Abandoning Resolutions
Happy New Year. It’s now roughly two months into 2017 and some diligent resolution-setting folks have long since abandoned their intentions—but as the Bronx Brewery will tell you, don’t bother living in shame, just embrace the new year for all it’s worth.
In fact, to get into exactly such spirit, the Bronx Brewery launched their extra-special limited-edition “No Resolutions” IPA.
“The inspiration for ‘No Resolutions’ came out of an idea to do a limited-release beer in the month of January,” says Damian Brown, the Bronx Brewery’s head brewer and co-founder. “Being released over the New Year, the idea was to throw any sense of moderation, self-limitation and restraint out of the window. And so I decided to brew a big, massively juicy, biscuity IPA that we’d hand label and wax dip in bottles.”
“We believe that New Year’s resolutions are always going to be relevant because of the long-standing practice of eating and drinking with reckless abandon during the holidays, especially in New York!” says Patrick Libonate, the vice president of marketing at Bronx Brewery. “All jokes aside, it seems that a lot of people want to start off the year on a healthy kick so they use the idea of New Year’s resolutions as a temporary motivator to shed a few pounds or quit a bad habit.”
But at the Bronx Brewery, they profess not to buy into all of that. “We actually have the belief that, like our ‘No Resolutions’ IPA itself, a strong balance is the better way to eat and drink in life,” adds Libonate. “And to be honest, we think it’s ridiculous to cheat yourself of drinking some big flavor just because it’s January. We say live No Resolutions!”
This celebratory beer has been so well received that the team at the Bronx Brewery decided to add it to a year-round portfolio, albeit in draft and six-pack 12-ounce cans rather than the wax-dipped, much larger format bottles. “Like everything else we brew, cohesion and balance were the guiding principles—by that I mean avoiding spiky, competing, un-assimilated flavors and aromas,” says Brown. “So we wrote the recipe with a big malt bill to entwine seamlessly with a big hop bill.”
In terms of what’s going to happen once you have a sip of the beer, the malts are super “biscuity” and distinct that way. They call it an “English Maris Otter” base malt with a special drum-roasted malt that, according to Brown, introduces “distinct bran flake and tangy sourdough flavors.” They then introduce five different hops throughout the boil and dry hop: Centennial, Comet, Citra, El Dorado and a New Zealand hop called Dr. Rudi. Brown, who’s the flavor king, labels these as “juicy, citrus pith, stone fruit, piney and a bit dank.”
And with all this New Year cheer, it might just be the perfect idea to hit up the Bronx to explore a unique heritage area for a brewery—picking up some ales while you’re at it, of course. “We chose the Bronx for a couple of reasons: One is pretty simple in that there is actually quite a rich brewing tradition in this borough dating back to the 1930s through the ’60s,” says Libonate. “All of those breweries disappeared by the ’70s, so we wanted to bring the art of making great beer back to the Bronx. The second answer is more of an emotional feeling. We felt the Bronx is a borough where stuff gets made. There’s a natural, hard-work mindset that comes from the people of the Bronx. It’s an infectious spirit and we felt it helped create an ideal spot in the South Bronx to produce our no-nonsense, high-quality craft ales.”
“We are extremely proud to have the Bronx name in our brand and we try to draw inspiration from the borough when making our beers the best we can,” says Libonate. “I think this IPA in particular is a great beer to drink slowly and allow to warm. It also can be used to great effect with food,” adds Brown. “Hopefully most people are drinking it with a big smile on their face, surrounded by friends and family doing something fun.”
And on that note, happy New Year—every month, all year!
Visit the Bronx Brewery at 856 E. 136th Street, Bronx, NY 10454, or online at TheBronxBrewery.com.
