In April 1967, during their first trip to New York, Cream recorded a song called "Lawdy Mama" with Ahmet Ertegun at Atlantic Studios, at the beginning of the sessions for what would become the Disraeli Gears album.

Unlike the group's previous single, "I Feel Free", no promotional video was made for the song, but the band mimed to it on television on the German program Beat Club on 19 May 1967.

"[7] Over in England, Melody Maker wrote it had "a sighing, wistful vocal and a deep resonant backing with Clapton bending and snaking out" although it concluded "maybe not the strongest song they could have put out and we think people expected a more unique idea from the Cream this time.

"[8] In their review for Disraeli Gears, Rolling Stone named "Strange Brew" as "the most complex song and rather an unusual one in that Eric uses reverb - to stunningly mean and sensual effect - and it is really very far away from the usual blues stylings for which he has been noted.

"[9] Retrospectively, Matthew Greenwald at AllMusic enthused that it "is one of the group's most treasured and definitive records and contains perhaps one of Eric Clapton's finest studio-recorded guitar solos.