Good Beer in NYC is closing

the vast majority of the Irish bars are pathetic. I was in midtown and Haymaker was the only decent beer bar and it wasn't that great

 

You based an entire beer scene on one section of NYC. You realize NYC encompasses five boroughs with numerous neighborhoods, right? Midtown is a shit ass neighborhood filled with chains and tourist traps.

 

You had to state this twice? There's obviously a lot more to the city than one neighborhood with insane business-killing rent prices (as @BoardwalkBock stated above).

If you want to stick to midtown though, there's:

Other Half
As Is
The Jeffrey
Clinton Hall
Beer Culture
Beer Authority
Haymaker
District Tap House
Valhalla
Hofbrau Bierhaus

And as it turns out, there are plenty of subway stations in midtown... which are fantastic for beer drinkers. I don't like some of the places above, but that's subjective. Unfortunately midtown isn't what it used to be not too long ago though. Some important spots are no longer there (Covid put an end to my favorite place in NYC to have a beer... I would trade the list below for the list above if still possible):

Rattle N Hum East
Rattle N Hum West
The Ginger Man
The Pony Bar

 

Yea hard to believe someone spends an entire month in NYC and never leaves Midtown. Until a few weeks ago I hadn’t stepped foot in Midtown outside of Penn in years.

You could have taken the 1 downtown to Blind Tiger and then walked to Vol de Nuit and the new Proletariat (which I was just at the other day and is awesome but needs better lighting).

BK aint too far by subway either.

 

You've been to cities like Boston, Portland and Philadelphia? I did like the Dead Rabbit.

 

I've been going to the Blind Tiger for 25 years, I even went to it when it was at the old location Sure there are some very good beer bars in NYC, but it doesn't to be losing any. Good bar, I also liked The Dead Rabbit. But pick out a bar on the street (looking at you Irish Bars) and their selections have not improved in those 25 years.

 

$14 pints at Clinton and blaring dance music. Haymer was good. District Tap was OK, but in some cities every bar is like that.

 

You’re talking about Irish bars. What do you expect when you go into one of those places?? 20 taps and multiple styles? I can’t begin to take you seriously when that’s part of your argument. Short of Guinness, Harp, Stella and a pub menu, what would you expect in a Midtown Irish pub?

I’m not privy to the City scene anymore to be honest, but go to Brooklyn, Queens or the East Village or lower Chelsea. Midtown is not the place to look for good beer although I will disagree with your Haymaker assessment. That place was great, but I haven’t been there since covid.

 

Rheingold, Schaefer and Ballantine Ale on tap, for 35 cents a glass? I'm there! Oh, it's Manhattan, so 75 cents for the smallest sham pilsner beer glass you've ever seen.

Oh (again), that'd be 50 years ago, huh? Gee, time sure does fly when you're... ah, doesn't matter what you're doing.

 

The funny coincidence with this thread is that I will be working by the Empire State Building in a few weeks and I need to pick the restaurants for the work team. I think I'm going with Jack Demsey's for lunch and Clinton Hall for dinner. Keep in mind that I have to stay within a two block radius and I'm picking places based on the tastes of other people in the group. Wanna join?

 

I have been to all three cities and they are, if I’m being generous, a third of the size of NYC. I literally ran around the entire city of Portland in 45 mins. Not to mention if you want to hit all the great places in those cities and their suburbs you have to drive or walk long distance. The great thing about NYC is you have public transportation to take you wherever you want to go. There are so many good breweries and bars all over the city. You just have to leave Midtown.

 

Portland ME is definitely a basically perfect beer city and the restaurants are great and I can't wait to go back, but it's tiny, and yea there's a cool museum and the waterfront is cool and you can go whale watching or whatever but that's about it.

Philly isn't terrible but outside of Human Robot and Fermentory Form there's nothing that stacks up with even the middle-of-the-pack NYC breweries like Fifth Hammer or Interboro. Monk's is obviously a Mount Rushmore level beer bar though.

I haven't been to Boston in 10+years but the only brewery of note in the city proper I can think of is Trillium. But maybe there's a whole wealth of stuff I'm missing.

Sure a lot of the breweries here do the standard hazy IPA and fruited sour thing, but that's what the deal is these days pretty much everywhere, and not every city has a Threes AND a Wild East to go along with the usual hypebeast stuff. Also, NYC is NYC, you could spend weeks here doing all kinds of stuff before even going to a brewery or bar. A little city like Portland or Asheville has to make that part of their identity, but here it's just a drop in the bucket.

I guess if you judge a beer scene on "Irish bars," fair enough, but I'd rather acually lose a leg than hear a Dropkick Murphys song again.

This is really one of the most underrated parts of general non-sober NYC living, and especially applicable as a beer destination. Also was a massive plus growing up here.

 

You are near the best Korean food outside of Korea. Check out Gallery 32 on 32nd Street. Some great food in that area. Legends had an OK beer selection (I only need good beer) and Keens Chop House is here.

 

Maybe 20 years in Vermont spoiled me, you could walk into any bar (or gas station) and find at least Fiddlehead. I actually walked out of some places in Manhattan because I didn't want Sam Adams or Stella (or didn't want to pay $12-$14 a pint).

NYC had Burp Castle, Neptune Brewing, Thompson Street Brewing, New Amsterdam, DBA, Zip City back in my NYC prime- all gone and I don't think it's much improved.
Faunces Tavern and The Dead Rabbit was a nice 1 2 punch.

Think what you may.

 

There is no excuse for that pathetic beer menu in this day and age. Living in Vermont and now PA- every bar has a great beer on tap- every bar (and gas station in cans). Tir Na Nog has an OK beer selection. I don't think the NYC (at least in Manhattan) has not improved much in 30 years.

 

So we went from complaining about beer bars to complaining about "Irish" pubs to complaining about gas station beers. The fact is that NYC is a huge city with a great beer scene. If I want good beer, I go to a bar that caters to that - and there are plenty. There is no point in comparing random gas stations and Irish pubs.

 

Dude. It’s an Irish pub. You know there’s thousands of people who’d rather have a shot of Jameson and a pint of Guinness than have a fancy pilsner or, worse, an IPA, right?
There’s hundreds of bars in NYC. For every Blind Tiger or Ginger Man (RIP), there’s 3 Connolly’s or 4 Blarney Stones. There’s a reason those places never close.

The great thing about this city is it’s big enough to cater to, literally, everybody. Midtown is the very definition of a tourist trap. You want to find beer that’s up to your snuff, leave that bubble. It’s not very complicated. It’s not hard. This isn’t Vermont, lol.

 

Yea and in Vermont you have to drive everywhere. I cant begin to elaborate on the amount of drunk drivers that leave Three Penny every single day.

Additionally, you are listing places in NYC that no longer carry the gauntlet. Go out and experience new places. We have hundreds of beer bars and an extensive amount of breweries. It seems like you just dont want to go out of your way to figure it out.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. Even if I can’t take advantage of them this trip, there’s always the next. If you are ever looking for a beer in Manhattan again, try The Grand Delancey downtown.

 

Don't know what the drunk drivers leaving Three Penny has to do with anything, maybe they can Uber
Waterbury VT has better beer bars than Manhattan,(a town of 5,500 people).
I did experience the new places in Manhattan and wasn't impressed. I realize that Brooklyn has better places, but I'm not talking about that. I did concentrate on the old time places, Peters, The Ear, The Landmark, White Horse, Fraunces Tavern (which had a pretty awesome selection).