Best Beer Bar in NYC?

Hiyas!
I'm going to NYC for a business trip, first time to the North East region as a drinking-age adult. Can anyone recommend a scha-weet place to get North East regional / uber local craft brews in Manhattan?

I've heard New Jersey and New Hampshire both have a strong craft brew culture - but where can I taste em in the Big Apple?

Any other generally awesome brew-culture highlights I should look into?

Where in the city are you staying? What street?

Yeah, if you can pick a neighborhood to start from that will help. There are many, many choices. That being said:


Ginger Man: Hanging out in the back "lounge" room at GM and sipping on some great beer and tasty food may be one of my favorite things in life.

Blind Tiger: Great beer list, friendly people, awesome place to hang out.

McSorely's Old Ale House: About as local as you'll get. They have 2 beers, light or dark, and they come 2 at a time. Walking into this place is like stepping back in time, you need to go here just to see what things used to be like.

Ginger Man and Blind Tiger get my votes and i will be there over the Presidents weekend with my drinking age kids. Also, gona train over to Brooklyn for Friday nite happy hour at Brooklyn Brewery. I hear its really kewl.

Historically speaking: PJ Clarkes, Whitehorse Tavern and McSorleys.

Beer Speaking: Gingerman, Burp Castle (Down the block from McSorleys...You may still have to knock to get in, size the place up first.) and Pony Bar.

I wish Chumleys was still open. It was a speakeasy that was preserved as such. I would have PMed you directions on how to find the place (no signs)

Agreed with the three JadeMonkey posted.

You could also check out:

The Dead Poet (upper west side)
Rattle N Hum (near Empire St Bldg)
Hop Devil Grille (East side -- near Tompkins Sq Park)
Heartland Brewery (there's 6 or 7 of them--good food and good microbrew)
d.b.a. (lower east side)

Actually, check out this list, too.

+1 on Pony Bar.

45th & 10th Ave.

Solid selection of craft beers (20 on tap at all times I think), constant rotation, and every beer is $5 (16 oz for most beers, 8 oz for high gravity). Everything is $4 at happy hour. Best deal in the city IMHO. Only problem is it is a bit out of the way unless you are staying in Times Square.

Great place and the food is surprisingly decent as well (try the homemade pickles, they come with everything).

You may also want to take a cab and visit the brooklyn brewery. Always a good time.

+1 for Gingerman, my Fav... plus my office backs up to it. Lucky boy I am!

Hey, Thanks for all the great suggestions! I'm staying in the Hells Kitchen / Clinton area near the Javits Center.

Gingerman and Pony Bar are in walking distance. Yesss!!

Okay, well it would be walking distance in the summer. With that snow might be another story.

close to the Javits Center is the Chelsea Brewery. Nice view, beer and food.

Another vote for DBA, but it depends on the night. Sometimes the bartenders are really cool and will stop and talk beer, and sometimes they'll just give you the 'whaddayawant?"

If you happen to want a great burger at a place that happens to have a pretty good selection of beers, hit up Five Napkin Burger.

There's a cheese/wine/beer shop on 9th ave and about 48th? that has a great selection of bottles.

IF you have time to trek out to brooklyn, go to www.bierkraft.com It's the best bottle selection in the city.

B

It sounds like Brooklyn is good for beer, but unfortunately I don't have any free days in the City, just a couple hours after business every night.

I think Pony Bar is right down the street from me, and Ginger Man looks fricking sweet.

Chelsea Brewery is sound very good right now, I really want to sample the beers being made right in the city.

Me and my girl hit up Valhalla the other day. They had a great selection, and the chick tending bar not only knew her beer, but was easy on the eyes as well. It is a small place, but they have a wall of taps and a good bottle selection. I know it is not one of the big stops, but I really enjoyed my time there.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/valhalla-new-york
edit- the warm pretzels and spicy mustard are awesome to snack on while enjoying a pint or four.

+1 on Valhalla!

My wife and I were in NYC last spring for our vacation and we stayed at the Holiday Inn about 2 blocks from Valhalla. We stopped in just about every night and I don't think I had the same beer twice. Excellent staff and atmosphere.

