The Defender (2015)
THE DEFENDER is constantly vigilant, standing guard over all those who dare to drink great beer. This bright, juicy, West Coast-style IPA takes on a reddish twist from a dash of roasted malt. Bold, fruity hop bitterness and an intensely resinous nose lead the way into a dry finish that blazes the trail for your next sip.
Who is this masked hero? The Defender emerged in an era when gloomy walls and bland beer held our city in a stranglehold. Slowly, murals began to brighten the landscape and flavorful beer flooded the taps. Today the city is alive with fiery art and delicious beer. The Defender maintains constant vigilance to battle back the blandness lurking around the edges. Ours is a world of light, fury, and song. This is it’s Defender!
Brooklyn Defender IPA was forged in collaboration with our sidekicks at New York Comic Con as the official beer of the convention.
Malts: Pilsner, Crisp, Carared, Crystal
Hops: Pilgrim, Willamette, Cascade, Mosaic, Amarillo
Who is this masked hero? The Defender emerged in an era when gloomy walls and bland beer held our city in a stranglehold. Slowly, murals began to brighten the landscape and flavorful beer flooded the taps. Today the city is alive with fiery art and delicious beer. The Defender maintains constant vigilance to battle back the blandness lurking around the edges. Ours is a world of light, fury, and song. This is it’s Defender!
Brooklyn Defender IPA was forged in collaboration with our sidekicks at New York Comic Con as the official beer of the convention.
Malts: Pilsner, Crisp, Carared, Crystal
Hops: Pilgrim, Willamette, Cascade, Mosaic, Amarillo
3.5
174 reviews
Brooklyn, United States
Community reviews
12oz bottle pours burnt orange with light tan frothy head smells of hops and zest, flavor is orange followed by hoppy bitterness.
Bottle from variety pours clear red and two finger head. Smell is floral and roasted hop. Bitter and sweet like candy. Eek.
Pours copper with a thick off white head. Aroma of pine and caramel malt. Taste is bitter pine, with a big malt backbone. Solid IPA.
From tap the brewery. Pours cloudy orange with a small creamy and off white head. Aroma is crisp hoppy. Smooth fruity, bitter, mellow and lingering hoppy. Bitter, crisp hoppy. Lingering hoppy finish.
Draught @ OlutExpo 2016. Pours dark orange with a tiny head. Aroma of grass, herbal notes, pine and caramely malts. Taste is caramely, sweetish and herbal with some pine and resin. Finish is sweet and caramely with some pine and resin. Decent, but doesn’t feel very fresh.
(Keg at OlutExpo 2016) The beer poured deep amber and clear. Its head was medium sized and white. Aroma had fruitiness, grapefruit, tangerine and malts. Palate was medium bodied with medium carbonation. Flavours were fruitiness, grapefruit, sweetness, malts and bitterness. Aftertaste was hoppy and bitter. A good hoppy strong pale ale.
Tap at Olutexpo 2016, Helsinki. Colour is clear orange with small white head. Aromas and flavors: Fruits, hops, some minerals and malts. Pretty drinkable.
On tap. Cooper color with one finger head. Pine, forest, tropical fruit aroma. Taste has a little more tropical fruit than expected, very nice.
12oz bottle pours with a crystal clear copper body that supports a tan head of foam. The first few moments after cracking the cap I swear it smelled like bubble gum. Upon further inspection I get sort of sweet sort of biscuit to lightly roasted malts playing against a light spiced apple bubble gum kind of berry gummy bear sensation. Wow! I’m not sure this is coming across right as it doesn’t smell too bad but these words make it seem so. The taste delivers some bitter spicy earthy hops that begins to develop a light earthy dark tea flavor to midway. Just below the hops are lightly sweet malts and a sense of biscuit malts. It took a while to feel this beer out but it is growing on me as the hops are modestly bitter but the blend is starting to make more sense. Spicy, earthy, a bit floral, a tad tea like and maybe a sliver of mint. Not bad.
At SBWF 2016.
A bit hazy copper with a medium head. Aroma of caramel, hops, malt and apricot. Similar taste. The body was medium as was the bitterness. An ok one.
Pours hazy caramel with a low off white head. Aromas of caramel, ripe apple, ripe apple, peach, apricot, resin. Taste is marinated fruit, slight caramel and herbal notes. Mouthfeel is light bodied with medium carbonation.
2016 On tap at BB. Poured bubbly brown with off white head. Aroma old hop malt. Light carb med bod. Tastes pretty bitter grassy.
Pour is cloudy,amber in color with a cream head. Aroma is great hoppy a little sweet with a touch of earth love that. It’s a solid beer but l wanted a little more but still very good.
Tap at MacGregors. Dark amber color with orange tints and a low head. Nose of orange and pine, grapefruit. Solid malt with some caramel. Tasty but simple.
12oz bottle - nose is caramel, resin, earth, and white pepper. Sip adds nothing more but grass. Having a hard time describing it but I like it. Short finish.
