Beer Menu: A great tool for your next trip to NYC

Have you seen beermenu.com yet? Now where was this great tool when I was planning my semi-recent NYC beer tour?

They just launched the site today but they already have 1210 different beers listed and where you can find them in the city.

Cool site, started by "avid beer lovers who started homebrewing at ages 4 and 7..." (Pictured on the left.)

Too funny! I wonder if their parents knew they homebrewed, and if they let them sample the fruits of their labor?

Harpoon v. Brooklyn breweries Super Bowl bet video

Harpoon Brewery in Boston challenged Brooklyn Brewery in New York to a Super Bowl bet...and lost. With the Giants win over the Patriots 17-14, Harpoon had to let Brooklyn tap their lager at the Boston brewery.

Either way, this is a pretty cool deal. I think it's great that the two companies could have a fun bet. It's good that they don't take themselves too seriously. Besides, this is good publicity for both companies, a win-win...

This Aint the Bud Bowl: Brooklyn Vs Sam

About a week ago, I asked the question, what beer will you be enjoying during the Super Bowl this year. I decided to take RealSimple.com's lead on this and do something creative with beer this year. Rather than matching up Brooklyn Brewery's Brooklyn Lager vs Sam Adams Boston Lager, I wanted to pit Brooklyn vs an offering from Harpoon.

The two breweries actually have a fun bet going on the game...

When it was determined that the New England Patriots would be playing the New York Giants in the Super Bowl, Harpoon president Dan Kenary dialed up his friend Steve Hindy, president of Brooklyn Brewery, and arranged a wager. The wager: if the Patriots win the Super Bowl, Brooklyn will pour a keg of Harpoon IPA in their tap room and if the Giants win, a keg of Brooklyn Lager will be tapped in Harpoon's Boston tap room.

"It's going to be a great game on Sunday and I wish Steve and all the Giants fans at the Brooklyn Brewery good luck," says Kenary. "I look forward to having a Harpoon IPA in the Brooklyn tap room with Plaxico Burress next week."

On Monday, the brewery that has won the wager will ship a keg of their flagship beer to the losing brewery for tapping on their draft system. The beer will remain on tap until the keg is empty.

Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, Harpoon's Lagers are limited to an Oktoberfest (not currently available), and their Kellerbier (not currently available). Please correct me if I'm wrong here. And matching a :ager vs an IPA just didn't seem fair with what I have planned.

So, I ettled on Brooklyn Lager vs Sam's Boston Lager. Not to worry, I'm no snob, and I like a good Sam just as much as the next guy. Besides, Sam Adams was both a "brewery and patriot." And Brooklyn makes a Giant beer...



Call it my version of the "The Bud Bowl" minus the crappy beer. I plan on having the guys that come over tonight do a mini review and blind taste test during the half time. I'll try to post some quick video clips and let you know who wins.

It'll be interesting (at least to me) to see which beer comes out on top, and if the winning beer matches the winning team! Keep in mind, I live in CT, in the center of the state, a little place I call "FunkyTown", which is smack dab in the middle of NYC and Boston. It's basically the "DMZ" for New York and New England. This should be interesting... I hope...

Check back after Half Time!!!

What beer will you enjoy this Super Bowl? Why not a Home Brew?

It's almost time for the big game again... If you're like me, when you hear Super Bowl, you probably associate the term with a few things besides football like: funny commercials, hanging out with friends, lots of pizza and wings, and of course, beer! But what kind of beer?

Let's face it, the Super Bowl is basically a big beer commercial, isn't it? I mean if you're not pigging out and slurping down a few bottles of beer in your living room, then you're probably at the local sports bar doing the same, hopefully in moderation. Hint, if your dog starts demanding sausage, you've probably had a few too many, avoid the angry squirrels...



OK, I love the big beer commercials, too funny, but sadly, I would venture to guess that most beer drinking Americans suck down a fair share of mediocre macro beers during the big game. You know the usual suspects like Bud, Bud Lite, Coors, Bush, etc...

What about you? What beer will you be enjoying this Super Bowl Sunday? Will you go for a cheap macro or will you pull out the stops and get something with a little more quality this year?

RealSimple.com has some unique picks for matching beers to NFL teams.

Whose cider you on? At your Super Bowl party, give your guests a selection of beers that reflect the names, the mascots, or the hometowns of the competing teams

In this case, they'd recommend:

New England Patriots: Samuel Adams Boston Lager VS New York Giants: Brooklyn Lager.

Well that makes sense. Not a bad idea all in all, but some of the other beer to team match ups over at RealSimple kind of stink. No offense to my good friend Lando Calrissian, but Colt 45 is some nasty stuff...


