Beer trip from DC to NY

I feel like you should do The Veil in a Virgina-based trip, since Richmond also has The Answer and Triple Crossing, and probably a bunch more. There's also Aslin in the DMV area, and Red Dragon in Fredericksburg which is pretty awesome. You could easily make a whole weekend of that area.

But directly between DC and NYC, Tired Hands in PA would probably be a good stop, and Magnify and Troon in NJ wouldn't be too far out of the way but I don't think they have a full taproom or easily attainable stuff to-go.

I'd almost recommend just coming up to NYC and focusing on the breweries around here. Brooklyn/Queens alone has stuff like OH, Grimm, Interboro, KCBC, Threes, Singlecut, Finback, LIC Beer Project, Evil Twin, and Mikkeller, all of which are worth visiting.

And then going up the Hudson Valley region you have Hudson Valley Brewing itself, but also Plan Bee, Obercreek, Suarez, Sloop, and on the other side of the Hudson is Equilibrium, District 96, and Industrial Arts.

 

Add State Line Liquors as a bonus.

 

Carton and Kane in NJ. Great breweries.

 

Initial question, does this trip start somewhere other than DC? If it starts in DC, do Richmond some other time as one poster said, too many choices but when down there go to Veil, Answer, Triple Crossing, Strangeways, Vasen, Stone, Ardent, etc etc and you could keep going south to Norfolk (Benchtop) and VA Beach (Commonwealth). In the DC area, don't sleep on Ocelot or Solace in Virginia.

NYC is full of breweries as mentioned and would be a good trip on its own so either focus on that or make a Hudson Valley trip the focus.

If it's a multiweek trip you could do all of the areas mentioned, if it's a few days then tighten up your area. Highlights from when I hit the Hudson Valley were Suarez & Sloop (Hudson Valley Brewing wasn't open the day we were near by) and on the way home hit: Equilibrium, Magnify, Carton, Kane and I would recommend all of them in that order (1st 2 much more than other 2 but all were solid). Magnify was a sleeper, there IPAs were very good. In the Hudson Valley, Beacon had a couple bars with solid beer selections, also drove out to West Kill Brewing which was good and in the middle of nowhere, kinda far if you're just kicking around. If you do the Hudson Valley in general, get some out in nature too.

 

MilYeah this kinda depends on where in NY you'll be.

If in NYC, Other Half/Folksbier/Threes are all clustered pretty close, Grimm/Interboro/KCBC are all clustered pretty close and then if you continue North you've got the LIC/Alewife/Big Alice Cluster. And I'd prioritize them in that order.

If you're venturing into the Hudson Valley, things are clustered there too.

District 96/Industrial Arts/Equilibrium/Long Lot Farm would be a pretty easy day trip out of the city. If you're venturing further north you've got Peekskill/River Outpost very close to one another. Keep going north and Hudson Valley/Newburgh are opposite each other right across the river.

 

I'll always think of Peekskill fondly since it's so often been the end point of a long ride for me and my team - but would you put it in the mix these days? Been a couple of years since I went, but when I last went I was fairly unimpressed. Not sure if that was function of Jeff O'Neill leaving, or other options that now exist in the area. Likely both.

If someone was specifically going to the Hudson Valley to hit every brewery possible then that's one thing. But if OP has limited bandwidth then I'd skip personally - unless of course there have been some big changes since I last went.

And OP just to echo others - if NY (the state) is more broadly in play vs NYC, then definitely add Suarez, Sloop, Plan Bee to the list if you can head further north

 

I still really dig Peekskill because their IPA's have a rounded, crisp flavor profile and that's tough to find in a sea of NEIPAs. Plus, I think fresh Amazeballs is still one of the best pale ales on the planet.

 

Not even close to being on the DC to NYC drive.

 

Terse one-liners always good for BA cred though

 

Google Maps also says it's 4 hours, 4 minutes to get form DC to NYC. Ain't no wat that's happening. So that 67 is probably more like 90. Even so, taken at face value, you're adding more than 25% to your drive time by detouring to those two New Jersey breweries.

And really, unless you enjoy driving drunk, that's 67 (90) minutes of extra driving to have one beer at each place. That seems like a lot of effort. Then again, if someone thinks the Veil (90 mins south of DC, but much more depending on traffic) and Hudson Valley are between DC and NY....

 

Probably why your posts have nearly 19K likes.

 

Brooklyn/Queens is a must stop for brewery tomfoolery... Get a hotel room, and go crazy trying everything you wish.

"Wanna try that one?"

"Why not, because I'm thanking F train to my hotel room!"

There are lots of clusters where breweries are just a few minutes walk from each other.

Everything else is just collecting cans to drink later. That's fun but you need to schedule a day of no worries let's have another one.

 

In DC, just over the river in Alexandria ... Aslin opened their new location last week.

 

Actually, I can't imagine driving from DC to NYC and making breweries stops. I would be done driving after first stop .

