Back from Brooklyn: a couple of finds

So we spent a long weekend in Brooklyn with some friends, and if anyone out there lives in the metro area and loves beer, you should know these two.

First...wifey and I walked around Manhattan on Friday in the pouring rain. A really long, wet day, but we got to see a lot of the city and spent a good amount of time at the Met. When we got out of the Met, it was nearing 5pm, and we thought it might be time for a beer. But you wouldn't believe how hard it is to find a freaking bar on the upper east side. WTF is up with that? We walked from 86th all the way down to the 60's, along Madison and then Lexington, and there was nuthin. We caught the train down the Union Square and then walked south along Broad to Houston...still nothing. By then, my dogs were barkin' at me, and I would have taken a bud light. So I finally said screw it and called our friends, and she told us about a place on 1st Ave. So we hiked up there, and in between 3rd and 4th, there's a great little place called D.B.A. that has a brilliant beer list...probably 20-30 taps, plus countless awesome bottles. I actually found Aventinus Eisbock and Spezial Rauchbier Lager and Fullers 1845 (in bottles of course). But that first sip of the Smoked Porter (can't remember the producer---some small northeast craft brew) was like the nectar of the gods. That place was, quite simply, an oasis.

Second, my friend took my up to 5th ave in Brooklyn Heights to this beer store called Bierkraft. Even though I work in a great beer store (our selection's probably better than theirs), they had a bunch of cool stuff I'd never seen. I got this crazy bottle from Hanssens that is a blend of mead and geuze! Also found Brooklyn's Local 1, which I was intent on finding, plus a "Red Bach" which is Rodenbach and kreik, and Unibroue's Seigneuriale. I could have easily dropped a bill or two, but I had to be good because we were going to a nice dinner that night.

If you live there or visit, you should check these out.

You should have posted prior to coming to NYC. If your just looking for la large beer variety then:

The Gingerman on 36th Street off Madison has a 6-page menu of beers and about 200 different beers. Very crowded
http://www.gingerman-ny.com/GingerManFlash/GingerMan.html

Peculier pub on Bleeker Street. Has every beer you can imagine.
“Spelled "Peculier" with an "e". Expensive, but one of the best for sheer number of beers available. "Mobbed on week-ends" doesn't even begin to cover how wretched this NYU frat-boy place is, despite their excellent selection.”

Try this list of breweries and pubs (just cancel out of the password and click "open page" on the upper right, then click on pub and or brewery link)
http://www.ny.com/cgibin/frame.cgi?url=http://www.nycbeer.org/toc.html
http://www.ny.com/nightlife/bars/

There are thousands of good bars here but most of the really good ones are local. Manhattan has allot the trendy stuff.

Evan! said:

We caught the train down the Union Square and then walked south along Broad to Houston...still nothing.

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You must have passed right by the Heartland Brewery in Union Square. They have a few good brews.

You had better luck than I did. I stopped by Hearland for lunch and had a couple beers on saturday. Great weather and sitting outside was nice. I first had their special Belgium strong ale, but wasn't too impressed. It was only half a pint and they warned me about the amazingly high abv....8% I think. After that I had their IPA, and it was a good IPA. I would definately order it again. To top it all off, they were out of lids, so my 1.5 year old decided it would be neat to run his little NYC cop car into the cup, so Daddy had to walk around with milk soaked pants for a bit! Dang kittens wouldn't stop following me.

For dinner we went to some trendy italian place where they pack in tables like mexicans in a landscaping truck. (No offense to mexicans, just an anology) I was surprised to see Bigfoot on tap, so I had to have it. All other beers were crazy Italian ones I've never heard of. They also had some Rouge bombers, but at $25 a bottle, I turned them down. I was hoping it wasn't "green" Bigfoot, but it was. I'm not a big fan of it fresh and think it needs some time to mellow. But, I did enjoy it, but just one.

We were with family touring around, so I didn't force a beer agenda on anyone, but next time you can bet that I'll be at some of those places you listed.

freyguy said:

You had better luck than I did. I stopped by Hearland for lunch and had a couple beers on saturday. Great weather and sitting outside was nice. I first had their special Belgium strong ale, but wasn't too impressed. It was only half a pint and they warned me about the amazingly high abv....8% I think. After that I had their IPA, and it was a good IPA. I would definately order it again. To top it all off, they were out of lids, so my 1.5 year old decided it would be neat to run his little NYC cop car into the cup, so Daddy had to walk around with milk soaked pants for a bit! Dang kittens wouldn't stop following me.

For dinner we went to some trendy italian place where they pack in tables like mexicans in a landscaping truck. (No offense to mexicans, just an anology) I was surprised to see Bigfoot on tap, so I had to have it. All other beers were crazy Italian ones I've never heard of. They also had some Rouge bombers, but at $25 a bottle, I turned them down. I was hoping it wasn't "green" Bigfoot, but it was. I'm not a big fan of it fresh and think it needs some time to mellow. But, I did enjoy it, but just one.

We were with family touring around, so I didn't force a beer agenda on anyone, but next time you can bet that I'll be at some of those places you listed.

Click to expand...

Yeah, never saw Heartland Brewery, but we didn't traverse all the side streets around Union Square. At least your Italian dinner experience was better than ours. Our friend took us to Little Italy to this little place called, I think, "La Mela". It was old-school, with old photos of customers completely covering the walls inside. We sat outside and ordered the 4-courser because our friend said it was great. Well...the fresh tomato, basil and mozza tray was excellent, and the pasta tray was wonderful, but the rest of it, well, I daresay I consumed a stick of butter at the end of the day. Good god, I don't know if this is standard issue, but the meat entree platter and the miscellaneous starters platter were both just drenched in it. Like, they had been soaking all day in rendered butter. I mean, I like butter as much as the next guy, but that was like death by butter, like the old "teach your kid not to smoke cigarettes by forcing them to smoke a whole carton" thing, but for butter. E-vil.