Teach your friends a thing or two this year...
Here's another thought... If you home brew, chances are you have some left over beers kicking around from your last batch or two. Invite some of your friends over for the game and have a homebrew tasting during half time. Take the opportunity to teach your non-beer-advocate friends some of the finer points of enjoying beer. Use these references from our friends over at beeradvocate.com to help educate your buddies! (How to taste beer, How to pour a beer, How to review a beer, etc) You could even do some homebrewing during the big game, if you're so inclined...

What ever you drink, do so in moderation, enjoy the game, and drive safely...

New York Beer Tour (Part III)

New York is huge, and I think I may have bit off more than the three of us could chew when I put together our itinerary. We didn't even hit all the stops I was considering, and we didn't bother with the big beer festival that was going on that weekend. Note to self: Consider hitting that event next year, more beer to chose from and less walking... Less risk more return?

Even with the abbreviated list of locations, we didn't spend a great deal of time in one place. It felt like we were always on the move, and if the rough shape my shoes were in by the night's end was any indication, we certainly were very mobile throughout the night. Next time I'm wearing sneakers!


After we left McSorley's, we hoofed it over to the Hop Devil Grill for a few more beers. This place has a wide selection of quality beers on tap and in bottles. But I'll be honest, I was expecting more out of the place in the way of ambiance. Hey listen, I'm not saying the place isn't great, but the web site gave me slightly inflated expectations.

Kenn had a bottle of Three Philosophers, a delicious Quadrupel... The bottle was big enough for all three of us to have some. Thankfully Kenn is a generous man. I can't quite remember what Chris and I had... I really need to start taking better notes...

Part of the problem was that I sampled a number of beers, hence the small glass and the look of both deep thought in my eyes... I'll dig up my notes later and figure out what I finally settled on. But I will tell you now, I went through a few samples before I found something I really liked. (Either I developing a discriminating beer pallet, or I was just making up for the lack of freebies at Brooklyn Brewery... You make the call!)

Chris has that similar look of heavy consideration in his eyes... If my fuzzy memory serves me, I believe he tried a cider of sorts. Chris likes the ciders, ask him why my old college room mate nick named him "Wood Chuck" and "Sweet Chuck" some time...

Here's what I settled on, if only I could remember what it was. Looks beautiful though doesn't it?

I found my notes! I had an Ommegang, Rare Vos, which is a Belgian Dark Ale. According to my chicken scratch notes, I gave this tasty beer a big thumbs up for it's beautiful amber color, smooth flavor and nice head that clung to the side of the glass.

My sloppy notes indicated that Chris actually had an Ace Perry Cider, which he said was a good choice, offering a sweet pear flavor.

As stated previously, Kenn chose a bottle of Three Philosophers, which he said had a sweet yet complex flavor, at this point, my notes got very messy, and more or less unreadable. They do include something about the cherry flavor and something else that ends with the phrase, "but in a good way..." LOL! I really need to work on my note taking!

Kenn and I are looking a little worse for ware after a long debate with 3 Philosophers.

Random thought of the day: I wish I had a pet monkey to take with me on these adventures. I could equip him with a helmet cam and just let him run wild, I imagine the videos he'd produce would be similar to the one below...

And now for something different...

After we finished our round of beers, we made our way to the World Trade Center and took a quick look at the memorial that stands on the site at the opening of the subway station there.

Six years later this site is no less sobering. The sign in the photo above list those that we would be toasting in a matter of minutes.

Our next stop was the bar in the Millennium Hilton Hotel, over looking the site of the World Trade Center. Above is a very blurry shot, but it gives you an idea of how good the view of ground zero is from the bar.

This is a pretty cool shot of Kenn with 'Old Glory' in the background and the World Trade Center memorial/subway entrance all lit up in the far background. The three of us had a beer, made a toast, had some munchies, and then hit the road...

Our next stop? Starbucks...

We moved on to The Blind Tiger after a brief stop at Starbucks to get Kenn a caffeinated beverage along the way. Kenn had put on a brave face, but he was starting to crash, and we still had a good portion of the night ahead of us. As you can see Chris was still smiling.

No coffee or tea for this guy by golly! Although, from the looks of me, a coffee may have been exactly what I needed, we did a lot of walking that day and we were all tired. I can't recall what I ordered, but it was something local to NY and it was good. If you hold the pint glass up to your ear, you can hear the brewery... No really, try it some time...



The video clip above shows some great street performers doing what they do best somewhere out there near the Blind Tiger. These guys could really sing! You gotta love New York!

