No huge preamble this week. This time, we’re hitting the ground running, so if you haven’t read Part 1 then go do that first! Now on to Part 2 of the wreview of…

Bean Post Pub

7525 5th Avenue, Brooklyn (Bay Ridge)

James Zhang returned for this second trip, along with Meghan Griffin who brought her friend Elizabeth, as well as Elizabeth Babbish accompanied by Larry, and finally WingSquad necomer Vicki Crosson. Since Elizabeth and Larry kind of got dragged into this whole thing and didn’t give me last names, I will only refer to them by first initial throughout. (I will also mention here that the photo quality is not quite as good this time around because once again I had to use my phone and not Jeremy’s fancy awesome camera.)

What We Ordered

This trip we were focused on their “Spirited” wings, which are made with various alcohols, and since the Bean Post has seven different varieties and there were seven of us, we went ahead and got 8 of each. Afterwards, we decided again to dip into the “Spiced” section again for the Molten Mango, but I’ll talk about that more when we get there.

The Sauces

Honey Bourbon BBQ (Wild Turkey Honey Bourbon):

MG said she “spent too long realizing [it tastes like] ketchup,” while L said it had a “subtle sweetness that leaves a pleasant, lingering aftertaste.” VC felt that they were “syrupy sweet and indistinctly flavored.” So I’m going to break a bit away from my co-wreviewers (as a whole, the other three thought it was pretty good) and say that if you’re going to order a BBQ wing anywhere, this is the one. It had a hint of heat to it, as well as the touch of tanginess and sweetness that are typical of BBQ sauces, but the real star of this is the Wild Turkey Honey. I’m a big fan of honey bourbons, and I feel like this is the gamechanger here, as it added some honey sweetness with a balanced bit of bourbon burn that other BBQs tend to lack. As I already mentioned before I am not a huge fan of BBQ as a whole, but I legitimately loved this sauce, and for a BBQ to turn me around that hard I have to give it a 5/5.

Hawaiian Teriyaki (Skyy Pineapple Vodka):

“Just tasted like teriyaki…would have liked more pineapple rum” said E, meanwhile JZ was able to elicit an unenthusiastic “meh.” EB on the other hand, said they were a “giant surprise, [I] really enjoyed this. I can definitely taste the rum in the teriyaki.” So, to correct my friends, and I think it was my fault they believed it was pineapple rum, these are in fact vodka, not rum. I’m always a sucker for a good teriyaki, and these are no exception. The pineapple added a nice sweetness to the soy/sesame flavors, and made for a pleasing complement to an already tasty sauce. It was a subtle touch, but it was just enough to eke it over the bar to a 4/5.

Mexicana (Jose Cuervo Silver Tequila):

“I was not a fan of the Mexicana wings” admitted VC, “they were really bitter.” E said they were “just OK… not a great flavor, just taste like salsa,” and JZ found them to be “bland, can’t taste much of anything.” These looked really tasty when they hit the table, with the bits of pepper and melted cheese on top, but I feel like they suffered from the same problem as the Chicken Parm from last week did, in that the sauce just sort of made the wings soggy. It was a nice tequila salsa flavor, but it just didn’t really pair well at all with the wings, making the juiciness of the wing itself seem a little too much. I wouldn’t really recommend these unless you’re a fan of salsa, and even then I would tell you not to expect much. 2/5.

Pina Colada (Malibu Rums):

For L, these were “sweet and pleasant. Feels like too much after the first bite, but [it’s] mellow.” EB said they “taste exactly like what you think it would, pineapple and coconut,” also calling the flavor an “A+.” MG tallied them as her “Favorite. [They] look bad, but taste better.” These wings actually surprised me. Covered in shredded coconut and little chunks of pineapple, I was really skeptical, but was pretty blown away. The sweet and tart of the pineapple, the mellowness of the coconut, and the sweet flavors of the rum blend together pretty amazingly in this wing. I wouldn’t shout this out as the first thing to try here, but if there’s any little part of you that suspect you might want to try this you HAVE to go for it. These are a no-brainer of a 4/5

Whew! We’re halfway through. Stick with me folks, we’ll get through all of these together!

Manic Mango (Pinnacle Mango Vodka):

VC started off with these, calling them “incredibly sweet, like a mango jam” and saying it was like if “IHOP had an off-brand syrup.” E also said they had a “sweet, almost syrupy taste.” MG had eaten these right after the Bean Post Bayou, and recommended eating them in that order to compliment the heat of the Bayou sauce. These were very sweet wings, which I again did not think I would enjoy, but turned out really delicious. I think the nature of the Pinnacle Mango Vodka added to the sweetness, although it might have benefited more if it went the other way. The Manic Mango is something I could see definitely ordering to share, but the sugar levels are pretty astronomical if you plan on eating them on your own. This delectable but very sweet mango sauce earns a tasty and shareable 3/5.

