Other Half Brewing

They are a draft only operation, and you can find them at a number of better beer places in the city, especially in Brooklyn.

They make several other styles, but they specialize in West Coast-style IPAs, and frankly, they are hitting them out of the park. I think they are the best brewer in NYC right now... their IPAs are ridiculously hop-heavy, with awesome balance, finishing bitterness that doesn't overwhelm. Even their non-IPAs are really, really well made. They are just terrific brewers, and I think the hype train is only going to explode about them.

Their tasting room is small, immediately adjunct to the modestly-sized brewery. The brewers themselves man the tasting room. Flights of 4 different beers are $5, with 12oz pours at $5 and 16oz pours at $6. They do growler fills with counter-pressure fills (so, no flip-top fills). It's a bit of a pain to get to, depending on where you are, but it's totally worth the trip. They just debuted their Galaxy IPA this weekend (which I now desperately want to try), but their Citra IPA, Hop Showers, Green Diamonds, and All Green Everything are particularly worth seeking out... though, again, if I saw their beer on a menu, I'd be hard pressed to choose anything else.

tl,dr: Outstanding brewers, worth seeking out, go to the tasting room.

 

I had a few friends go yesterday and heard great things. Saw they had a Triple IPA, West Coast IPA, Single hop IPA (or PA?), Stout and another IPA called Hop Showers.

Plan on going sometime this week. Would love to find out their hours (doesn't say on the website) so I can make plans accordingly.

Will report back with my experience.

 

I've been to the tasting room 3 times already this weekend, if that helps. Their IPAs are outstanding, rivaling Vermont right now. Go ahead and threadshit on that statement but I stand by it - we drank Galaxy and Hop Showers next to Double Sunshine yesterday and it was VERY close.
Just picked up a 64 of Citra and a 64 of Galaxy ($16 each). Can't beat the price. And they're easy to get to if you're near the F or G - 2 blocks from the Smith and 9th St stop.

 

Friday 5 - 9
Saturday 12 - 10
Sunday 12 - 8

 

Ugh, now I'm annoyed I didn't go this weekend. I just wish it wasn't such a shlep from Crown Heights. I did walk all the way down there last weekend with my 3-year-old daughter, and they were super accommodating with her stroller (letting me stash it in the brewhouse).

I think there are mixed messages, I also saw them tweet 12-8 on Saturday and 12-6 today. Regardless, definitely no weekends.
That said, pretty confident that there is a St. Gambrinus takeover on Thursday as well this week, though not sure if they'll be doing growler fills or just tap pours.

 

Green Diamonds will be back in 1 or 2 weeks. Plan is to can Green Diamonds eventually via Iron Heart. Sporadic bottle releases too. Air conditioner will be installed soon too.

 

Thanks! Prob head over to the area Friday for opening then go to dinner nearby. I was born and lived in Carol Gardens early in life. Awesome to see the area taking off. Was literally nothing in the area besides a pizza place, comic book store, mechanics and car depots when I was growing up.

 

CANNED Green Diamonds?! Be still my beating heart!

 

I went there yesterday and got a growler of Galaxy IPA. It is probably already my favorite IPA available for purchase in NYC.

 

Can't wait to trade canned Green Diamonds for canned Julius this fall.

 

Went yesterday for first time and filled 3 32 ounce growlers. Hop Showers was my favorite followed closely by Galaxy IPA with Citra a couple notches below those two. Great IPAs. These guys have the potential of making the next great beer people around country covet.

Will try some of their other beers in upcoming weeks.

Small tip for anyone visiting brewery, no signage there, but it is right across from McDonalds and the address number is above the door. I got there before they opened and wasn't exactly sure where it was.

 

My first experience with Other Half was the Lembeek 86 I tried several weeks ago, which I really disliked (the single review sums it up pretty well for me), so I hadn't really paid attention to them since then.

More fool me.

Had All Green Everything at DW yesterday, which was great. Then went to the tasting room to fill a growler of the Galaxy IPA, which was delicious. Stoked that an awesome brewery with tastings / growler fills is only 5 mins on the bike from my home (or a couple stops on the F/G).

If you take the F or G it's very close to the Smith and 9th stop. But yeah as others have mentioned, the exterior isn't particularly obvious.

 

Stopped by on Saturday and had a blast tasting some stuff and taking home that uber fresh Galaxy in the growler. Hop Showers was particularly crushing as well. The F and G were severely fucked this weekend but look forward to heading back down for more refills next weekend.

 

Is canned Julius actually happening? It might be the best beer I've ever had.

EDIT: Didn't mean to derail the subject, I plan on going to Other half after work this coming friday

 

We were up first weekend in May and talked to Dean. They are in the process of erecting a new building directly across the street which will house a cannery and a new taproom. The current taproom will be converted into a barrel-aging room. Dean is hoping to have things up and running by the fall, but who knows. He also mentioned doing some small bottle releases of barrel-aged stuff eventually, as they have a small bottle line/filler already on hand. No ETA on that.

 

I'm with you that they're getting towards Vermont quality IPAs.

It's a great little space. My friend and I chatted with one of the brewers, Matt, for a while. It was a really fun talk.

He told us about the future plans to can, bottling their barrel aged brews and their stout, Green Diamonds coming out next week, etc.

 

Apparently they are all ready to bottle their first release, a barrel aged stout, but just can't find the time right now. Supposed to be a tiny release - only one barrel, around 60 gallons according to Matt.

 

Yeah the Lembeek is dangerous. I was at a beer tasting recently and apparently I was the only person who managed to finish one according to the bartender.

Also I know one bar that tapped a keg and the smell of the beer stunk up the entire place just from the tap run off.


But I love their IPAs. I need to get to their taproom soon.

 

Hearing great things. I heard the Triple IPA, All Green Everything, was awesome. Hope they still have some left this Friday, as I will be making my way in from Long Beach for the day.