Good afternoon folks, on this warm 4th of July weekend I thought it would be a good time to sit down and have a little chat on the state of craft beer in NYC. We just finished our stay in Brooklyn a few days ago, and though the thrust of our tour across the continent is visiting breweries, we spent more time in beer bars during our stay in the Big Apple because the breweries either don’t offer tours or were full up. So Brooklyn Brewery and Sixpoint were not visited, we made it to Barrier in Long Island, and we spent a good deal of time in bars both in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
We got a few tips from locals of places to hit up, and the two that kept coming up were Pony Bar and Blind Tiger Alehouse both in Manhattan. Each had a board of about 20 beers, and to its advantage Blind Tiger also had a few cask offerings available the night we were there. Both featured a similar tap board, with a few offerings from Sixpoint, Brooklyn Brewery, Pretty Things, and Captain Lawrence. As I don’t get any of this beer in San Francisco I pretty much dove into the lists as much as possible going with a sampler and a pint for myself at Blind Tiger and another few pints when we arrived at Pony Bar. The co-pilot played it conservative, sticking to a pint at each bar and only lighter beers. I made my way through Pretty Things Jack D’or, Baby Tree (hers) and American Darling – a saison, quad, and lager in turn. Each of the beers fits nicely with the ale project theme, a bit off of the style but still drinkable and pleasant, only Baby Tree was a bit much for me with a strong alcohol flavor and not much “quad” flavor. I can’t say when it was brewed or how long it’s been in a keg, but that may have had an effect. The Brooklyner Weisse was a pleasant wheat beer, though I expected a bit of sour from the name and it was a straight ahead hefeweizen. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing that stood out either – a good hef for a warm day. I moved on from there to the Sixpoint stout (diesel? the board just said stout) and enjoyed the dark roasty notes of the beer after the funky and sweet brews that preceded it. The stout hit a lot of good notes, but was lacking a finish that had punch – not necessarily a bad thing if you’re looking to drink a few beers.
From that tasting at Blind Tiger we walked up the Highline toward the Pony Bar, past Anthony Bourdain shaking hands for the camera, and arrived at the bar parched and thirsty. I couldn’t resist a Festina Peche upon arrival, but turned to the Captain Lawrence Brown Bird for my second beer – a light brown and only about 5% alcohol this fit the mood of the place perfectly. Standing in a crowded Manhattan bar drinking a mild brown ale as the sun began to go down and contemplating my walk back to the train to Brooklyn where I knew dinner would be cooking soon, I felt extremely at ease. The trip to this point has constantly fluctuated between hurried and lethargic. Time to walk through another city and be a tourist rather than a local was refreshing if only for a moment.
The day of our departure from Brooklyn we aimed Red toward Long Island before we made our way toward Connecticut. Barrier Brewing in Long Island is once of those places you just don’t miss. I hadn’t heard back from the brewery (in fairness there are only two of them) and was debating getting on the road north sooner rather than later, but I had heard too many good things about this little brewery to pass it by. I’m glad I chose to head out their way, because they couldn’t have been more welcoming or more helpful.
Brewing up a single barrel, that’s 31 gallons, at a time Barrier is among the smallest breweries we’ve visited and also has maybe the widest variety in it’s roster. I tasted through a fair portion of the available offerings and still didn’t scratch the surface of what they have available – but more importantly everything I had was good. And good at minimum – most were somewhere between great and god damn! The Mollycoddle Mild I started with was perfect for carrying around as I shot photos of the brewery, pleasantly biting on the finish with some floral hop notes that complimented the low alcohol and malty flavor. I moved from there to Gosilla, the salt-spiked coriander-laced version of traditional Gose on offer at Barrier. This beer is one you can’t miss – a surprising take on a classic style it lacks the overly salty throat-drying effect of other versions of the style I’ve tried, leaning more toward a bright hop flavor married to coriander as an up front flavor, and mellowing to reveal a subtle salty background finish that cleans up the aftertaste and leaves you wanting more. This is a beer to sip with friends and enjoy at a tasting party before moving to the hard-to-drink stuff. I then moved onto the American Red, which brought me back to the West Coast with its hop profile and aroma – drinkable and moderate in alcohol a solid red ale all around. The Ruthless Rye IPA was the other of Barrier’s beers that stood away from the already impressive pack, with a perfect amount of spicy rye notes to undercut the strong hop flavors of the IPA this beer is exceptionally drinkable and enjoyable.
We had an awesome time in New York, and while we didn’t ever come across the shrine to beer, Toronado type of bar that I’m sure exists somewhere in NYC, we still managed to drink tons of local beer and see an amazing brewery in its early stages – all in all a successful weekend.
Cheers!
Amber Waves Rally 