Gotta check out Valhalla myself. I'll be working around the corner on 52nd st for a while...

B

I second DBA and Pony Bar.

Brooklyn Brewery is a great time. I was there for New Years Eve and they were pouring a ton of great stuff.

Blind Tiger is great place to check out... its on bleeker street

Also a great German restaurant is Zum Schneider (corner of 7th and Avenue C... been there a few times ) you need a cab... subway is too far... although you could easily walk to mcsorleys from here.

sheeldon said:

Ginger Man and Blind Tiger get my votes and i will be there over the Presidents weekend with my drinking age kids. Also, gona train over to Brooklyn for Friday nite happy hour at Brooklyn Brewery. I hear its really kewl.

Click to expand...

If you're out in that area you may also want to check out Spuyten Duyvil. Their tap selection is smaller than some of the places mentioned here but oh, the bottles you'll see! They've usually got at least one interesting cheese on hand too, if you feel like doing that for a desserty kind of thing. I can't recommend them for a full meal; I can say it may make some sense to get there early on a Friday.

dcott said:

I second DBA and Pony Bar.

Brooklyn Brewery is a great time. I was there for New Years Eve and they were pouring a ton of great stuff.

Click to expand...

I'm at the pony bar this very moment! Drinking cask ale and Chelsea brewery beers. Great place, great peiple

BenjaminBier said:

I'm at the pony bar this very moment! Drinking cask ale and Chelsea brewery beers. Great place, great peiple

Click to expand...

Awesome man, hope you're enjoying your trip to NYC!

So are you hitting McSorley's? I don't equate NYC with great microbrews...but I think McSorley's is a must for the history (being the oldest bar in the US). I only learned about it after my trips there...so it's going to be the main bar I'll visit next time in NYC. Usually when I've been in NYC, I've been taking in the art, theaters, and restaurants. They compete too much for great beers aparently...IMHO of course!

dinertime said:

+1 on Pony Bar.

45th & 10th Ave.

Solid selection of craft beers (20 on tap at all times I think), constant rotation, and every beer is $5 (16 oz for most beers, 8 oz for high gravity). Everything is $4 at happy hour. Best deal in the city IMHO. Only problem is it is a bit out of the way unless you are staying in Times Square.

Great place and the food is surprisingly decent as well (try the homemade pickles, they come with everything).

Click to expand...

There's a place right near pony bar across from teh hess station right there... it's a small german beer garden. They have good beer and AWESOME sausages.

jimmy's 43 next to burp castle is pretty sweet

BoxofRain said:

Beer Speaking: Gingerman, Burp Castle (Down the block from McSorleys...You may still have to knock to get in, size the place up first.) and Pony Bar.

Click to expand...

davesrose said:

So are you hitting McSorley's? I don't equate NYC with great microbrews...but I think McSorley's is a must for the history (being the oldest bar in the US). I only learned about it after my trips there...so it's going to be the main bar I'll visit next time in NYC. Usually when I've been in NYC, I've been taking in the art, theaters, and restaurants. They compete too much for great beers aparently...IMHO of course!

Click to expand...

Ha! Good point about the theater and arts. My visit is a working trip, so I've just got a couple of hours after work to unwind. Perfect opportunity to sample some beers.

Mikeller From To, rodenbach grand cru, corsendonk brown all on tap at the ginger man last night. Amazing!

I wish I saw this yesterday. Petite Abeille, a belgian bar/rest with 4 or so locations has half price belgian beers on Mondays. Today is tues so they have half price wine bottles...If you are around next Monday that is the spot to hit! If you like mussels, Wednesday is all you can eat mussels.

I went to New York City a few weeks ago for a concert and on a whim, we stopped at Heartland Brewery...I think it was also a rotisserie. Beer was really good and so was the food. I'd recommend it. http://www.heartlandbrewery.com/

BenjaminBier said:

Hey, Thanks for all the great suggestions! I'm staying in the Hells Kitchen / Clinton area near the Javits Center.

Gingerman and Pony Bar are in walking distance. Yesss!!

Click to expand...

