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New York/Manhattan/Brooklyn

Discuss beer travel and regional information, including the best bars and places to check out around in Canada and around the world, and other chat that is not specific to Ontario.

Moderators: Craig, Cass

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El Pinguino
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Post by El Pinguino »

Thanks Nick, that was the Pony Bar I planned to visit.
Just got details of where I'm staying and it's actually not in UES now...although that's where I'll be during the day. So options have opened up for exploring more places.
Also managed to snag a ticket to the NYC Craft Beer Fest on the Saturday afternoon. Going to be fun times.

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Cass
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Post by Cass »

Heading to NYC next week - any new good spots (I'm sure there are a million) of note?

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Post by aofe »

I was in New York 2 weeks ago:

Stayed in Astoria, Queens.
Astoria Bier and Cheese is a good bottle shop with about 10 taps.

Went to a Sour event at Ginger Man in Midtown. About 20 or so taps. Pretty good selection.

Torst is world class. Go there!

Brooklyn Brewery, went there on a Friday night. Was too "clubby" for me.

Pony Bar Upper East Side. Was quite crowded on a Saturday, about 10 taps. Good local stuff.

Rattle N Hum: Decent US craft selection. Avoid going when football is on though.

Seems like lots of Hill Farmstead and Lawsons Finest is making it's way around NYC lately. Definitely get your hands on anything my Grimm. They are a brewery to watch!

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Gedge
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Post by Gedge »

Brouerwij Lane in Greenpoint.

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Post by MeltedOzark »

Was in NYC for a trip the past few days. Torst is absolutely a must visit if you are there. Best tap list I've ever seen by far.

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Post by rejtable »

Just spent 5 nights based in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Man, how the beer scene has changed in the three years since I was last there! Last time it was all about regional/national beer, great beer lists all around, but filled almost totally with stuff from outside the NYC area. This time, 90% or more of my drinking was local.

Greenpoint made a GREAT jump off point for doing stuff around NYC with my family. It's a bit of a subway hike to get around, but so worth coming back to a "quiet" neighborhood at night. My hotel was a 5 minute walk to Torst.

Beer reporting:
- Torst: Such a cool spot, and the one place where I didn't drink that much NYC product. Well curated list of beers with huge range. Was there multiple times both busy and quiet. Very nice spot to sit and chill when it's quiet, that's for sure.
- Greenpoint Beer and Ale: A great example of something from nothing not that long ago. Huge brewpub space, lots of great taps, fun vibe. Take home cans (note they were more expensive on site than I saw at WF the next day, glad I waited). Beers were all solid to VERY good.
- Threes @ Franklin + Kent: Another great Greenpoint spot that didn't exist not that long ago. Big pub space, cool vibe. Was quiet on a weeknight. Maybe a dozen of their taps/cans available, full bar and food.
- Gingerman: great spot with tons of local/regional/national beer. Food was solid, vibe was fun late on a weekday afternoon. Note kids are kicked out at 6pm. Grr.
- Randolph: good respite from the Chinatown craziness. Great beer list with solid local and regional beer. OH, Interboro, some Vermont stuff as well including HF and Sip of Sunshine.
- House of Brews: needed to get away from Times Square to eat with family. Meh. But likely one of the better beer/family options around. Few dozen big brand craft taps (Founders, Lagunitas etc).
- Spuyten Duyvil: meh. I didn't get the fuss here at all. Were maybe 2 people in the whole place including the nice back garden on a Saturday afternoon, but bar staff seemed to have better stuff to do (i.e. talk to each other) than serve me. 6 taps, nothing remarkable and crazy expensive. Lots of bottles, but CRAZY expensive and finding something is an excercise in ADHD testing. Stuff on random chalk boards all around bar. Is there a beer catalog of bottles? Anyway, too many awesome spots to drink beer in NYC to bother for where I sit.
- Other Half: Yeah, did the can line on Saturday morning. I'm not a person who normally lines up for beer, but went down hoping it wouldn't be as bad as I feared. Arrived maybe 5 minutes after opening, and it took me nearly an hour to get my beer. Very generous can limits, which would have been great had I had a vehicle instead of riding the subway. Taproom looked like lots of fun, but I was carrying 20 cans of beer in my backpack, and the room was jam packed.
- Interboro: this was a fun spot. A dozen or so of their beer on tap, cans to take home. Beer was very good, vibe was chill and fun.
- Whole Foods: multiple locations including Bedford in Brooklyn and Gowanus near OH... meh. Never found one with that great of a beer selection to really rave about. The one on Bedford had some Greenpoint cans.

NYC was already a great beer destination a few years ago, lots of great bars, lots of great taplists, but now with the growth of the local industry (OH, threes, Interboro, LIC, Greenpoint, etc etc) you get the best of both worlds. I was also surprised at how present Vermont was around town. Saw bottles of Foley and Frost at some bars, many HF taps around town (the Jeffrey had 6 HF taps one afternoon, but I wasn't able to make it). Sip of Sunshine was on tap at a few places I was at or near.

Coronaeus
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Post by Coronaeus »

Hoping for some more recent advice on Brooklyn and the drive down there from Toronto.

Other than the obvious spots in Brooklyn, are there a couple breweries I should really try to hit?

Any places on the drive down I should make time for?

Thanks.

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Craig
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Post by Craig »

I've got a weekend in NY on the horizon. Any updated advice?

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Cass
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Post by Cass »

Craig wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 9:23 am I've got a weekend in NY on the horizon. Any updated advice?
Nice. Haven't been since pre pandemic times. Just doing Manhattan or getting to Brooklyn?

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Craig
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Post by Craig »

I'll go where the beer is.

seangm
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Post by seangm »

I can't speak personally since I haven't been to NYC since 2006, but if you're over in Brooklyn I see a lot of praise for Grimm and KCBC. Now granted this is beer instagrammer praise, so hype breweries or whatever you might call it, but they seem highly regarded. I believe both are new since the last detailed update in this thread.

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Craig
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Post by Craig »

Grimm was on my list, but KCBC wasn't, thanks!

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Cass
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Post by Cass »

I usually like to find clusters of places so I can get to a bunch of stuff and explore an area or hood.

I remember liking the Fourth Avenue Pub, which was a standard neighbourhood pub but had an excellent craft beer list which was cool. Looking it up again on Maps I see there's a bunch of breweries all in a row just a couple of blocks away - Threes, Wild East, Finback and Strong Rope. Plus a Dinosaur BBQ if you're into that. I'd probably check out that area!

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Craig
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Post by Craig »

It's on the list!

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northyorksammy
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Post by northyorksammy »

Torst, Blind tiger,Owl Farm, Hops Hill
Reliable Beer Critic

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