NYC Bottle Shops?

no need to go to beer table... way over priced. City Swiggers should be on the list I think.

 

Noble Grains
Whole Foods (Tribeca, Bowery, Chelsea, Columbus Circle, etc.)
Carmine St
Triboro beverage
Astoria Bier & cheese

 

Here's the thing. Distro is mostly the same around the city; i.e. you probably won't find gems by trying different stores. In my experience, hit New Beer and Top Hops because they're around the corner from each other. Ditto on Astor and Warehouse (by far the best liquor stores in the city - best scotch prices).

Best opportunities for gems are at New Beer (where they occasionally have out of distro items illegally and random old limited releases) and Eagle Provisions (where they occasionally have Cantillon and Westy for bonkers prices). No point in trolling all over Manhattan to see the same selection everywhere.

The easiest way to find new selections is by taking the PATH from Manhattan to Jersey City (Super Buy-Rite Wines is a 10 minute walk from the Newport PATH station) and the Metro North up to Westchester (DeCiccos Harrison / Half Time Mamaroneck). Car is even easier as long as you avoid traffic.

Feel free to reply on this thread or PM me with specific questions. I'd be happy to go through your itinerary and make suggestions.

 

WOW, sick list of restaurants but $$$$$$. Enjoy. 11 Madison Park had a very nice (but pricey) beer list when I was there.

 

I don't recommend the beer pairing at EMP, you don't really get anything special, but beyond that some of the pairings are off, better to go the cocktail or wine route, or even get beers from the menu.

Thursday seems really ambitious too, I'd try to the Totto or Ippudo that day instead, early for lunch and then hit MOMA.

 

just reading that list made me feel stuffed and exhausted.

the sake pairing at nakazawa is def worth it btw

 

I recommend walking a few blocks from the ESB to Ginger Man. Great selection of beers and sometimes they even get random kegs of HF.

 

Sorry for the dumb question, but where you have multiple restaurants listed, you're only planning on actually hitting one or two right? I mean I'd be loathe to hit one ramen spot the same day as going to Per Se, let alone three.

Stupid question number two - you have reservations at all of these places (where needed) right? If so that must have involved a fair amount of luck. Or is this trip not happening for a while and you're yet to the point where you can start trying to make bookings? If so I'd add chefs table at brooklyn fare to the list of places to try and score a reservation.

 

Seconded, but make sure you go during non-happy hours!

 

Watch out for the bottling dates at New Beer. They are notorious for keeping out Not New Beer. I bought a 4 pack of Founders Harvest that happened to be from 2013 thinking it was this years batch. Needless to say right when I opened the bottle a burst of wet cardboard stank came out. If there is no bottle date just leave it on the shelf there. If you bounced around Whole Foods Beer Room, Top Hops, Good Beer, and Alphabet City Brewing you can find most of the new stuff distributed here and they are all very close to each other. If you are on the Upper East Side, City Swiggers and Noble Grains pretty much have everything and all the new stuff between the 2 of them and they are close together too.

I hope you have resys at places like Ippudo, Milk Bar, and Per Se. Those will be insane wait times on the weekend during the holidays if you dont. It would suck to waste all your time here waiting for tables!

 

Ko is amazing. While you're in that area, go to either Good Beer on 9th St. or Proletariat on St. Marks.

 

Their dislike of asian patrons? For real? What's that about? Yeah Ko is solid. Enjoy

 

the chef thinks asians (and for some reason, upper west siders) are "shit people"

 

I'm not entirely sure if it was the first one or if the one in CT was the first one. Don't know much about the history of the bar/company, but I do know the one in NYC has a phenomenal tap list and is within easy walking distance of ESB and Penn Station. Then there is Rattle-n-hum, 3 blocks south of Ginger Man. And Keene's Steakhouse is within walking distance as well.

Ginger Man does a great job of updating their beer list on their website daily. If you are strapped for time, check the menu and see if there is anything that stands out.

 

That's a lot of noodles in one day! BTW Totto has two locations, the one b/t 8th and 9th is in a basement and is constantly mobbed. The one that's 1 ave away is ground floor and much less packed. Both delicious (I reccomend the Mega Ramen). Also, Mu Ramen is the hot new thing right now.

Two shops that didn't get mentioned yet: Murray's Cheese and Carmine St Beers. You'd be kind of in the area at Sushi Nakazawa.

Also, if you search the forums someone put together a comprehensive list of all of them, with a Google Map.