Brew York

Next, Rockland County-based Round Table Brewery has officially opened their taproom in Williamsburg. Their cozy satellite taproom opened its doors last week, pouring an array of beers from the year-old brewery up the Hudson that’s known for its sours as well as its clean beers. You can enjoy some draft and bottle pours in their taproom, but there’s also the option of beers to go. The tucked-away taproom is less than a 10-minute walk from the Bedford Avenue L, Metropolitan Avenue G, and Marcy Avenue J/M/Z, on South 1st between Roebling and Havemayer. The space is open weekdays from 3pm and weekends from 1pm.

Under Penney’s place at the helm of Highland Park’s brewhouse, the brewery has won three World Beer Cup awards and eleven Great American Beer Festival medals, in addition to the title of Brewery Group Brewery and Brewer of the Year at the latter’s competition this year. And the wins have been far from one note, varying in style categories from American-Style Lager to American IPA to Juicy or Hazy IPA to Kellerbier to India Pale Lager.

First up is New York Beer Dispensary, a new beer bar and bottle shop that’s opened on 14th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. The spot boasts 20 tap lines that include plenty of local and high-profile breweries, like Finback, Evil Twin, Trillium, and Fidens, plus a slew of bottles and cans for drink-in and takeaway. The bar features $2 off drafts at happy hour (weekdays noon to 6pm), weekly beer tastings, and wine and ciders for the beer-averse. New York Beer Dispensary is located at 223 West 14th Street and is open daily from noon until midnight Sunday through Wednesday, and until 1am Thursday through Sunday.

The farewell party will be held on Sunday evening from 5pm till late, and the brewery will be open today, Friday, and Saturday until the beer is gone. There will be drink discounts and plenty of teary eyes as Greenpoint says goodbye to the community. Greenpointers profiled the closure in a feature this week, for those who want to learn more about the people that made the brewery what it was.

Of note, three of the six winning breweries were first-time GABF winners, and one of the winning breweries hasn’t won a medal in more than a decade.

Strangebird Brewery won bronze in the American Fruit Beer category for their Bird Light Yuzu. They competed among 108 entries. It’s the first GABF medal for the Rochester-based brewery that opened back in 2021, and it will hang next to their World Beer Cup bronze from earlier this year and their 2022 Brewery of the Year award at the New York Beer Competition.

Heritage Hill Brewhouse in Pompey, southeast of Syracuse, won silver for their Coconut Cluster in the Dessert Stout or Pastry Stout category, among 50 entries. It’s the second GABF medal for Heritage Hill (their first came in 2019), and it’s the third medal for this particular beer this year — it also won gold in the Pastry Stout category at the New York State Beer Competition this year, and in the same contest was awarded Best New York Farm Beer.

New York Beer Project’s Beer Lodge in Orchard Park won gold in the Experimental India Pale Ale category for their Hazy Crush. The category had 86 entries. It’s the second medal for New York Beer Project, which has multiple locations across two states, and the second year in a row one of their breweries has medaled.

Winning a medal in the Fruited American Sour Ale category was Hudson Valley Brewery in Beacon, who won gold for their Peach Silhouette among 165 entries. It’s the first medal for the acclaimed farm brewery that specializes in sours, which has been brewing beer since 2017.

The state’s biggest win came in the form of a gold medal in the German-Style Maerzen category, the fifth most competitive category in the festival, with 195 entries. Soul Brewing Co.’s Pleasantbräu Oktoberfest was awarded gold. It’s the first medal for the Westchester County brewery (located, not surprisingly, in Pleasantville) since they opened in March of 2020.

Finally, Brooklyn Brewery won a bronze medal in the Specialty Non-Alcohol Beer category for its Special Effects Grapefruit IPA, among 37 entries. It’s the state’s first win in a non-alcoholic beer category, Brooklyn’s first GABF medal since 2013, and Brooklyn’s 12th GABF medal overall.

You’ll find many of the beers you might be familiar with from the brewery on the extensive drinks menu here — there’s nearly two dozen beers on tap, all Keg & Lantern-made, brewed at their facility in Red Hook. The food menu is a tad more upscale than what you’ll find at their Brooklyn locations, with a dry-aged burger, fish and chips, and steak frites among the offerings, though they’ll still serve wings and mac and cheese for those seeking comfort food with their beer. The sports bar vibe is toned down at this location, though there’s still a couple TVs that were showing playoff baseball this week.