 

where does it say this is a one day/hit as many breweries in between as possible trip?? OP ghosted this thread anyway, so I guess we'll neever find out... lol..

 

I’m also doing this drive but extended to Boston in September. DC for two nights, Baltimore for a night, Philly for a night NYC for two nights and Boston for two. Have my sights on Aslin, Tired Hands, OH, Sand City, Treehouse and Trillium with maybes to Suarez, Root and Branch (if their tap room is open by then) and Cambridge

 

DC to Richmond(and back) is a rough drive, Northern VA I95, even on weekends, is filled with traffic.

 

I should also mention I’m hitting up Camden Yards, Citizens Bank and Citi as well... any good food/drink options inside those stadiums?

 

this is all good advice also hit me up if you want to trade when youre at other half

 

At Citizens Bank they have select beer stands with Yards, Victory, Troegs, Flying Fish, Conshohocken.

 

New Shea has good beer (they make it there) but bad baseball, too bad you can go to the Baseball Mecca 3.0 and drink a crappy adjunct and see the best baseball in the world. One uniform, no surnames, no stupid facial hair, & pride (the Mets wish there were playing baseball on Flatbush Ave in 1955, but you're in a parking lot in Flushing across from some chop-shops.)

 

Go to Cooperstown ( swing by Ommegang after), 161st, Addison St, Yawkey Way, & Main St Cooperstown are all must if you love baseball.

 

I've already gone to New Yankee stadium so I'm crossing off New Shea off my list of MLB stadiums. And technically I'll be watching good baseball cause my Dodgers will be playing

 

For your NYC stops you might want to switch out Sand City for another brewery in the 5 boroughs, like Finback or KCBC or Grimm or Interboro. I know it doesn't look that far on a map, but going out to Northport could eat up a few hours.
Also think Suarez, though one of my favorite breweries in the country, is a bit too far off your path to make it worth it.

 

I’ve been to NYC a handful of times (although my last foray into the Big Apple was probably about 3-4 years ago). The plan was to leave Philly Friday late morning towards NYC but had nothing planned until the Mets game so thought maybe I could try to squeeze in Suarez. If time is too tight I have no problem calling an audible and staying local.

As far as Sand City, I was planning on making a trip into Long Island the next day (but I guess only assuming Root and Branch opens its tap room) and maybe take photos of whatever beaches you guys got out there.

 

Too far off what path? To njcraftfan’s point the guy has ghosted the thread so we have no idea what constitutes the path

 

He was replying to a different person who said they were also doing a similar road trip.

 

Sorry, not as prolific a poster as you, so I did not quote the post I was replying to. Easy. Just kidding, appreciate your posts! But yeah, that's the post I was referring to. Maybe my response makes more sense now.

Thanks.

 

Apologies - got a little overzealous - ignore me!

 

No sweat.
But would you corroborate my original comment that Sand City and Suarez should be left off the itinerary?

 

Yeah 100%

Or at the very least not both

 

The Involvedness at such a low abv…Would argue to swap out others, if need be, to fit Suarez in - It’s not common to find craftsmanship in every sip of every product. Of course time is of the essence, and preferences are at play, so skip if…?

Referend is the only other deterrent, from the path, for “onlookers” to consider. However, that journey is style prolific

 

Yeah I'm not married to the idea of going out to the Hudson Valley and/or Long Island. Definitely plenty of beers to go around in two short days within the Brooklyn. Grimm and Interboro are definitely on the radar for breweries to check out

 

You're not squeezing in Suarez in before a Baseball game... Stay local take the subway... You can find Suarez on tap.

 

Honestly gonna recommend you do KCBC instead of Interboro. I like KCBC's beer better so I'm biased, but even if you think Interboro is better, their taproom feels like you're drinking in a Pay-N-Spray from GTA whereas KCBC's is bright and beautiful.

 

Interboro is a five minute walk from Grimm, so you don't do KCBC instead you just add on it on.

 

No, I mean I truly think Interboro's taproom is off-putting and unenjoyable to drink in. It's not that it's in an industrial area, plenty of breweries are, it's that you genuinely feel like you're drinking in a dirty auto body shop. Not about it.

You can easily get Interboro's beers all over the city (and should!), so if you're only in the city for a limited amount of time I think you're better served spending it elsewhere.

 

Don’t think the post was disputing your point on aesthetics. I think the point was simply that the guy mentioned going to Grimm and Interboro while in The Brooklyn, you said do KCBC instead of Interboro, and Tallerboy was just pointing out that based on location KCBC is something you add on, not something you do instead. Ie making it clear to the guy that whether you do Interboro or not, tacking on KCBC is going to be an extra time commitment.

Aesthetics-wise, I like the grunginess of Interboro. It’s a change of pace from the modern-industrial (OH) or reclaimed organic Swedish driftwood (Grimm and others) looks. And the people that run it reflect the same down to earth approachability.