Otto and the little’un set off to the “Big Apple” yet again in search of America finest brew’s and were not disappointed. In my own opinion the USA is at the forefront of the Craft Brewing scene at the moment, they brew more styles than any other country at the moment and are not afraid to experiment, or use Hops! To get a real full bodies IPA you need to visit America! They have taken the style and kept to the original recipe and they have improved on it as well.  Some of the best examples were from the Stone Brewery, Dogfish Head and Russian River. As we were there in November, not only did we sample the hoppy delights of IPA, but most of the breweries were now brewing my favourite style of ale, need I say more, the dark stuff, Stout & Porters were on offer, mmmm

The state of New York has over 50 breweries and brewpubs. We were based in Brooklyn which is home to Greenpoint Beers Works/Kelso, Sixpoint Craft Ales and not forgetting the famous Brooklyn Brewery. The as you cross over the Brooklyn Bridge into the Big Apple its self, there are 5 Heartland Brewpubs (although all beers are now brewed at Greenpoint), Harlem Brewing Company and Chelsea brewery, were they brew some of the best stouts, and porters we have ever tried! We first sampled there beers 10 years ago now and they just get better.  So let’s start with the low down on the breweries in NYC;

Off we go to the Chelsea Brewing Co, Bar at Pier 59, Chelsea Piers, This has a great ambiance overlooking the Hudson River. It turns out that CBC is a pretty big place, much larger than I was expecting. Very high ceilings and plenty of sunlight A large semi-ellipsoidal curved wooden bar sits in front of several highly polished copper clad vessels, whilst the Brewery itself is behind glass. The Bar looks out through an impressive two story high glass window frontage that affords some equally impressive views of the Hudson River. There is seating inside and out. All of Chelsea’s offerings are on offer; however we tend to enjoy their IPA products and the excellent dark ales especially the Oatmeal Stout. The 30 Barrel Brewhouse is Manhattan’s largest micro-brewery. It also has the capability to bottle its own brews, and has off-site storage, clearly Chelsea have the ability to be a prime mover when it comes to brewing in NYC. On our visit we were lucky enough to meet the brewer who gave us an impromptu tour of the kit. But this is certainly not a fur coat and no panties sort of place. As well as the looks, it also delivers the goods; both the beer and food are pretty good and above average. A great place to visit for scenic aesthetics! 

You can’t visit NYC without going to one of the Heartland brewery outlets, we first visited their Times Square location in 2003 and have since been to them all. Check out the link for the locations.  Heartland’s beers run a tad toward the hoppy side, which we find very refreshing. Heartland continues to pour forth six beloved classic house beers: Indian River Light: With accents of orange blossoms, this refreshing, light pale ale is clean and smooth.  A subtle hint of coriander enhances the crisp finish.  Cornhusker Lager: a crisp, light lager made from 2-row malt and flaked maize. A sweet malt flavour with a mild hop finish. Harvest Wheat: a pine-wood coloured ale made from 65% 2-row pale malt and 35% malted wheat. Relatively low bittering and aromatic qualities leaving a smooth finish of malt flavour on the palate. Indiana Pale Ale: a copper coloured ale of good strength. Effervescent bitterness, smooth malt flavour and a flowery hop aroma. Red Rooster Ale: a flavourful red ale with the addition of American Munich and crystal malts. Medium bitterness with a balanced aroma of malt. Farmer Jon's Oatmeal Stout: a hearty roasted stout with the hints of Java and a rich dark chocolate sweetness. Gold Medal Winner 1997 Great American Beer Festival. Bronze Winner 1995. Silver Medal Winner 1999. They also brew seasonal beers when we last went this was the Pumpkin ale and it was one of the best pumpkin ales we have has a dark cloudy orange colour full of pumpkin spice around 4-5%abv. Heartland is an excellent choice for a drink and a bite to eat when in New York  and good value as well. Their locations are all clean and spacious, and the Union Square Heartland is considered by some to have the most charm. The Seaport location is generally the least crowded, as they say Real Beer Here. Note once you’ve been to one of the Heartlands, you’ve been to ’em all. 

