I'll be staying at the Marriott on Wolf Rd for the entire week. What are the best craft beer bars in the city? Any within walking distance for me? Thanks in advance.
Seconded on the Beer Belly, they had Iris on draft today, and bottles of other Cantillon. Super nice spot.
Taplist at the Belly cannot be beat right now, assuming you like sours: https://www.facebook.com/BeerBellyA...41829.196084410562568/448332362004437/?type=1 I believe all the Loon bottles are gone but they still had Framboos and Mattina Rossa bottles when I left last night.
I think Iris is still on draft too, which is pretty nuts. That shit would fly out of the door in like 30 minutes in Rochester, I'm glad I visited Albany this past weekend
Yup, it is. Honestly it's a little bit disheartening. With the list like that there should have been a fucking line out the door. There are a good group of people here who love beer, but the demand for truly great beer is just not here unfortunately. It blows my mind.
Not disheartening to me, every event worth going to in Rochester is uncomfortably crowded, or every release worth searching for gets snapped up before you can even blink. It's a little refreshing seeing a scene that's a bit more relaxed, but still with people who really care about beer in Albany
Right down the road from Beer Belly is Capital City gastropub, always a good draft list. If you don't mind the mall, there's world of beer in Crossgates. If you like Belgian styles, there's Merry Monk. Local Albany brewpubs include Druthers & Albany pump station; also Brown's and Rare Form in Troy. I really don't drink at bars frequently, but been to all of these except for the Albany location of Druthers.
Since the OP asked for "best craft beer bars" in Albany, I've got to weigh in on some of these recommendations. Take my opinion with a grain of salt. Full disclosure: I am a local douchebag beer and food blogger, have worked at The Beer Belly in the past, and have been working at The Bier Abbey a night a week for a couple of years now at least. The Gastropub definitely has better food, but the beer selection is very NY focused and there are a lot of misses that end up on draft solely because they come from NYS. Often times I find myself grabbing a bourbon or cocktail instead. World of Beer has by far too many tap lines and many of them are fillers. Of the 50 beers on tap, usually only a handful are worth seeking out. The food is what you can expect from a mall bar, excuse me, "tavern". Merry Monk is Belgian "themed", and its tap list is as lazily curated as the German focused list at Wolff's Biergarten. Other than a rare treat, most of the beer they have on tap is what I would consider "craft beer classics" such as Leffe, Duvel, Rare Vos, Hoegaarden, etc. My experience with Druthers has been that the beers are generally without off flavors and extremely by the book, to a fault. Nothing exciting or creative going on here. Good for Upstate New York standards, but that is not saying much in the big picture. Also, the pricing model of the food has carried over from the Saratoga location, which is to say it caters to the "Saratoga Race Track Elite". This is less desirable in the Albany Warehouse District. Not yet mentioned is The City Beer Hall, which most times I think has the best food menu of any of the beer bars in the Capital District. Their tap list ebbs and wanes depending on what beer dinners or tap takeovers they've had that week. The Ruck in Troy deserves a mention as well, since they've been doing it the longest around here. They are my go to place for "bar food" grub for sure, well known for having the best wings in the area, and their list has its ups and down depending on events as well. Rare Form is right around the corner and worth a visit if you end up in Troy. As I previously disclosed, I work at The Bier Abbey and they generally have one of the most well rounded tap lists in the area, although it's a bit of a drive from where you're staying. They don't do too many events, so they put on beers to keep things balanced out. The latest update on their list can be found here. I'll be slinging beers there after 5 tonight @blackngold41, and would be happy to share some growlers from my recent Hill Farmstead trip this weekend.
I live in Saratoga and agree mostly about Druthers although I think it's better than you are giving them credit for. Whenever I go (when there's not an hour 1/2 wait) I enjoy it, but it's right in line with Saratoga prices, which is to say, too expensive. I need to move out of this city. Never been to the bier abbey. I'll have to stop on the way home sometime.
A quick recap on my week in Albany: Monday night went to The Bull & Barrel Smokehouse about 5 mins away from my hotel in Latham. Found this place on Yelp; I'm a big BBQ fan. The brisket was delicious and I washed it down with a couple 21st Amendment IPAs. They have about 35 taps and there should be something for everyone. Current tap list: http://www.thebullandbarrel.com/beer-menu.html. Plenty of seats available at the bar. The country music was rocking and the place had a very local (if not a bit divey) feel to it. I enjoyed my meal there. Tuesday night a co-worker brought me out to the Albany Pump Station for dinner. The food was very good. The beers were good as well although nothing to rave about. Being a hop guy, I did not care much for their Pale Ale that I had. However, my co-worker's husband recommended their Kick-Ass Brown, saying it's won some local area awards in the past. I'm not typically a brown type of guy, but I actually enjoyed this brew more so than their Pale Ale. Thursday after work I hit up The Beer Belly after hearing it come up multiple times in this thread. The tap list was impressive to say the least. I had a pale ale from Ballast Point that I hadn't ever tried before, as well as Flying Dog's Blood Orange IPA. The Grunion was especially delicious. Kind of an awkward vibe at the bar though. It's very small and almost cramped. The food menu looked way too classy for me so I went a few blocks down to Capital Q Smokehouse and had some of the best ribs I've ever had. Holy crap was that place good. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes BBQ or southern food in general. Thanks to everybody here for the suggestions. If I had more time I would have definitely checked out more of the suggested places. Special thanks to @Fujii13 for extending the kind invite out to where he works and had some HF growlers to offer.
