Im headed to NYC for 3 days 2 nights for work. Im staying at the Hilton in Mid-town (I hate midtown). Its been a min since ive been to NYC A few things. 1) What beer from breweries that I cant get in Chicago should I bring back? I want to load up on a ton of Captain Lawrence for sure and Cigary City. Suggestions welcomed? 2) Any bottle shops in the area? or should I just suck it up and go to New Beer Distributors. I was there a while ago and that place game me a huge boner.... 3) I need recommendations for places to eat. preferably with craft beer and 4) Should I make Torst a destination for one of my meals? Thanks again gang. Cheers
you'd be about a 20 min walk from Ginger Man. Even though it's known for the beer, I've had dinner there - the food was casual - sandwiches, sausages, pot pies, etc, but good. The house made chips, and soft pretzels were good appetizers. http://www.gingerman-ny.com/
Not sure how much room you have. Are you coming on a weekend? If so, a trip out to Long Island on a Friday night to hit up Big Alice and Transmitter for weird and funky beers would be worth the trip, or to Other Half in Brooklyn to fill a couple of growlers with the city's best IPAs. I'd load up on Evil Twin if you can't get it in Chicago, but start with seekabrew.com (which is horribly outdated) or go to a better shop and ask them to recommend based on their stock. No need to go to New Beer - if you're in that neighborhood, hit up Top Hops and WF Bowery. Nearer to midtown you've got Dive Bar 75, Bread and Honey, and Beer Table Pantry (though prepare to pay through the nose at the latter). On the east side you've got City Swiggers as well. If you're in Brooklyn at all, Bierkraft makes great sandwiches, has a tremendous taplist, and has (really expensive) bottle sales as well. Prepare to pay through the nose, but heard the food is incredible and expected to be Michelin-starred.
Bars in area: Ginger Man, Rattle N Hum, Beer Authority, Draught 55, District Tap House. I'd check out their tap lists on beermenus.com, their food menus on their websites, and pick the most appealing one for a bar dinner. (I prefer the first two on that list by a good amount) Head over to Beer Culture to grab some bottles. If you're fine with the subway or a cab, head downtown to Good Beer for more bottles. If you're hungry for more, south of Good Beer, you can take a bit of a good walk and hit Whole Foods Bowery's beer store, New Beer, and Top Hops in that order going south. Captain Lawrence 6 packs are everywhere. Cigar City cans are probably in every beer store. You'd be lucky to find big Cigar City bottles.
Not a big fan of Captain Lawrence, if you have never had it before I would advise not to load up with a ton of it.
I was hoping you'd see this Just been a couple of times, been under-impressed with selection, and found their price points as high as ever. I actually do feel like prices have gone up across the board since a year or two ago.
If you happen to be into Reuban's the Jeffrey Reubenstein and Reuban Jeffowitz at the Jeffrey are both awesome and the tap list is usually great. A bit more upscale is Gramercy Tavern. The food is fantastic and although the list is small they always have some great beers on tap and vintage bottles.