Harlem Brewing Company 360 W. 125th Street NYC.  The brewmaster or brewster, as Beatty calls herself started  making experimental batches of brew in her apartment on West 123rd Street back in the ’90s. After spending time in breweries throughout New York State and over in Europe where some brewers spoke of age-old recipes born out of Africa she founded the Harlem Brewing Company in 2000.  No tours available at present? 

Brooklyn Brewery 79 North Eleventh Street Brooklyn. Home to Brewmaster Garret Oliver. The brewery is open Friday evening and Saturday afternoon of tastings and tours.  It's smaller than I thought and in the middle of nowhere Brooklyn, since they needed a big warehouse to do the job. A quick walk from the subway. The beer is fresh and very good, but the prices have picked up since the last time I checked on the place - $4/beer or $20/6 beers - not bad compared to what you'll pay at bars. Good people to meet and greet with. The tour was, however, well below par. The girl giving it could barely be heard as she giggled her way through her very-had-to-hear speech. Also there was no tour. We stood in one room the entire time. It was all about the founding of the company and the initial founder and the real estate of the building...boringgg. I would have loved to hear more about their seasonal brews, the brewing process and their history.  Back in the tasting room the staff are more than friendly, the beers is great, and the atmosphere a bit like Oktoberfest. This is a great place to while away a couple hours. Order pizza from one of the local Brooklyn pizza places, or head down the street into the Williamsburg district for a great meal or slice!

 ....And were better to start than Mugs Ales House @ 125 Bedfors Ave, they take beer seriously here with over 30 taps and 2 cask pumps, quite close to the Brooklyn Brewery so if you do the Brewery tour first you can finish the day off here supping some serious ale and eating some descent snap. One of  the top-five spots in NYC for beer lovers. Its great every now and then to just settle in with a high-quality beer. 

The place has lots of wood and a comfortable pub-style feel. Good jukebox,  pinball machine. Knowledgeable and friendly staff, lots of frequently rotated taps and food specials, and a bunch of room in the back, so you can even invite those friends who have small, wiggly children (those friends who can rarely manage to break free for a beer anymore.) Mugs tends to be kind of a testing ground for the Brooklyn Brewery, which is just up the street, so they often have the Brooklyn beers that nobody else features. They also have a shockingly extensive list of interesting-sounding Scotch and other hard liquors. Also on the first Wednesday of every month the Malted Barley Appreciation Society meet to discuss and taste beers. We have been to one of their meetings and it was awesome, they usually have a guest brewer who gives a talk and then you get to sample form very good home-brews.

We were lucky as there was a “cask” beer festival on at the Brazen Head at 228 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn; usually they have 2 cask ales and 15 taps all with craft beers on.  The festival was set up by Alex Hall; check out his web www.cask-ale.co.uk/us/ for a hoard of useful information on a trip to the USA. There were 30 beers on over the weekend. Needless to say we got talking to Alex and the owner Lou and ended up serving on the cask bar, awesome. The Brazen Head is a wedge shaped bar in downtown Brooklyn, right on Atlantic Ave. It's an old place with a painted tin ceiling and brick walls adorned with old beer signs and baseball memorabilia (mostly Ebbets Field and Brooklyn Dodgers related). Also there is a small courtyard to the rear were you can sit outside.

The bar itself runs the better part of the length of one wall, and two large wooden booths provide additional seating by the Brazen Head's front windows. The crowd is very local. We were there for the cask beer, but the Brazen Head also offered an impressive selection of over two dozen tap beers that included offerings from Ithaca, Southampton, Chelsea, Abita, Long Trail, and, of course, the Brooklyn Brewery (among others). There was no real food being offered, but they didn't seem to mind if you ordered food into the bar. Again I would say this bar is in the top 5 bars in NYC.

