Lookin' for craft beer in the Big Apple

[LarryC]

SWMBO and I are headed to New York City for a week of playing tourist and I'd like to get a few good east coast brews while we are there. We will be staying in a hotel that is just a few blocks form the south west corner of Central Park.

Edit;
We'll be acting like the locals and using public transportation - no cars. I'm pretty sure my California genes will revolt


Any recommendations?

 

[MattHollingsworth]

Try googling Ginger Man, DBA and Blind Tiger Alehouse. Blind Tiger Alehouse was my favorite. Cozy place with a decent list of stuff. But they've since moved, so can't say for the newer location. DBA has a lot of taps but the space isn't as cozy. Ginger Man is huge with a massive list, but again, didn't like the space as much.

Locals will chime in, I'm sure.

 

[LexusChris]

I was in Manhattan in December with the family, and got to try Heartland Brewery for some delicious beer & tasty food. It was near the Empire State building @ 5th & 34th.

Great selection. Liked their IPA & Spiced Christmas Ale quite a bit...

Have a good trip!
--LexusChris

 

[elkdog]

+1 for the Blind Tiger; my favorite beer spot in NYC, and the Ginger Man is great, as it's in midtown, near the Empire State and other sights. The Heartland's fine, and there's one by Times Square, which is a nice little escape, but seek out some beer bars for your east coast beer fix.

A buddy of mine turned me on to Spitzer's Corner, which is pretty great.

Lastly, there's always a place close to whatever else you're doing. Use this map.

 

[Bubba]

Jimmy's #43
43 east 7th st
Home of the NYC Homebrewers Guild lots of good beer.

 

[kevmoron]

If you're looking for American craft beers, Pony Bar in Hell's Kitchen is a great spot, as they serve these exclusively, and each pour is $5 across the board (not what you will usually find in Manhattan). 637 10th Avenue at 45th St. This is a great place to go if you find yourself near Times Square.

 

[DwightS]

Check out BeerMenus.com (which is the project of my two sons) to help you find great craft beer in NYC. +1 for The Pony. I'd also recommend Rattle 'n Hum. The site is also in Philly, Chicago and recently in San Francisco.

 

[Airborneguy]

If you aren't averse to shooting into Brooklyn, go to Williamsburg and check out the Brooklyn Brewery. There's also Chelsea Brewery at the Chelsea Piers. Both are PT accessible. If you decide to go to Heartland, my personal favorite is across the street from the Seaport, which I'm sure you'll be checking out anyway.

 

[heywolfie1015]

If you aren't averse to shooting into Brooklyn, go to Williamsburg and check out the Brooklyn Brewery. There's also Chelsea Brewery at the Chelsea Piers. Both are PT accessible. If you decide to go to Heartland, my personal favorite is across the street from the Seaport, which I'm sure you'll be checking out anyway.

+1 on Brooklyn Brewery, although you can get those all over the city. Don't leave without trying some BB beers!

 

[MikeRLynch]

Certainly try all the spots mentioned before, particularly Rattle N Hum. It's my second fav bar next to Blind Tiger. Since you'll be staying in midtown you'll have to spend some time on the subway to go downtown, but once you do there's plenty down there to do. I'm a big fan of Greenwich Village, and that's where the Blind Tiger is. Down in that general area is Alphabet City, which has a bunch of good beer bars as well, Hop Devil, Zum Schneider (if your into liters of german beer), East Village Tavern, and Against the Grain.

I was just in the city and did a few writeups on some of these places. Check out the link below to Burgers and Brews.

 

[LarryC]

Thanks for all the great suggestions everyone! We bought a netbook a couple months ago so I can use your suggestions and some googling to get some tasty beers & a little food to boot. We're pretty pumped up about the trip and we'll be there for 8 days so we should get to check out quite a few of the normal touristy things - and now some good brew as well.

 

[Mischief_Brewing]

Certainly try all the spots mentioned before, particularly Rattle N Hum. It's my second fav bar next to Blind Tiger. Since you'll be staying in midtown you'll have to spend some time on the subway to go downtown, but once you do there's plenty down there to do. I'm a big fan of Greenwich Village, and that's where the Blind Tiger is. Down in that general area is Alphabet City, which has a bunch of good beer bars as well, Hop Devil, Zum Schneider (if your into liters of german beer), East Village Tavern, and Against the Grain.

I was just in the city and did a few writeups on some of these places. Check out the link below to Burgers and Brews.

+2 on Rattle n hum and blind tiger. By far the best beer bars in the city.

If you want some local take-aways, check out new-beer on Chrystie (just north of Delancy) and be sure to stop by the Whole Foods Beer store on Houston and Chrystie. We killed a growler of Brooklyn's Dark Matter (Whiskey Barrel Aged Brown) last night from the latter. If you do happen to brave a trip to the middle of Brooklyn, a must-stop place for beer nerds is bierkraft in park slope...

For getting around the city, google maps public transport option works pretty well, but you could also check out hopstop.com.

Feel free to message me if you have questions, I work in the city hall area and lived in brooklyn for 5 years before buying a house in Joisey...

 

[LarryC]

Well all, we are back from our New York adventure and I will say it was a very nice one. The weatherman was fully cooperative - we had rain the first day there and then it turned into spring/summer for the next 7 days. We got to wander all over, mostly on foot but with many subway & bus rides thrown in.

Regarding the important stuff like brew sampling, we did make it to a few of the places that were suggested. We hit the Blind Tiger in Greenwich Village a couple times and we went to the Heartland Brewery location in the bottom of the Empire State Building. We didn't make it to the Ginger Man which was a bit of a bummer but we found a place that wasn't mentioned and goes on my list of recommendations for anyone going to Manhattan.

Try Valhalla on the corner of 9th ave & 54th st. They have about 50 craft beers on tap and a good number in bottles. Some great Norwegian food from the kitchen and an endless stream of New York City life passing by the door all day & night. The staff was great and made us feel at home which was nice since this seems to be a locals pub. The best part was it was only three blocks from our hotel so we made a stop there just about every night. Four thumbs up from my wife & I :rockin:

Here's a couple of pics of the place
At "our" table

SWMBO with wine (Hey, I try)

Half of the line up