Maple Bacon (Jim Beam Maple Bourbon):

L was not a fan of these, calling them “two tastes that don’t work well together” and said that the maple taste was “overwhelming.” EB “really loved [these.] The bourbon and maple blend well and create something tasty. The bacon on top is really just a bonus.” They were “too sweet” for JZ, with “lots of maple, no bacon.” It did turn out however that the rest of us had kind of scarfed all the bacon on top of the wings leaving him to try one that had none on it, which was totally our fault. As much as I like honey bourbon, I feel like maple bourbon is too sweet. In adding an already very sweet bourbon to a maple wing sauce I think they did a disservice to the overall flavor. Were I making this I would have changed the liquor to regular Jim Beam, which has enough sweetness to enhance the maple while still giving a bourbon bite to fight off the maple sugar. Then again, I’m a mediocre cook at best. Like the mango, these were a bit over-sweet, but still really tasty at a 3/5.

Bean Post Bayou (Southern Comfort Liqueur):

“Nice heat, nice Cajun flavor” remarked JZ. Both EB and E called them “subdued,” and while E attributed that adjective to the heat, EB did the same to the spice, though both of them enjoyed it. I felt like the Southern Comfort was an interesting choice for these wings, which actually tasted more like a Cajun dry rub than an actual sauce. While there was sauce on the wing, it was very light and had an unexpected but very welcome heat that had a bit of a nasal burn and was very enjoyable. The unique blend of SoCo in the mix does enough to elevate this Cajun blend into a 4/5, if only because it was tasty enough that I still can’t quite classify it. 

Molten Mango:

To go off of MG’s tip to eat the mango after the spicy wings, we decided to try these. No spirited additives this time, just the mango flavor with a kick of heat. I’m going to again buck with tradition and give you my opinion of these without those of my compatriots (I have a feeling most of them agree wholeheartedly, with one if not two exceptions.) So, where I thought the Manic Mango failed in its sweetness, the lack of mango vodka and the addition of a nice slightly-above-medium heat really made these suckers shine. Where I’d only be happy to share the Manic Mango, the Molten Mango I want to keep all to myself. The blend of heat and sweet in these is stellar, and really jived with what MG was recommending. It’s probably a sauce most people wouldn’t think to order, and I would say if you don’t like sweet or spicy you should avoid… but I generally don’t like sweets or a lots of spice and I’m still craving another round of these. If you listened to my recommendation from the first part, and come to the Bean Post Pub despite the fact that the wreview is still not complete, do yourself a favor and get the Molten Mango. A crazy delicious sauce that exceeds expectations at a 5/5.

There is for sure a roller coaster of flavors in the Spirited category, but where they fail they more than make up for with overwhelming success, even discounting the Molten Mango. They got me to love BBQ again, for chrissake! As a category, they get my thumbs up, even though you might want to order some of them just to share. 4/5.

Additional Info

That’s it for this week, but stay tuned for next week’s conclusion. Again the star ratings above are just a highlight and lowlight of what we tried, but if you aren’t reading the whole thing you’re doing yourself a disservice.

One of the highlights of this wreview, and after I saw it happen I mentioned it and it appeared I was the only one, was after we ordered, watching the bartender and our server take 7 different cups of liquor back to the kitchen to make our sauces. It really lent some authenticity to what they’re doing here, and let me know they aren’t BSing when they say these wings have liquor in them.

FULL DISCLOSURE WARNING

After last week’s wreview went live, I was contacted by one of the owners of the Bean Post Pub. They expressed their appreciation of the honesty of the wreview we gave, and in their appreciation offered your author tickets to an event they are participating in, the Best of Brooklyn Food and Beer Festival. While I would have been honored to accept these tickets, I declined due to plans to finish out my wreview this weekend. This offer was not made with any explicit or implicit attempt to influence any past or future scores given to Bean Post Pub, but was extended merely as a gratitude for the work we had done thus far, and I forwarded the invite on to my WingSquad in thanks for their efforts. At the time of this writing I don’t believe that any of them will be able to attend due solely to short notice. The Weekly Wing Wreview sincerely thanks Bean Post Pub for the kind offer, and is open to future invites in good faith. I mention this as to fulfill my promise I made in the first wreview that any time the Wreview is offered or receives anything for free, we will communicate this directly to you, the reader. I understand this could be perceived as a conflict of interest, but I assure you no such conflict is intended or exists between Bean Post Pub and the Weekly Wing Wreview.

As always, the Weekly Wing Wreview and MaxFun.nyc are not affiliated with Maximum Fun or its associated products or brands. But we’re pretty big fans.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Recommendations? Want to join the elites of the WingSquad and eat wings all over NYC? Send an email to wings@maxfun.nyc

Ryan Alexander