Just up the road from the BH is the Atlantic Chip Shop , 129 Atlantic Avenue. N ot big place, 10 seat "L" shaped bar to the right with arched mirrors on a dark wood bar back unit, tiered booze to both sides of center. Mugs, union jack flags, steins and other atop and a single TV mounted above in the front corner playing the Beatles "Help!". A small bar counter adjacent to the bar seats a handful, and to the rear, a dozen+ roundie and square tables done with small glass candles to 'em, and sharing common benches on the walls; one of red brick and the other in pressed tin, same as the ceiling. Drop cone glass lamps over the bar & bullet lamps throughout. British car signage adorns the walls, as do framed pics of the Beatles & John Lennon, a Quadrophenia movie poster (Schizophrenic? I'm Bleeding Quadrophenic), a London underground print, Who, Clash & Beatles posters, London Bridge pics, etc. A lip over the rear rear nook of the place holds plates, trays and tea set pieces. 

16 taps on a single tower on the bar. A half dozen micros, from near and far (Brooklyn Brown Ale & Lager, Magic Hat HIPA, Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball, Stone Arrogant Bastard and my old nemesis Anchor OSA), some imports and also, about a dozen bottles with a fairly good UK slant. Traditional English fare the Fish & Chips, are good.

At 155 Atlantic Avenue there is the Waterfront Ale House, (Pete's) A terrific neighbourhood bar, with excellent food and 18 taps offering a good range of micro brewed ales, also do Beer and food parings on the menu. A long bar on the right as you walk in and a bunch of tables opposite. There are also a few tables in the front near the windows. There's a popcorn machine you can help yourself to. Place is very old school. A bunch of chalkboards above the bar detailing the beer selection. There's a wide selection of sauces (mustards, curry sauce, steak sauces, hot sauces, etc) at each and every table. 

Spuyten Duyvil.359 Metropolitan Avenue. Voted No.2 Best U.S. Beer Bar for 2007, is both New York Magazine’s and Time Out. This unmarked, cosy and quirky bar with an antique gramophone and an ashtray collection on display. The decor is composed of a charming mishmash of old stuff. I really like the Apothecary chest.  It offers a stunning selection of obscure Belgian beers along with the crème de la crème of U.S. micros from Sixpoint Craft Ales and Southampton, among others. Better still, the food wonderfully complements the beer. The cheese and meat plate is to die for. There is a medium sized bar, plenty of tables and a comfortable out door area. The Bartenders play good music, are generally nice and very knowledgeable. They are happy to pour beers and slice up edible things when they have a chance. 

Just across the road is Fette Sau, 354 Metropolitan Avenue.  A BBQ joint owned by the same folks as Spuyten across the street. Basically you line up and order your food by weight, with the bar offering an array of whiskey flights and a nice selection of well paired beer as well. You can get multiple sizes of beer - from half-pints all the way up to gallon growlers. Decor is a plus for me, white ties and butchers tools and animal butchery charts,  what with picnic tables, rolls of paper towels on the table, etc.

The beer selection is also nice, with a couple of interesting beers made specifically for this place (Kelso Fette Sauv) and a nice array of beers that go great with BBQ. Always a smoked beer or two on tap. You'll get your beer in a jar generally, not the snifter you may have been hoping for, but I honestly don't have a problem with that. It's a BBQ joint, dig in and stop worrying. 

Barcade, 388 Union Avenue, Brooklyn. Barcade is basically a big open room which is very dark with a large bar on the right and a bunch of classic arcade games lining the walls. Above the bar is the tap list which is usually very impressive and on the opposite wall is a chalkboard with the video game high scores. In the entrance one wall is covered in a mural made up of bottle tops.

This place has a really cool vibe and as a lover if video games(especially classics like Mrs. Pacman, Tapper, Marble Madness, etc.) I really loved this place. They allow dogs as well which is a nice touch.

The selection here is awesome and they often have special events. They have about 25 taps with revolving selection of craft beers at reasonable prices. There are plans to open another location over on Manhattan Island.

