Favorite NYC brewery?

Nice recap! Other Half was an unexpected gift from the beer gods, everything a local hophead could ask for.

 

Have to agree. Other Half Brewing is my favorite but not just for the awesome hoppy beers they create. It's the other styles that I normally would pass on but have tried and loved at Other Half. Like: Laastrounde, Kerstperiode, Grand Cru, V-Love. The session IPA are phenomenal. Plus ESB, Doug, and In Absentia all awesome.

Really excited to see what direction they go in this year. Can't wait for cans and more barrel aged stuff.

Honorable mention to Singlecut if they weren't so out of the way I would visit them more.

 

Other Half has been the tops for me.

But Transmitter should definitely be included.

 

Thanks for putting this together--great recap! Finback gets the MVP from me for BQE...

 

You forgot to mention Gun Hill Brewing in the Bronx. Void of Light won a Gold at GABF, no? Also I hear the BA version is something serious. I visited the brewery and I can see why it's been omitted here as it's deep in the BX and isn't nearly as ubiquitous in bars as OH or Singlecut. But the brewery is a cool open air space similar to Finback's and the beers are great. Their DIPA (13 Star or something like that) is on par with Singlecut TNT BonBon, which I rated about a 4.1 (the nose was beautiful, but the taste wasn't as juicy and fruity, but still good).

Also, now that there are so many good local options, do NYC heads still have love for Sixpoint? Can we really call them local? I'd say the same about BX Brewery but now they have the taproom open so that lends them a little more legitimacy.

Agree that Transmitter deserves some props. If they ever get a proper taproom I think they'll really blow up. Their beers veer to the expensive side, but damn are they good.

Singlecut is pretty awesome and I really enjoyed the brewery visit. What was really cool about them is that their beers were good across the board: excellent pils in the 19-33 Queens Lagrr, great Berliner Weiss in the Kim Sour, Jan with coffee was great, Dean as a lighter Cascadian DArk was great, and the IPAs are all great. But the one beer here that I really loved was the Rum Barrel-Aged Eric. Exceptionally smooth, creamy with great tobacco like notes but still tasting like beer and not overwhelmed by the barrels. That was one of my favorites.


If I still lived in NYC, I'd find it hard to pick a favorite between OH, Finback (this place wowed me), Singlecut, and Gun Hill. You guys are pretty damn spoiled right now.

 

Let's not forget Greenpoint/Dirck.
It's mighty hard comparing something like Brooklyn Brewery to Dirck the Norseman just a couple blocks away.
I don't have a favorite in the city, but I very much enjoy drinking what's flowing. I tend to fall for specific beers rather than the portfolio.

 

It's definitely been a great year for Breweries in NYC. It wasn't long ago that I was wondering if NYC would ever get a good brewery let alone a few solid beers coming out of our city.

My favorite brewery so far has been Other Half, an easy pick. Obviously their ipa's are amazing but I've enjoyed some of their other offerings mainly BA Veldrijen Love and some of the recent stouts. What a great first year for a brewery, can't wait to see what they do year 2 and beyond.

I was also impressed with a few other breweries. Singlecut had a great year with Bon Bon, Billy Full Stack, Shuggie and Mo Shuggie plus they started bottling and the beers are very well priced. Finback might have made the best beer ever to come out of NYC with BA BQE. To me that beer stands up to any BA stout. Also, I just had Void of Light from Gun Hill and that beer was awesome. Best Foreign/Export stout I've ever had.

With that said were very lucky now to have some great beer coming out of NYC. I'm looking forward to an even better year in 2015.

 

I'm with you on Singlecut. A few months ago Other Half would have been the easy answer. But now I'd find it hard to choose between these two.

Edit - also Threes is walking distance from my place and I really enjoyed all of their beers that I've tried so far

 

It's honestly a tie between OH, Singlecut and Finback for me. Each has their own merits.

OH makes the best hoppy beers in the area.

Singlecut has started bottling and distributing, with very well priced beers. Bon Bon and Full Stack have really impressed me.

Finback basically came out of nowhere in my eyes with the best beer being brewed in the State (BA BQE), they make very good IPAs, and the latest beer I had (Natas) was damn fucking tasty.

 

I finally made my first trip to visit OH--not only are the beers seriously legit but I just loved the atmosphere over there. And for a Brooklyn guy, its not likely I will get out to Finback or Singlecut. So for me, thats what puts them at the top of my list. Oh, and I'm a hophead, so there's that, too

 

Other Half for me - love their IPA's. Finback and Gun Hill have also impressed.

Lots of people saying good things about Singlecut lately. I'll be giving them more tastes despite how mediocre (at best) they were their first 18-24 months of operation.

 

For me, based on what I like to drink, tops is Transmitter and Dirck comes in a close second.

 

I went to Singlecut when they first opened, very cool space. Have had Full Stack a couple of times since then, nice smell but lacking in taste for me. Also, this weekend at Mugs Mystery IPA tasting, their half stack IPA was one of the beers. I didn't take extensive notes, but my rating scale was whether they were a contender for top beer or not and I marked them a NO. Also, made note that their beer had "limited taste". Maybe I need to try some of their other stuff.

 

Singlecut for me, based on some recent tasting (bottled stuff I've picked up in the city and the tap takeover at Fools Gold a few weeks back) - Bon Bon, Mo Shuggie, Billy Full. Great stuff, but maybe just my style.

The Other Half stuff I've tried has been really solid, but not quite as distinctive - again, maybe just my taste right now

And so much I haven't even tried (Finback)...NYC will soon be, if it's not already, an embarrassment of riches for beer (just like everything else)

 

not even a mention for Grimm? is it because they don't have a "fixed" location?

 

I don't know how many other breweries are doing the CBA (community supported beer) thing, but I got a share of Transmitter beer for xmas. Love the idea, as it's an awesome xmas present and cool way to get into a range of beers from one brewery. Agreed that if Transmitter had a tasting room it'd be a much bigger hit, but the beer is solid and they are young.

Great roundup from the OP, thanks.

 

I am liking Singlecut (especially Full Stack) and Other Half (good variety) quite a bit lately. I have otherwise visited in person or had a tasing of the core beers from pretty much all the players right now in the city. [Rockaway,Grimm, Gun Hill, Harlem, Flagship, Finback, 508 Gastro (before it closed) and Three's] - Gonna check out Dirck very soon.
With that said my personal favorite right now is Keg and Lantern - just checked them out twice in the last week and I think they or quietly making some fantastic beers - Half Nelson Ale, Nassua Wit and Oyster Stout are top notch!

 

I had Double Negative last week. Absolutely awesome. Picked up two more the next day. I also tried Single Life (I believe it was called that), and it was a bit too sour for me.

First time hearing about Keg and Latern. Will have to check them out soon!