The shop was a hub for Brooklyn’s homebrewing scene, opening back when several other retail outlets existed for homebrew supplies. Bitter and Esters focused as much on supply homebrewers as educating them, offering classes and workshops, monthly meetings to share homebrew, and visits from acclaimed brewers. Their final day in business is October 13th, and for the next two weeks, they’re discounting their remaining homebrew kits and ingredients by 20%, both online and in-store. Their final homebrew swap will be next Wednesday, October 2nd at 6:30pm.

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The beers so far have included a crisp Golden Rice Lager with New Zealand hops, a soft, pillowy Toasted Coconut Hazy IPA, the Neon Sour with passion fruit, orange, and guava, and a Coffee Vanilla Oatmeal Stout, with more beers to come. The food, which I’ve personally enjoyed so much you might forget it’s vegan, is worth sticking around for, even just for a nibble on the wontons or buns that make for great beer-friendly snacks. The beers are also being served at Spicy Moon’s other locations.

Spicy Moon is located near the intersection of the Bowery and Houston Street and is open seven days a week at 11:30am until 10pm on weeknights and 11pm on Friday and Saturday.

For a little history: Oktoberfest began in 1810 as a celebration of the wedding of King Ludwig I to his bride Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The celebration grew as time went on, and has been held 187 times, with occasional cancellations due to war and disease — in fact, this is the first edition since 2019 due to Covid-19. It has grown into a two and a half week party that brings over six million people to Munich each year.

But wait, it’s September. Why do they call it Oktoberfest? Well, it was originally celebrated in October, but the Germans were practical about things: the weather in better in September, and their beer — usually brewed in July and August — is fresher, too.

So, from September 21st to October 6th in Munich, millions of gallons of beer will be consumed in seventeen huge tents dedicated to the mainstays of German brewing: Spaten, Hofbräu, Augustiner, Löwenbräu, Paulaner, and Hacker-Pschorr each have several tents, where they serve up a Maß, a one-liter glass of their beer, for around $16 US. Only beer brewed in Munich can be served at the event, and it’s mostly Märzen and its paler cousin Festbier that you’d be drinking there.

Anyway, if you can’t make it to Munich this year, there are plenty of opportunities to celebrate Oktoberfest here at home in New York. So, here’s a rundown of some of the ways our local bars and breweries are observing the event:

Strong Rope Brewery’s Strongtoberfest returns next Friday, September 13th. Starting at 2pm and lasting well into the evening, their Red Hook location will celebrate the arrival of fall with live music, pretzels and sausages, a stein hoisting contest, a stein sale, and Oktoberfest beers from Strong Rope and twelve more local breweries. It’s a free, pay-as-you-go event.

Saturday the 14th is the return of Wild East Brewing Oktoberfest at their taproom in Gowanus. Starting at 2pm, they’ll throw a party with wood-fired traditional German food, special beer releases, guest taps, a stein hoisting contest, and live German music.

Greenpoint Beer and Ale Co. also hosts their Oktoberfest party on Saturday, September 14th. Hope for good weather for a celebration on their rooftop, featuring their annual Marzen release and a stein-holding competition.

Save the date of Saturday, September 21st for Grimm Artisanal Ales’ Oktoberfest shindig at their brewery in Williamsburg. Details are still forthcoming, but last year’s celebration had lovely steins, special food, and a lineup of several house-made German-style beers.

If you prefer to celebrate in Queens on September 21st, Singlecut Beersmiths will host their Oktoberfest party at their three locations across the state, including their taproom in Astoria, featuring the release of Inexplicable Use of Umlaut, their annual Marzen that’s best suited for drinking out of a stein.

Loreley, a longtime German beer stalwart on the Lower East Side, will host their Oktoberfest celebration every day from September 12th through October 31st. Food and drink specials, steins of beer, Saturday keg tappings at 1pm, and Sunday pig roasts at 3pm are all part of the lineup, and there’s no cover to get into the fun.