Also in the area is “dba” 113 North 7th Street Williamsburg, Brooklyn 11211,  sister bar to the original which is situated at 41 1^st Avenue New York NY.   We visited on a weekday afternoon. It was just us and a few scruffy regulars.  Yet another quality beer spot in an area with an embarrassment of beer riches and options.  It is just a short stroll from Bedford Ave and about 5 minutes from Bk00lyn Brewery and also Mugs.  The rectangular room has a wooden bar to the left as you enter, with five or so table in the rear and a midsized garden out back, which is great in the summer. This place is very low key with dim lighting, music and a mellow feeling, similar to the city location with black boards listing beer options hung over and behind the bar, about 35 quality bottles and a good selection of quality beers in the 15 or so on tap.  We had Stone IPA and Victory Hop Wallop on draft. Pretty cool place. 

Note: Alex Hall, is now in charge of the cask ale's at both "dba" locations.

Now across the Brooklyn Bridge to the Big Apple one of the worlds must do beer bars, The Blind Tiger Ale House @ 281 Bleeker St. This place is a Mecca for beer lovers. It is a very unassuming corner pub from the outside. It has an old time tavern kind of feel, dark wood walls, small tables, very cosy. A “Z” shaped bar serving more beers than one can count. The staff are friendly and helpful. If I lived in New York City, I would be a regular. On our visit they were having a Goose Island sampling with over 38 offerings on tap from the one brewery! 

One you just have to do for the name alone is “Burp Castle” 41 E. 7th St. This is a very strange and very cool-looking place.  The front door opens to the florally carpeted bar area, which is enclosed in but a single room (excluding a small, gated outdoor patio). The bar itself is on a corner, and creeps around the room at a ninety-degree angle. Seating between twelve and fifteen, the bar is wooden, with ornately carved structural elements of support, and accents of patterned metal shapes. The rest of the room is taken up by roughly fifteen two-person wooden tables, which each have a thick lip, so as to, presumably, curb any spillage. The walls are decorated in sweeping frescos of various scenes, including a Belgian beer cellar with monks and patrons, and a shipwreck scene. The wall behind the front door is painted in castle stones, with a small stone gargoyle sitting in the only window. Decoration is otherwise sparse, with a placard behind the bar reading, "No loud talking allowed. -Whispering Only- By Order of the Brewist Monks." The lighting is moderate, with low hanging lanterns, lamps on the bar, and candles on the bar and tables, bringing light to the space.  It has a decent selection of  Belgians and Belgian style beers.

Now for a really long walk! directly under Standings  is Jimmy’s 45, 43 East 7th St. (Basement),  this cavernous, subterranean haven for elves and dwarfs if ever there was one. A small 5 seat straight bar over in the front corner, with really no to-do in the way of a bar back or props. Beyond there, 4 low tables and a raised longer table forward a rear service bar and 4 tables in a small half room off of that. A side hallway serving as a gallery with displayed art, and then there's a party room behind the red curtain where they do movies and music. Panelled windows to the front offer staircase views. Archways cut through the walls done white stucco over dark wood panelled lowers beneath curved arched brick ceilings, rows of old casks on racks above the seating areas and the bar, large framed mirrors, a few prints and small pictures, and a pair of antlers here, a tap handle display there. Low lighting throughout with infrequent drop lanterns, but small glass candles on all the tables, bars, and wall mounted shelves lend pleasant ambiance. 

A dozen taps, locals (Sixpoint, Chelsea), regional (Yuengling) and imports (Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux, Dentergems Wit, De Ranke Guldenberg, and a cask (Sixpoint Brownstone) in the corner.  The food is excellent, as they are part of the “slow food” movement so be prepared to wait, but it is well worth it as the menu changes daily and is always interesting. 

All in all the last 3 bars make an awesome little beer crawl.

Next off was Stout NYC @ 133 W. 33rd St. With 24 stouts on offer including Oatmeal, Cream, Dry, Sweet & Imperial and 4 on draught, including Young’s Chocolate stout form the UK. Need I say more we were in Nirvana. They also have a further 18ish taps and a large bottled range. When you walk in, you're shocked at how big this place is. The ceiling in the main area must be at least 30 feet high. The bar is on the left and it's extremely long. Above the bar and/or on the pillars in the middle of the room are what I counted to be 7 big screen TV’s and 3 big screen projectors, making this place easily the best sports bar in NYC for a beer lover. Above these TVs there is a large stage, where bands play most notably Scythian who are a great Irish rock band.

