Five years. I’ve been trying to get to Brooklyn to hit Mugs Ale House for five years. My previous attempts failed due to my aversion to being stuck in traffic. My last attempt got me to the Waterfront Ale House, 
but I couldn’t take it anymore so I double parked, got a beer (a Southampton Burton Ale), and drove to Dave’s. Now there were 3 bars on the Beer Advocate’s Top 50 list, so with Dave turning 30 this week, I had to try again. Christine, Dave, and I took the train into the city. It was sooo easy. Just take Metro North to Grand Central, the #4 Line to Union Square, and then the L line to Brooklyn. Just reverse it to go home.
We started off by going to the Heartland Brewery at Union Square (35 Union Square West, 212-645-3400, the entrance is right next to the subway stop). This is the original Heartland location,
and it has a beautiful bar that runs pretty much the entire length of the downstairs area. The specialty beer sampler only gives you two of the non-standards, but the waiter gave me 3 more after I told him my story and showed him my beer book. The beer selection was good and the food was great. My two favorite beers were the Oak Aged Stout (listed as their special reserve beer) and their Indian River Light, which had hint of grapefruit and was very refreshing. I asked if the stout was cask conditioned, and unfortunately three of the wait staff did not know what I was talking about.
Next was Mugs Ale House (http://www.mugsalehouse.com)
(125 Bedford Ave, 718-486-8232), which is three blocks north of the Bedford Ave subway stop. The bar opens at 2PM, and had only a limited menu. The waiter was friendly and offered suggestions when asked. I had the Hooker Irish Red on cask, and followed it up with Magic Hat Winter ale. This is obviously a neighborhood bar that had a real good selection of drafts, but only a limited selection of bottled beers. Their beer list is outdated, and there wasn’t any guarantee that what was listed was available. I’ll go back, but probably only on a Friday so that I can hit Brooklyn Brewery (http://www.brooklynbrewery.com) when the tasting room opens at 6PM.
Heading south was Spuyten Duyvil (http://www.spuytenduyvilnyc.com, 359 Metropolitan Ave, 718-963-4140, note that there is no real sign to tell you that this is the place), an eclectic place that specialized in Belgian Beers. We were there when it opened at 5PM, and I started off with the Brooklyn Blast on cask. The food offered centered around cheeses, meats, pate, and pickles. We tried a mixture of cheeses that was not filling, but it it did accompany the beer very well. I got the steal of the day here, a Belgian ale bottle from Casta of Mexico. The bottle was 25 oz, 8% alcohol, only $6, and I was able to get it to-go (got to love NY).
Down the street near another L Stop (good eyes Dave, I walked right by it), was a place called the Barcade (http://www.barcadebrooklyn.com, 388 Union Ave, 718-302-6464, opens at 5PM).
The place has a good draft selection with about 30 old-time video games (i.e., Gauntlet, 1942, Robotron, etc.). I had the Chelsea Frosty’s Winter Wheat on cask, and nursed it for the evening (Christine and Dave were kind enough to share their beers with me). The most interesting thing that we saw was two dogs at the bar. Barcade is dog-friendly as long as your dogs are friendly, and we got to meet the cartoonist for the Salty Dog comic strip (http://hbd.org/mbas/saltydog/funnypage.html), which is carried in the Ale Street News.
but I couldn’t take it anymore so I double parked, got a beer (a Southampton Burton Ale), and drove to Dave’s. Now there were 3 bars on the Beer Advocate’s Top 50 list, so with Dave turning 30 this week, I had to try again. Christine, Dave, and I took the train into the city. It was sooo easy. Just take Metro North to Grand Central, the #4 Line to Union Square, and then the L line to Brooklyn. Just reverse it to go home.We started off by going to the Heartland Brewery at Union Square (35 Union Square West, 212-645-3400, the entrance is right next to the subway stop). This is the original Heartland location,
and it has a beautiful bar that runs pretty much the entire length of the downstairs area. The specialty beer sampler only gives you two of the non-standards, but the waiter gave me 3 more after I told him my story and showed him my beer book. The beer selection was good and the food was great. My two favorite beers were the Oak Aged Stout (listed as their special reserve beer) and their Indian River Light, which had hint of grapefruit and was very refreshing. I asked if the stout was cask conditioned, and unfortunately three of the wait staff did not know what I was talking about.Next was Mugs Ale House (http://www.mugsalehouse.com)
(125 Bedford Ave, 718-486-8232), which is three blocks north of the Bedford Ave subway stop. The bar opens at 2PM, and had only a limited menu. The waiter was friendly and offered suggestions when asked. I had the Hooker Irish Red on cask, and followed it up with Magic Hat Winter ale. This is obviously a neighborhood bar that had a real good selection of drafts, but only a limited selection of bottled beers. Their beer list is outdated, and there wasn’t any guarantee that what was listed was available. I’ll go back, but probably only on a Friday so that I can hit Brooklyn Brewery (http://www.brooklynbrewery.com) when the tasting room opens at 6PM.Heading south was Spuyten Duyvil (http://www.spuytenduyvilnyc.com, 359 Metropolitan Ave, 718-963-4140, note that there is no real sign to tell you that this is the place), an eclectic place that specialized in Belgian Beers. We were there when it opened at 5PM, and I started off with the Brooklyn Blast on cask. The food offered centered around cheeses, meats, pate, and pickles. We tried a mixture of cheeses that was not filling, but it it did accompany the beer very well. I got the steal of the day here, a Belgian ale bottle from Casta of Mexico. The bottle was 25 oz, 8% alcohol, only $6, and I was able to get it to-go (got to love NY).
Down the street near another L Stop (good eyes Dave, I walked right by it), was a place called the Barcade (http://www.barcadebrooklyn.com, 388 Union Ave, 718-302-6464, opens at 5PM).
The place has a good draft selection with about 30 old-time video games (i.e., Gauntlet, 1942, Robotron, etc.). I had the Chelsea Frosty’s Winter Wheat on cask, and nursed it for the evening (Christine and Dave were kind enough to share their beers with me). The most interesting thing that we saw was two dogs at the bar. Barcade is dog-friendly as long as your dogs are friendly, and we got to meet the cartoonist for the Salty Dog comic strip (http://hbd.org/mbas/saltydog/funnypage.html), which is carried in the Ale Street News.It was a successful trip that allowed me to satisfy some of my past desires. The subway was great and we felt safe walking around the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn. It cost me a vacation day, maybe about $100, and my continued gratitude to Jenn in watching our kids. She is encouraging me to write about my experiences in a book, but I thought I’d start with a blog. Hope you’ve enjoyed it. - 4046
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