Radegast Hall & Biergarten in Williamsburg hosts three consecutive day-long Saturday celebrations on September 21st, 28th and October 5th, offering loads of German beer, a live brass band, mug holding competitions, and a ceremonial keg tapping at 6pm each Saturday.

Both locations of Black Forest Brooklyn will celebrate Oktoberfest starting September 21st and running every weekend through October 26th. It’s the eleventh year of their party, which includes proper German decor, an oompah band, food and drink specials, a mug-holding competition, and a costume contest (don your best lederhosen). Tickets for both their Cobble Hill and Fort Greene locations are $15, and there’s an add-on package for three hours of unlimited beer.

Brooklyn Brewery hosts its Oktoberfest party on Wednesday, September 25th in their tasting room at 7pm. They’ll be serving up beers over live music, a stein holding contest, and an Oktoberfest food menu provided by their neighbors at Mables BBQ. Admission is free, the stein holding contest is $15.

Longtime East Village German spot Zum Schneider still lives on in spirit each year with their Oktoberfest celebration, Munich in Brooklyn in East Williamsburg, which is back at 3 Dollar Bill for a third year. Drink beer under the tent, with tickets available from September 26th through October 6th. It’s arguably one of the most traditional celebrations in the city, with traditional music, beer in liter steins, German food, and a boisterous atmosphere under the tent. Tickets are required and can be purchased in advance.

The closure of Big aLICe’s Barrel Room marks the end of their physical presence in New York City. The brewery, which launched in Long Island City, Queens in 2013, closed their original taproom last fall, shortly after consolidating their brewing operations to their space in the Finger Lakes in Geneva, which they opened back in 2021.

But Big aLICe’s loss is Gun Hill’s gain. The brewery that originated in the Bronx and closed its original location earlier this year is taking over the space. Gun Hill Publick House has been operating in the same building, but upstairs on the second floor in a space adjacent to Fort Hamilton Distillery. The new space on the main floor not only offers a much larger indoor space for hosting guests, but also a larger outdoor space since it’s adjacent to the ground-level courtyard.

There have been several beer festivals I’ve wanted to attend this year that were held within 30 miles of Manhattan. But you wouldn’t know that they were held so close to New York City, which is a city of more than eight million people where more than half the population lacks access to a car and relies on public transit. These particular festivals offered only driving directions to the venue on their event pages or websites, with no mention of transit — usually because their organizers chose venues that were nowhere near any reasonable public transit option. Some even boasted about the amount of free parking at the venue. But I, like literally millions of other people in the New York metro area, do not own a car. And even if I did, I wouldn’t choose to drive it to a beer festival, because that’s pretty damn irresponsible.

It’s kind of stunning that these events don’t offer realistic options for people that might not want to drive to a beer festival (or, more specifically, from a beer festival). And it would be fairly easy for the organizers of these festivals to do something about it. They could offer a ticket that includes charter bus transportation from a nearby commuter rail station — or even partner with a bar or brewery in New York City to run a shuttle (this was done for several years when Shmaltz Brewing would hold their festival at their brewery in Clifton Park, which is nearly three hours north of the city). They could partner with a rideshare company to offer free or discounted rides from their venue (this, of course, would require holding the fest in an area that’s reliably serviced by rideshare companies — something that cannot be said for some of these fests). They could choose venues with public transit access in mind (one upcoming beer festival is one-third of a mile from a commuter railroad station as the crow flies, but the only way to access the venue by foot requires a 40-minute walk on roads with no sidewalks).

Oh, you have a Designated Driver ticket option? Great. Entrusting people who attend a beer festival to designate a driver when no other transportation option exists seems totally safe! There are far too many people who can’t be trusted and should at least be offered another option. And what about people like me, who choose not to own a car? Imagine that conversation with a friend. “Hey, I don’t own a car, but you do. Can you drive me to a beer festival and then hang around a bunch of drunk people for three to four hours and then drive me home?” I’m sure that’ll go over like a lead balloon.

The next beer festival in our city’s suburbs that makes any attempt to address the fact that people would like options to access the festival by something other than private vehicle will immediately get my business. A few have made some effort, but it’s hard to even tell if it was intentional or just happenstance. One festival on Long Island this year made no mention of public transit as an option despite being on a frequent bus line and a 20-minute walk from LIRR. Another upcoming fest says they “strongly encourage rideshare,” but neglects to even mention that the venue is a 10-minute walk from an LIRR station. Ooh, so close!