There are a lot of tables and booths around the main room. At the end of the main room lies another room (seats about 50 I'd guess) will low ceilings that they usually use for private parties. There also a second balcony level on 2 sides of the main room. I haven't been up there but it looks like there’s a fair amount of seating up there too. 

There are 18 taps and 2 cask engines. When I was there they had 2 casks listed on a chalkboard above the bar. The service is kind and attentive, but they are your basic Irish pub staff and not knowledgeable beer guys. The food menu is well above average. They serve 8 varieties of oysters and they always have a special of a half dozen oysters (the variety changes daily) and a Bluepoint Oatmeal Stout for $10. Nice. They serve good French fries with a choice of 12 different dipping sauces.

I highly recommend this place as a sports bar destination with some good stouts and great food.. It does get pretty packed very quickly at lunch times and early evening.

Next up while we were in the area if the Empire State Building, was the newly opened Rattle & Hum also on W. 33rd St, apporx 30 draught beers and 2 cask, all micros no National Blands here! We have visited this place a few times originally just after it had opened in 2008 when they just had a banned over the door and the guys were just measuring up for the sign. Back then the inside walls were covered in murals that were quite inspiring. But now all that has changed and it is full on beer, they even have a brewers wall of fame as you enter.  The bar itself is long and slim, with a nice big mural to the left with some words from many top guns at several breweries. Your standard beer bar deco throughout, signs flags and all hanging from the ceiling and walls. It's not rowdy in spite of being at let's say at 80% occupancy  most of the time and the music is suitable for the environment, you want to enjoy, but still focus on the beer. The setting is in general very informal, not trying to be anything it isn’t cut out to be. I would say it’s defiantly in the top 5 NYC beer bars.

Another long awaited visit was next to The Ginger Man @ 11 E. 36th St. A fantastic beer bar just south of Midtown with about 66+ taps. The largest in NYC, will dazzle you. And if you go in the middle of the afternoon, it is a quiet oasis after your shopping and sightseeing. A few beers on cask, and they are happy to give you advice. OK snack food and the beers were on top form. How I wish I had a pub like this in my town! Defiantly another top 5 NYC beer bar. This place is big and spacious, until you get reach the back rooms which are comfortable and cosy with plush furniture. They have 66 carefully chosen taps (unfortunately not self serve!) a huge bottle list and a few casks which included a gravity cask. The liquor selection is quite good featuring some excellent single malts.  The bartenders are knowledgeable and always nice. Especially Anne who is so knowledgeable and passionate about beer.

The Hop Devil Grill 129 St. Marks Pl. We got here for happy hour after going to d.b.a. Quality 20 or so on tap and a reasonable bottle selection and there’s separate Belgian focused bar. There’s a variety of places to sit, from up front and visible to some lost corners. Only had some fries - so can’t really speak to the food. Cool enough place though.

Just by chance we happened along; wait for it; a bar with old German heritage serving nothing but classic German brews. Zum Schneider on the Lower East Side @ 107 Avenue C  The selection is small 15! But consists of tasty traditional German beers: Allgauer Buble and Weltenburger Anno, anyone? This pace has charm and lots of history. Zum Schneider’s less-packed archrival German bar, Loreley's located at 7 Rivington, Has another good selection of German beers with traditional robust German food, the sausage platter comfortably feeds two for $15; it's a classic composition of three kinds of wurst, mashed potatoes and shreds of red cabbage simmered in vinegar, makes a perfect meal with a tall, cloudy Weiss bier, what more could Otto want? Even a bowl of oniony potato soup comes with a sausage perched on the side! 

Obviously there are more bars to try you just need to get out there and find them. 

Remember Otto says drink now and avoid the x-mass rush,

Prosit Otto.

 USA

HOME

BACK TO TOP