I used to go to a bar in Hells Kitchen all the time called Bellevue Bar. Complete punk/metal dive bar with horror and porn movies on the tvs all the time. Was always a good time. That's long gone now, as am I.

If you get to Brooklyn, check out Barcade in Williamsburg.

Blind Tiger, Drop Off Service, and Petite Abeille

JohnnyO said:

If you get to Brooklyn, check out Barcade in Williamsburg.

Click to expand...

I wasn't impressed by barcade. Worth a trip for the kitsch of all the old video games, but the beer sucked and I am totally not cool with being surrounded by so many self-righteous hipsters.

If you like Kölsch, there's a bar on Rivington between Bowery and Chrystie called Loreley. They have Gaffel Kölsch on tap, and Reissdorf in bottles and a pretty decent stab at authentic food from the region in Germany. They have a number of German styles from around the country on tap. I think they opened a new location, but I've only been to the one on Rivington.

JohnnyO said:

I used to go to a bar in Hells Kitchen all the time called Bellevue Bar. Complete punk/metal dive bar with horror and porn movies on the tvs all the time. Was always a good time.

Click to expand...

Especially when the bartender would get on the bar and strip to Dr. Feelgood.

One night (very drunkenly,) I asked her "What would your mom think?"

Her reply: "Go ask her, that's her at the end of the bar with the Corona in her hand!"

I miss that place.

Airborneguy said:

I wasn't impressed by barcade. Worth a trip for the kitsch of all the old video games, but the beer sucked and I am totally not cool with being surrounded by so many self-righteous hipsters.

Click to expand...

Oh riiiiight. The frickin hipsters. It wasn't as bad as it is now the last time I was down there. Sorry about that. They have nothing to be righteous about.

bad coffee said:

Especially when the bartender would get on the bar and strip to Dr. Feelgood.

One night (very drunkenly,) I asked her "What would your mom think?"

Her reply: "Go ask her, that's her at the end of the bar with the Corona in her hand!"

I miss that place.

Click to expand...

Same here. We would get there around 7pm and load about $20-30 in the jukebox and be set for the night.
It was always so awkward next door though. :fro:

JadeMonkeyStang said:

Yeah, if you can pick a neighborhood to start from that will help. There are many, many choices. That being said:


Ginger Man: Hanging out in the back "lounge" room at GM and sipping on some great beer and tasty food may be one of my favorite things in life.

Blind Tiger: Great beer list, friendly people, awesome place to hang out.

McSorely's Old Ale House: About as local as you'll get. They have 2 beers, light or dark, and they come 2 at a time. Walking into this place is like stepping back in time, you need to go here just to see what things used to be like.

Click to expand...

+1 for Ginger Man.
McSorley's always makes me think of that e.e. cummings poem.

Date night! Reservations at 7. Warming up right now at the Gingerman with the Mrs.

Nice, I warmed a stool at the G-man for a couple hours this afternoon. Enjoyed the hellfire porter.

I always liked George Keeleys on the upper west side. 100+ different bottles of beer.

There is also the Old Rabbit Club in the village, if you can find it. Very small place, lots of english and belgian beers. I'm not kidding when I say small.

http://nymag.com/listings/bar/124-rabbit-club/

"The blocks near Bleecker and MacDougal are mostly home to NYU bars and a few notable spots where Dylan once sneezed, but beneath the collegiate mayhem is this unmarked subterranean beer cave. The dim and narrow space maxes out at around 20 patrons, and craggy brick walls with chalk-scrawl graffiti give it a medieval-dungeon-meets-CBGB feel. The beers are exclusively Old World, including German, English, Scotch and Belgian brews, and assuming college kids haven't lost their taste for canned American beer, you might be able to get a seat."

I'm heading back to NYC next weekend. I've been to Heartland, Brooklyn Brewery and McSorley's. I've been looking at a brewery online called Sixpoint. Anygood? Do they do tours? I watched thier Youtube videos and it seems like a great place, but I have been trying to contact them without any luck.

Never been to the brewery but I do drink the beer. Decent stuff. I am on their mailing list and intend to visit at some point. Seems like a chill place to visit.