The number of active craft breweries increased from 9,339 in June 2023 to 9,358 as of June 2024

54% of surveyed breweries reporting growth in the first half of 2024 compared to a year ago

There was a continued small decline by volume in the market, estimated to be down 2% compared to 2023

Independent craft packaged sales were down 2% year-over-year (YoY) in Nielsen NIQ-tracked distribution channels

On-premise sales show better performance than off-premise, being flat to down slightly

These numbers aren’t any more grim than anything else we’ve seen over the past couple of years, and it seems there’s just a continued chipping away at the craft beer market. Fewer people are drinking overall, so fewer people are drinking beer, and in turn, fewer people are drinking craft beer. As has been noted in past data from the BA, on-premise sales tend to do better than beer distributed off-premise. It’s what makes the [admittedly small] growth in the number of new breweries over the past 12 months unsurprising. Bearing in mind that branch locations where on-premise brewing occurs are included in the BA’s number, existing breweries are looking to expand their footprint to reduce overhead and sell more beer direct to consumers. Breweries that expanded rapidly and shifted to a model that includes distribution are definitely more at risk these days than ones that stay small and focus their sales on-site, given that much of craft beer’s volume reductions are coming from off-premise sales channels.

Still, despite the BA painting the picture that more breweries opened than closed in the past twelve months, the group’s year-end numbers earlier this year suggest that closings have accelerated since the end of 2023. Based on a comparison of the numbers they’ve published, the country has seen a net increase of exactly one brewery since January — and there’s always the caveat that there’s a delay in the reporting of closings. It’s quite likely this year will be the first since 2004 that more breweries close than open in the U.S.

The BA’s chief economist Bart Watson noted that the variations between regions and markets were fairly drastic. In my experience traveling around the country this year, that could have a lot to do with local economies grappling with the increased cost of brewing and doing business. Even compared to New York, I had sticker shock at some brewery taprooms in Southern California, where on-site full pours were averaging nine to ten dollars. In areas where the overall cost of living has soared, “affordable luxuries” like beer may be on the chopping block, especially as the cost of making that beer has increased, too. Indeed, Arryved point-of-sale data from the first half of this year suggests average bar tabs are down slightly compared to this year, as beer drinkers cut back their spending.

Barcade, August 14, 2006

This is truly a step back in time to simpler times at Barcade, when they had just one location in Williamsburg. The beer list was very New Jersey-heavy at the time, with Climax, Cricket Hill, and Heavyweight on the menu (the last of which would close two years later). A cask engine was pouring Captain Lawrence’s Imperial IPA, back in the days when Scott Vaccaro was brewing his beer in Pleasantville. Sixpoint had the only New York City-brewed offerings on the beer menu, had their Black Soul on Nitro and their flagship Sweet Action on draft. Long Island’s Southampton, then beloved among the city’s beer geeks, served their Secret Ale, a Dusseldorf Altbier. This was the height of beer drinkers’ obsession with Vermont’s Magic Hat, and their #9 and Hocus Pocus Summer Ale were both offered. And plenty of small players that grew into big regional outfits are on the list, including Allagash, Dogfish Head, Harpoon, and Victory.

But the one thing about this site that makes it unmistakably 2006: links to Barcade’s MySpace and Friendster pages. What a time to be alive.

The Pony Bar, June 11, 2010

I can hear the bell ringing and the crowd shouting “new beer” at The Pony Bar’s original location in Hell’s Kitchen back in 2010, when it appears they still had the leftovers from an Atwater tap takeover, nearly a decade before the Detroit-based brewery was acquired by Molson Coors. I think I drank my weight in Ithaca Flower Power at The Pony Bar over the years. The abundance of big beers on this list is back from the era when “bigger is better” was a mantra among a lot of craft beer drinkers. That 10.9% Atwater VoodooVator Dopplebock, 11.1% Smuttynose Barley Wine, and 9.7% Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale — which commemorates a raid still celebrated on Lagunitas’ website — seemed downright irresponsible, even if they were served in 8-ounce glasses for $5 at the time. Worth noting the two cask engines at The Pony at the time, representative of a time when nearly every good New York City beer bar had one. This one was pouring Chelsea Summer Solstice, an old standby from a brewpub that existed on Chelsea Piers until 2014.