Clear Amber brown with rimmimg beige head; aroma is mild spice hops; flava is tangy with citrus notes and nice hop bite; finishes bitter tangy notes of tea
12 oz 2015 bottle releases a nice hoppy aroma when uncapped. The pour reveals a clear, light copper colored body with a fine tan head. Patterned lacing is left on the glass. Plenty of light and medium malts make this hoppy beer only mildly bitter and add welcome complexity.
Medium body with medium-high carbonation and a dry finish.
Not bad. A little too hoppy for my taste. But aroma and color are great for the style.
Bottle from Wegmans. Pours copper with big white head. Nose is like a red IPA, caramel malty, resiny hops, dark fruit, some rye. More rye and spice in the taste, but comes of like a caramelly, red IPA, with assertive hops.
12 ounce bottle into tulip glass, best before 8/2016. Pours slightly hazy reddish orange/copper color with a 1-2 finger dense and rocky light khaki head with good retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Nice dense soapy lacing clings around the glass. Aromas of grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, apricot, peach, lemon zest, orange peel, light pepper, pine, caramel, brown sugar, toasted biscuit, light nuttiness, herbal, and floral/grassy earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of citrus/pine/earthy hops and moderate dark/bready malt notes; with solid strength. Taste of big grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, apricot, peach, lemon zest, orange peel, pepper, pine, caramel, brown sugar, toasted biscuit, light nuttiness, herbal, and floral/grassy earthiness. Moderate pine, herbal, spicy, and citrus rind bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, apricot, peach, lemon/orange rind, pepper, pine, caramel, toasted biscuit, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/pine/earthy hops and moderate dark/bready malt flavors; with a nice malt/bitterness balance. Light-moderate increasing dryness from bitterness; leading to some light lingering hop astringency, but not overwhelming. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderately sticky/resinous, and creamy/bready balanced mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with minimal warming present after the finish. Overall this is a very good English IPA. All around good complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/pine/earthy hops and moderate dark/bready malt flavors; very smooth and easy to drink. A very enjoyable offering.
Sampled at the Hallendale, FL Yard House. Coppery with a beige head. This is fairly bitter. Grapefruit with resinous pine. Crackers. Earth and spices.
bottle. Amber with one finger head. Medium body with mild caramel malts. Moderate hops, more of a east coast style IPA. Average for the style.
Draft to taster at Dutch’s from notes. Pours a clear orange amber color with a medium sized off white head. The aroma and flavor have pale toasted malts, caramel, resiny, citrusy hops, a splash of tropical fruit, earthy notes, decent.
Citrus and burnt caramel on the aroma. Appearance is a light Amber with an off white head and good head retention. Flavor is a mix of hop and malt character. Hop flavor low, the malt flavor is hiding and conflicting with the hops. Malt flavor has notes of caramel and burnt toast. Mouthfeel is medium with medium carbonation. Overall, I don't care for this old style of IPA. Too much caramel and not enough hop aroma and flavor.
bottle - Pours dark amber with a one finger head. It smells of resinous and citrus hops and caramel malt. The flavor is big on both the malt and the hops with caramel and resin most prominent, nice fruity characteristics, and a long, bitter finish. It’s medium bodied and delicious. Well done.
A dark orange color with a white head. The aroma contains citrus and a ton of herbal and grassy notes. The flavor is very malt heavy with caramel sticking out. In the background you get some orange peels and lemons. There is bitterness there on the back end. Overall definitely east coast style but done well.
From the 12 fl. oz. bottle. The pour is a handsome looking medium, mahogany amber with a lingering white head. Aroma; well, this one is a tad old so I get more of a malt character than a hop character. Distant earthy notes. Caramel sweetness. The body is medium at least. The taste has a pleasant caramel malt sweetness with a bit of spice in there but it has faded due to its age. I have picked up too many of these outdated bottles lately. No wonder they are on sale.
Pour from a 12oz bottle. Darker amber brew with tan head, good lacing. Nice aroma of tart fruity hops and grass. Taste is sweet malts up front with notable tartness transitioning to a well balanced tropical fruit / resin / grass and earth finish. A rock solid IPA.
On tap at Battleship. Pours a clear brown color with a thick off white head. Aroma is of hops, grain, weeds, some tree bark, and some earthiness. Smells great! Heavier palate with a little carbonation. Flavor is the same. Leaves a nice fresh hoppy finish. Good stuff.
I guess I’m supposed to put this here since I don’t see (2016), but then again I didn’t see a date on the bottle.
This was poured into a becher pint glass.
The appearance was a flimsy moderately burnt orange/brown color. Finger’s worth of white foamy head.
The smell takes in some citrus rind to balance with a tight amount of caramel malts.
The flavor is mainly sweet through the combination of the malts and the citrus hops. Slight resin tries to make an effort in the flavor, but definitely the malts dryly hit the aftertaste and in the finish.
On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body with a fair sessionability about it. Carbonation runs fairly light.
Overall, mainly a pretty good AIPA, well balanced and an old school sort of one. I don’t mind it for me.