Craft Beer NYC

On a recent visit to the flagship location of one of the hottest craft beer brands in NYC, I joined other NYU Alumni for a great night of networking for a true culinary experience hosted by Tara Hankinson, one of the co-founders of this women-owned brewery.     Along with LeAnn Darland, the other co-founder their combined namesake is the inspiration for their brand TALEA.     Talea was in the middle of breaking ground on their first location right in the middle of covid in 2020, and had its opening delayed until March 2021.       They are now rolling with having added their 4th location next to Bryant Park, earlier this winter.   They now have 2 locations in Brooklyn (Williamsburg and Carroll Gardens), and two locations in Manhattan (West Village and Midtown) as they pass their 6-year anniversary.   The Williamsburg location is where all their production takes place, and is a vibrant part of the North Brooklyn craft beer scene.  In their...

Brooklyn's Craft Beer brand Sixpoint now has a new taproom in Downtown Brooklyn (City Point) and in Brookfield Place in Lower Manhattan.  Sixpoint was established in Red Hook Brooklyn back in 2004, and is entering their next phase of their craft journey with this new expansion.  This tourist accessible venue located near the 9/11 Museum and WTC Tower, is also a great place for New Yorkers to enjoy some great craft beer.   As part of the new Artisanal Brewing Ventures Group, regional offerings from Southern Tier, Victory, and Hard Rock Cider are all available at the taproom and in to-go cans.   Southern Tier also has a separate distillery brand that offers RTD cocktails, spirits, as well as a dynamic inspired cocktail menu to pair with a great American style comfort food menu.  I visited on a weekend afternoon this past month in celebration of National Beer Day, and the kid friendly atmosphere is a great place to watch a game!  You can also enjoy some of Six...

As one does on the NYC craft beer trail these days, is pay a weekend visit to Brooklyn.   Endless Life just celebrated their 3 year anniversary, founded by long time Brooklyn resident Jeff Lyons in Crown Heights (right off Atlantic Avenue).  Endless Life had the honor of hosting one of the final events of the 2024 NYC Beer Week, with the Ruppert's Cup Awards.  Endless is one of the smallest microbreweries in the city, and has a commitment to use locally sourced NY State ingredients (Hops and Malts) including Malts from New York Craft Malt from upstate New York.  One of the best entries is the lambic inspired sour oak barreled aged Satellite Are Spinning which comes in at 5.6% ABV.   They also carry Fort Hamilton Distilled spirits on hand for some nifty cocktails.  If you are feeling hungry after a couple pints, you can order from Memphis Soul and they will delivery tasty chicken and snacks directly to your barstool (from their Lincoln place location just a ...

Sweet Action is one of the core year round ales hand crafted in Brooklyn by Sixpoint.  There are tasting notes all over the map from bitter to sweet.  Officially now a pale ale, Sixpoint has been brewing this one for almost 20 years, truly a NYC classic.  Tasting notes range from citrus to floral with a nice medium hop bitterness with a peachy aroma.  The haze is helped by the Canadian white wheat, along with some Simcoe hops.   This is a great session beer for all seasons and will remain one of my fridge beer staples.  Exclusively available in six packs of 12oz cans when you can't enjoy on draft.  The skinny cans have been retired for this one.   Back in 2014 this used to be considered a cream ale (skinny can below) with a slightly different recipe, and has evolved in the 20 years since its arrival.  Sixpoint now has a tap room in downtown Brooklyn in the City Point Development (next to Trader Joe's) https://taprooms.sixpoint.com/sixpoint-at...

Are you ready for a Summer Session Sour?  Dogfish created this one back in 2016 and it is now in the year round production cycle.  Aroma and taste have a heavy sour lime profile, created by the inclusion of some non traditional ingredients like middle eastern black limes, and sea salt.  This is also a triple sequence of production stemming from a traditional Kolsch fermentation, then Gose yeast after a day of fermenting, and then Berliner Weiss to finish it off with the sea salt and lime added.  The yeast strains themselves bring a salty lime sourness, so this one is an intense exploration in craft beer experimentation.    The mouthfeel is surprisingly light, given the tartness.   The color is in the 2.5 SRM range. IBU is a 10.  You really must enjoy this on a boat while sailing the high seas.   Maybe the pirates can drink this to escape scurvy.   Great to pair with seafood and oysters 4.9% ABV 9 out of 10 Salty Dogs https://www.dogfish....

The year round offering from Grimm has been seen all over the city, including some distribution at retail markets in Manhattan, especially on the UWS.   Offered in a 4 Pack of 16 oz cans (1 pint), this one is a stellar performer for all occasions.  Wavetable was on my beer menu for the big game party this year.  Great label design by Lauren Grimm.  Hop profile contains Strata, Mosaic (one of my favorites), and Citra, while the overall aromatic notes have layers of mango, guava, citrus, and cannabis.    The ABV is low enough to keep this Northeast-style session going strong all night.  Grimm has been operation as a brick and mortar location in Brooklyn since 2018.   6.7% ABV  https://grimmales.com/beer/wavetable/

This easy drinking delight showed up as one of my 24 NYS Beers of Holiday Cheer! from the New York State Brewers Association.  The lower ABV lagers are becoming more and more in fashion these days, especially as a premium fresh fridge beer to have on hand for session-able gatherings during the holidays.   A silver medal winner at the 2021 Great American Beer Festival, definitely delivers for anyone looking for a crisp, clean, smooth lager any time of the year.   Singlecut uses locally sourced malts, and classic noble hops from Europe in this Frequency lager.  Enjoy the NYC taproom in Astoria, Queens.  There are now new upstate taprooms in Syracuse and Saratoga.  ABV 4.7%  8.0 out of 10 MHz (Good ATSC 3.0 viewing pairing)  More info on ATSC 3.0 https://www.atsc.org/nextgen-tv/ Media Insights Posts  https://afordnycmedia.blogspot.com/ More on SingleCut  https://singlecut.com/