By the way, I was able to confirm that I had become a “Pony All-American” by that time — a title given to patrons who had consumed 100 different beers on their menu. I was number 173 on the list:

d.b.a. Manhattan, July 1, 2012

Not even a year after d.b.a. owner Ray Deter tragically passed away, the torch he lit was still burning strong at their Manhattan location, where his appreciation for European beer still stood out on the beer list, with O’Hara’s, Jever, Mahrs and Chimay all on draft at the time, and a cask engine that was pouring ten to eleven months of the year. This is back when New York City’s brewing industry was just on the cusp of blowing up, but you won’t find anything truly local on draft at this time. We’ve reached the era of $7 pints at this time ($6 at happy hour), and there’s some oddball beers on here, like Full Sail back in the age of their nationwide expansion and stubby bottles, Red Hook when they were just partially-owned by Anheuser-Busch (they’re now owned by Tilray), and Ben’s Brew, a tiny tenant brewing operation that was run by a New Yorker out of Butternuts Brewing, the Upstate outfit best known for their Pork Slap Ale.

Alewife Queens, February 22, 2014

Before Alewife Brewing, there was Alewife the bar, a high-ceilinged space in Long Island City that closed in 2020. It’s no wonder what was happening here when this tap list was captured in 2014 — Bell’s Brewery launched in New York City in February of that year, and Alewife had a massive list of beers to celebrate. I still remember loving that Smitten Golden Rye, a beer that it appears the brewery still makes in small batches at their Eccentric Cafe. I might need to finally journey out to Kalamazoo and visit just for that. The tide was finally turning for local beer in 2014, and options from The Bronx Brewery, Empire (their Cream Ale was brewed in Brooklyn at the time), Port Jeff, Captain Lawrence, and Barrier were all on the list. Most noticeably, this was around the peak of Black IPA, a style that never really took off, but never really died — Captain Lawrence’s Black IPA was on tap and Barrier’s Oil City Black IPA was on cask.

Bar Great Harry, May 8, 2016

Wild East will hold a full liquor license for the location, so they’ll serve wine and spirits in addition to their own beers and beers from other breweries. The space won’t have a brewery of its town, so all production of Wild East beers will continue to come out of their Gowanus facility. The space will, however, sport a kitchen that they’re seeking a chef to partner with. Some other features that will be familiar to patrons of their Brooklyn location: a U-shaped bar and lots of Lukr taps — a whole lager bar dedicated to them, in fact.

Gun Hill cited the increase in costs and a lease renewal as motivations for the closure. Their brewing equipment went to auction last month. Gun Hill’s ten-year history has included four Great American Beer Festival medals, an epic barrel-aged beer festival each January, and countless community events throughout the years. The final day of operation for the Bronx location will be Saturday, May 18th.

The brewery posted the following statement on social media:

As many have already heard, our lease is up at the end of the month. With the drastic increase in costs over the last 4 years post-COVID, the economics of continuing to operate out of our Bronx location no longer made sense. As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to close the 3227 Laconia Ave location on May 18th.

Our plan is maintain regular hours, staff permitting, from now until May 18th. Please be sure to check Instagram or Facebook (stories and/or posts) for any updates if we do have a staffing issue.

Then make sure to come out on May 18th to close out Gun Hill @ 3227 Laconia Ave with a bang! Father & Son’s Kitchen will be here all day and we’ll be celebrating our run.

We are very proud of all that we accomplished here, and we are forever grateful to everyone who has supported us in the tasting room over the last 10+ years. We wouldn’t have made it this far without you!

That being said, we are NOT closing Gun Hill. Max will continue to brew all of our beer Vosburgh Brewing Company and we will continue to distribute our beer as we have done. You can visit both Vosburgh and Gun Hill Publick House for any and all Gun Hill or Gun Hill related tasting room experiences. If you can’t make it to either location, be sure to ask your local spot to carry Gun Hill!