Hey all, I saw my old thread was locked due to year. Thought I would post this again as you were all really helpful last time. And I watched it after as is a was just a good thread for NYC. I had multiple friends use the old thread for trip planning and ideas. Heading back for Feb 11 - 14. We have more time this trip. We could use tips on restaurants and certainly and tips for breweries. Beer centric bars would be nice too. It’s overwhelming trying to decipher the plethora of places in NY. Coffee recommendations welcomed as well for specifically cold brew, as well as hot. We did Stumptown and Blue Bottle. Last trip our brewery day was Other half > Folksbier > Three’s > Finback > Strong Rope > Evil Twin > walked the Brooklyn Bridge to quick ride to Jeffreys for food and a beer/margarita. Beer’d out by then. Sad we can’t visit Folksbier again RIP
The best brewery cluster is now the couple blocks with Wild East/Finback/Threes/Strong Rope, and it's not super far from OH Centre Street. The L train stretch added Test and Round Table by the Bedford station, and Grimm now has a roof deck that serves real good New Haven style pizza. Eckhart Brewing is a new lager focused spot but seems like they're just doing can sales and don't have a taproom yet. For bars the best recommendations are probably based on the neighborhood you'll be, but the best bets are usually stuff like Carmine Street Beer, Blind Tiger, Proleteriat, As Is, Haymaker, Augurs Well, Alphabet City Beer Co, the various Beer Runs. I will say that there's not a ton of places to get really great beer and really great food. Plenty of great restaurants that have a couple solid options, and some of the places with a good beer list have solid food, but the combo of both at a high level is a bit lacking.
Restaurant recommendations would depend on where you end up going in the city. For brewery recommendations, since you did the South Brooklyn ones there is the crawl along the L train in North Brooklyn with OH Domino Park, Grimm, KCBC, and Evil Twin plus a few others. You also have Tørst in Greenpoint and Beer Street in Williamsburg as beer bars. And if you do that route you have a ton of good options for food between Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Bushwick and Ridgewood, just depends on what type of cuisine you're interested in and how much you want to spend. If you're looking for great coffee, there are two amazing options along this route as well with Sey and Dayglow which are a couple blocks away from each other. Dayglow is also a Brewery (Niteglow) that's worth checking out as well, nothing is going to blow your mind but its all Lukr taps and they do the three different Czech pours.
Is it the same Round Table that took over the original Industrial Arts location? Been meaning to check the brewery out but I haven’t had to travel much for work in that area.
I've never heard of Round Table and I feel like I'm pretty up and up on the scene, are there any other recent openings? I know Eckhart's taproom is coming soon and their beer is already making its way around town.
I know a few people who have visited the upstate location (yes, it’s upstate - Rockland County has bears - therefore, upstate) and have had nothing but good things to say.
There's one called Mi Luna from a woman that was one of the higher-up brewers at Other Half, they've had one Vienna lager so far that was real nice. Not sure what the plans are for a location but some cans may still be around.
Hey @Jbrews Bars : Gold Star Beer Counter, As Is, Queue, Top Hops Breweries: Grimm, Wild East Eats: Defontes, Milk & Hops And a tip, although Folksbier closed. The head brewer has a gypsy label, Schencker. You can likely find it on draft somewhere or cans to go. The last place I mentioned, Milk & Hops has a bar, cans to go, food as well. Oh and Spuyten in BK closed last year, a big loss to the NYC craft beer scene.
On the topic of Gold Star and Schenker, Joey was working behind the bar at Gold Star at least as of last summer so definitely a good place to potentially get their stuff when its around.
Thank you tons! That’s great to hear I can find his products. We’re probably going to try all of the recommendations.
Queue has the two most recent Schencker cans available for both on site and to go. A side pour of Canal Champagne from Queue is not to be missed. If you go to Gold Star it is an easy walk to Bierwax, Beer Street South and Covenhoven. Worth checking out the tap lists to see if anything catches your eye. Test was suggested above. Definitely worth a stop if you’re in Williamsburg.
Sixpoint is about the only thing in Astoria. You have Alewife in Sunnyside(Patrick’s always got something fun on) and a bar nearby called Sweet Avenue that supposedly has a good selection both on tap and to go(haven’t been myself). There’s several breweries around Long Island City; my favorites are Fifth Hammer and Focal Point(formerly ICONYC).
Ah, I was looking to see if Six Point had a location in Astoria. I know Singlecut does. Will probably try and get down to Brooklyn for a couple hours if my wife and her friend are doing girl time. No need for recs there (did my bachelor party *checks calendar* last year there). Although, pour one out for Ugly Baby.
Wild east is my number one brewery in NYC right now. Lukr Czech lager pours, nitro pours, a cask. But they do everything really well from stouts to IPAs, and even some mixed ferm saison. If you’re craving hazy hops other half is still the way to go imo. If you do the domino park location they’re in waking distance to test brewing. The only downfall of that location is they have far less variety of to-go options. And they’re stored on a warm shelf (why other half?!?!). The centre street has all of their beers stored cold. If it helps I’ll drop my top 5: 1. Wild East 2. KCBC 3. Grimm 4. Threes 5. Other half #s 2-5 could really shift at any moment Most breweries in Queens are skippable for me. I’ve personally noticed a quality drop from singlecut and finback. Fifth hammer might be the most solid coming out of queens now, but I’ve mostly only had lagers from them, which have surprised me with how good they are. Torst is my favorite beer bar, but it’s really the only one I visit semi-frequently. They usually have some cool stuff on - hill farmstead, fox farm, or some rare one-offs. Special shout out to Beer Karma in Williamsburg. Concise draft list. Well curated section of cans to-go, and prices are pretty good. This is really that only place I buy beer there not from the breweries directly. They get a lot the schilling releases. Two notable places outside the city are Root+Branch and Marlowe. Definitely worth a trek.
Perhaps worth a trek for NYC residents, but probably not for people visiting for a few days (unless those are on someone’s bucket list for whatever reason)… but you never know.
