Jenn
had encouraged me to spend some more time with my friends at work, so when we
talked about heading down to NYC for a day she was very supportive (even though
I was just at the Firkinteenth 2 weeks ago.).
I’ve been to Times Square many times, but never had made it down to the
Village. So when my buddies Steve, Jeff
and Brian agreed to go bar hopping in the Village, I was all in. So we took Amtrak down to Penn Station and
decided to get some ballast for our bellies before starting. One of Jeff’s favorites was Stouts, but it
wasn’t open yet, so we popped into the Blarney Rock Pub for an Irish
Breakfast. Mine was accompanied with
Tabasco (just a dash of flavor) and HP sauce, as well as a Blue Point Mother
Pumpkin Ale on draft (acceptable since it is now fall). Well fed, we caught the #1 Subway down to
Christopher St. stop and walked down Bleecker St. to the Blind Tiger Alehouse (http://www.blindtigeralehouse.com/).
The
Blind Tiger has been a perennial Beer Mecca in the heart of the Village (#5 on
Beer Advocate’s listing back in 2005, and been in each of Draft Magazine’s Top
100 Beer Bars for the past 3 years), serving great food (we’ll eat there next
time) with a fantastic selection of beer.
They offer lots of local options, host tap takeovers on Wednesdays (it
was Smuttynose this week), offer weekend brunch food specials, and have a
quality selection of cask beer. I tried
the Bronx Summer Pale Ale with lemon peel on cask, with a gravity pour, and got
the bottom of the keg as seen by its cloudiness, as well as the Weyerbacher
Verboten, a Belgian IPA, on cask. I had
a nasty cold, so there was no sharing beers today (so all entries were fully my
own), so I stayed with 8 oz. servings (another plus for a bar that encourages
you to try a lot). I finally chose a
local option, a Barrier Rembrandt Porter on draft, which was dark, rich and
toasty. Great bar and a great place to
return to especially since it was only two blocks from a subway stop.
It
was now early afternoon and although the guys didn’t know it, we were on a
Salmon time schedule. We walked east,
heading up MacDougall St to Jeff’s must stop of NYC, Off the Wagon, but it wasn’t
open yet (guess we could have had one more beer at the Blind Tiger). No worries, we cut through Washington Square
Park, including the speed chess players and the Garibaldi statue, to make it
the ultimate historic dive bar in the city, McSorley’s. The oldest Irish tavern in NYC (built around
the time of Civil War, with a stool that Abraham Lincoln sat on to prove it),
it is a great hangout for guys (women weren’t allowed in until 1970). We each got one of each, or in local parlance
“Light and Dark,” an Irish Lager and a Dark Lager on draft, both done by
Pabst. The most impressive feature are
the wishbones left hanging by soldiers going to war. Upon a safe return, they’d take down their
bone. The ones remaining are for the
soldiers that didn’t return. The
bartender recommended a few more stops to my itinerary (I’m flexible), and we
headed off to our next destination.
We
passed Burp Castle and the Big Bar (both recommended but neither were open),
and headed down to DBA (http://www.drinkgoodstuff.com/). I like the bar, having been here before and
their sister bar in New Orleans. I went
with the cask (what else?), a Stone brewing Saison (not the Saison Du Buff, I
asked) that was delicious. We sat,
chatted, and enjoyed the bathroom writings (see below), and headed off to DGBG
(http://www.dbgb.com/nyc/). An impressive menu, and a nice selection of
beers on draft. I had a couple of
imports, a Hitachino Daidai IPA and a Gasthaus Braustelle Freigeist Abraxxxas
(a semi-strong Berlinner Weisse). Nice
stops, but still just a few places on my list.
We went past Paulaner Brauhaus (opening soon, but a month behind
schedule) on our way to our next stop, Top Hops (http://tophops.com/).
Top
Hops is on Draft’s Top 100 Beer Bar list, and specializes in craft beer drafts
and having a decent bottle selection. I’ve
seen the concept elsewhere, and done a bit better (I actually like Bocktown,
House of 1000 Beers, or Tria myself), but this was NYC and if this is a new
concept here, it deserves the recognition.
I didn’t find much myself, so I went with the local Greenport Harbor Wet
Hop IPA on draft to go with a bowl of mixed olives (‘tis tasty). I did look at the bottles, and picked up a
Belgian Saison in a can (don’t see that too often) and the latest from Brooklyn
Brewery, their BAMboozle Ale, a Belgian Pale ale that weighed in at 8.67% ABV,
and will be a nice splitter in for the upcoming baseball playoffs. The olives helped me, but we were all getting
hungry, so we headed off to find dinner at a couple of recommended stops.
The
first was Katz’s deli, known for both its pastrami and corned beef sandwiches
and highlighted on Man vs. Food, and even though it smelled delicious, not all
of us craved the delicious meat. Next we
wandered up to Zum Schneider (http://www.zumschneider.com/), a unique German
restaurant that was perfect during Oktoberfest.
Zum Schneider is the exclusive US distributor for Klosterbrau Andechs
and Hofbrauhaus Traunstein beers. The
only Andechs I had before was a bottle my folks brought back from Germany back
in 2005, so I tried their Vollbier Hell and their Oktoberfest (what
else?). The menu was fantastic, but my
compatriots had a hankering for pizza (all those places we passed in the Little
Italy), so we headed around the corner to the next place on draft’s listing.
Against
the Grain is the side bar to the Grape and Grain, and specialized in craft beer
and pizza (perfect). The place was
small, and dark, but it was a nice stop as we started to wind down our
day. I went with a pair of beers on
draft from a Queens brewery, SingleCut Beersmiths; Billy Full Stack Double IPA and
Jan Olympic White Lagrrr. We split a
pair of pizzas; margherita (Jessica would have been so proud) and one with
chorizo, avocado, jalapeño and cilantro.
Both were delicious. The bar was
nice enough and the food was good, but I didn’t see how it was a top 100 (I
assume NYC bias at Draft magazine). Don’t
get me wrong, I loved checking out the new places but it only goes to show that
the classics are the best.
Now
it was time to head back to catch our train (I’d promised Jenn I’d be home by
midnight), but we had time for a few more stops. We decided to stop back at Off the Wagon. Lots of TVs, music, a decent draft selection,
and even a beer pong table (had to drag Jeff away). I drank the Blue Moon Pumpkin ale while
watching the Red Sox smack down the Orioles.
Next we caught our train back to Penn Station, stopping into Stouts
(where our day almost began) for a final half pint (Snake Dog IPA on cask, I
believe).
The
train ride back to Albany was the best idea for the day. A relaxing, 2.5 hour ride with wi-fi and a
reclining chair were just what I needed.
The guys and I slept part of the way (no sharpie mustaches for anyone),
I was a bit tired after walking over 6 miles on the journey. I got to sample a goodly number of beers, hung
out with some friends, and I even made it home before midnight (1158 to be
exact). It was a great day, and I was
thankful for both the friends to go with, and a supportive wife to give me a
hug on my return (although I had to do penance, I had promised to take Jess to
swim practice the next morning). – 6327/14753“I used to play Dungeons and Dragons, but now I just drink fancy ass beers.” – Bathroom Poetry at DBA in NYC
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