Hidden Brooklyn BROOKLYN-USA.ORG
Have you discovered these hidden gems?
HERITAGE MURALS, DUMBO
All in all, it’s just another bike on
the wall!
A Brazilian artist has painted a
pair of murals at the entryway to
Dumbo, one showing the gears of a
gigantic bicycle, and the other depicting
a man playing the trumpet.
The images show two things that
United States and Brazil have in
common, said the artist behind the
images.
“I wanted to express things we
have in common in both cultures,
and to celebrate them,” said Apolo
Torres, who finished the murals on
Aug. 6, with backing from the city’s
Department of Transportation, the
Dumbo Improvement District, Brasil
Summerfest, and Urban Walls
Brazil.
The images decorate each side of
the Pearl Street tunnel beneath the
Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, between
Prospect and York streets.
Torres’s hometown of Sao Paolo
is filled with chaotic traffic, said
the artist, but using a bicycle to get
around can make it bearable. The
18 ONE BROOKLYN | FALL 2019
giant image of a bike — and the biking
child in the background — represent
his hope that more people
will embrace two-wheeled transportation.
“It’s really liberating to move
around using a bicycle. It’s my way
of representing a look into the future
... and my hope that we will be
able to have more friendly cities,
both to the environment and to our
people,” he said in a statement.
On the opposite wall, the image
“Heritage I (Music)” represents the
shared European and African lineage
behind music in each country,
he said.
“By mixing African rhythms
with European instruments and harmonies,
Americans created jazz and
Brazilians created samba,” said Torres.
“My intention with the musical
mural is to celebrate the strength of
our musical heritage.”
The executive director of the
Dumbo Improvement District
praised the colorful mural, one of
many the organization has commissioned
in the neighborhood.
“Dumbo has decades of art history,
and we love the way people
continue to interact with the massive
murals on the BQE,” said Alexandria
Sica. “It’s gorgeous, moving,
and represents a really amazing
partnership with the artists of Brazil.”
“Heritage I (Cycling)” and “Heritage
II (Music)” on Pearl Street between
Prospect and Yorkstreets in
Dumbo. They will be on display
through August, 2020.
Brooklyn has plenty of attractions
right in plain sight! But there are
also some hidden attractions off
the beaten path that you may not know.
We’ve picked out two of Brooklyn’s hidden
gems for you:
FOLKSBIER, CARROLL GARDENS
That’s a lot of bier, folks!
A Carroll Gardens brewhouse recently
completed a massive expansion,
allowing it to quadruple its output of
beer and experiment with new styles
of tasty suds. Folksbier Brauerei has
expanded its Luquer Street production
facility from three barrels to 10, which
will help it to quench the thirst of even
more Brooklyn beeristas with its popular
German-style lagers, sours, and
ales, according to its founder.
“It was a long time coming,” said
Travis Kauffman. “We had always intended
to get up to a larger scale when
we opened.”
The brewer launched the operation
in 2014, when he single-handedly
started making beers in a restaurant’s
storage space. When the eatery closed
two years later, he annexed the space
and turned it into a tasting room.
Kauffman and his team took advantage
of the new, larger tanks to make
Folksbier’s fi rst double-hopped India
Pale Ale, dubbed Batch 001, which is
stronger than the brewery’s usual fare
in both taste and alcohol content, and
which quickly became a hit among
customers.
“We are sold out now. We’re working
on another batch and we’ll have
one out within a month,” Kauffman
said. “The hops are all aromatic and
there’s a soft fl uffy mouth feel — but
it’s well balanced.”
Kauffman and his team are also
pumping out larger amounts of their
bestseller Old Bavarian Lager, and
new versions of their popular sour
Glow Up series, to which they add unusual
seasonal fl avors such as cucumber
and lime, raspberry, and blackberry.
The brewers also experimented
with adding fermented leftover bagels
from Black Seed Bagels to the Glow Up
series, giving the beverage a breadlike
tang.
“It does give it a certain breadiness
in a really nice way,” Kauffman said.
A series of these constantly-rotating
brews are is available on tap in the
brewery’s tasting room, which also
features a menu of Mexican dishes to
pair with your beverage. The brewery
also plans to invite guest chefs to host
different pop-up foods.
Kauffman is already looking to
grow even further. He is setting up a
lager-focused brewery in Red Hook,
where he plans to make tasty beverages
soon, he said.
“We have a building and equipment,
so we’re just fi nishing up our expansion
on Luquer Street and it would
be great to see it through end of year or
early next year,” he said.
Folksbier 101 Luquer St. between
Clinton Street and the BQE in Carroll
Gardens, www.folksbier.com.
Taproom open Monday and Thursday
4–11 p.m., Friday 2 p.m.–midnight,
Saturday noon–midnight,
Sunday noon–10 p.m., closed Tuesday
and Wednesday.
/www.folksbier.com
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/www.folksbier.com