Long story short, we didn't spend a lot of time at the Blind Tiger... After pumping Caffeine and NYC pizza into Kenn to revive him, we made our way to a bar Chris and I always visit when in the city, Off The Wagon.



Why do we go there so often? Not because of it's great beer selection or historic significance (because it has neither!), but because we get to relive a small portion of our college days when we visit. This place is your basic college bar, full of college aged people, do what college people do. Not really my scene any more, but...

But they have a number of beer-pong tables set up and allows for informal tournaments. At one point, Chris and I were quite skilled at the beer pong. And if bowlers are athletes, well then darn it, so too were we!

We stood there and provided an audience for a couple of games waiting for our turn at the table. When we were about to throw down the gauntlet and challenge the reigning champs to an ass whooping, the bar staff kicked everyone out of that room, a private party had reserved the area, so no beer-pong for us. It was probably just as well, the night was getting late, and we needed to make our way back to Brooklyn. As the lyric goes, "NO SLEEP TIL BROOKLYN!"

Once we got back to Brooklyn, we made our way to Barcade one more round of local brews and a lot of 80s arcade goodness. Yes, that's me having a beer at Barcade in the photo. I was also using my herculean strength to ensure the bar didn't float off the ground and escape. What can I say folks, I'm a hero...

I'm not sure, but I think in this photo, Kenn is barely able to keep his eyes open and is giving me the international sign for, "Please kind sir, do not photograph me, I'm not in the mood, photograph that guy there instead!" That crankiness was nothing that couldn't be solved by a few rounds of Digdug and a nightcap.

And just like that, Kenn was back in the game, both literally and figuratively, with one hand on his beer and the other on the joystick...

Chris, having located the bar and it's vast array of quality beers on tap was once again smiling. Unbeknonwst to him, a strange localized version of the famed Northern Lights was now presenting itself behind him across the bar. A strange phenomenon believed to be cause by poor lighting and amateurish photography. Nature is amazing isn't it?

I really wanted to play the Star Wars game they had, but it was out of order that night. So, I thought a round of Tapper seemed more than appropriate... I know what you're thinking, "My god he has a beautiful head!" And I know what question you are dieing to ask... But no, I have not previously served as a professional head model... At least not yet. But I am available for photo shoots...

Nothing like playing Tapper while enjoying a delicious beer fresh from a real tap... This was how the game was meant to be played.

Chris schooled me with his Tapper prowess, the lad is a natural.

I call this one, "You look beautiful in the Galaga glow!"

We wrapped up the night with a little billiards, to make sure Chris was not affected by the beer... Then, it was a forced march, AKA 'The Brooklyn Death March', back to Chris' car and a long sleepy ride home for me.

And that is more or less it... We had a great time, but I think our scope was just too wide. Next time, less stops, less walking and more laughs...

In the future I want to do just a Brooklyn trip, which will of course include Barcade and Brooklyn Brewery. I'd love to get more suggestions from some of my fellow beer travelers out there. (hint hint) What else is good in Brooklyn? Does anyone know if Green Point (Kelso) gives tours? They wont return my calls or emails...

If you have any other suggestions please leave a comment on this post with your thoughts.

In case you missed the early parts of this tour check them out here!

• New York City Beer Tour Part 1
• Part 1.2: Brooklyn Brewery images
  
• A final video clip from Brooklyn Brewery
• New York City Beer Tour Part 2
• Part 2.2: A couple clips from McSorley's
• And your viewing Part 3 now!
  

McSorley's video clips

I'll post the final part of my New York City trip tomorrow... In the mean time here's two short video clips I just found from our time at McSorley's.



The first clip is my view of Chris ordering us a round of beers, the second is a very shot clip of us drinking that round. Kenn thought the camera was in photo mode and accidentally captured some video...

New York City Beer Tour Part II: McSorley's

After the long walk to Barcade, we found that it wasn't open for business yet. Not a big deal, we would need to find our way back to Brooklyn by the end of our adventure so we could get back to Chris's truck and make our way home. Barcade would be our final stop...

So, I whipped out my trusty GPS device and quickly located McSorley's Old Ale House, based on the recommendations of our new friends we met at Brooklyn Brewery's tasting room. Good thing Chris knows the subway system, because I don't... As you can see from the photo above, the place was established back in 1834, when the nation was only but a 58 year old pup in the big scary world. Needless to say, this place is full of history, oh and beer too...

It was nice of the chick in red to walk into our photo like that...

Speaking of walking into photos... I noticed Kenn managed to avoid the camera's all seeing eye for most of this adventure. So you're blessed with yet another shot of me and Chris enjoying some fine NYC beer. I can't explain what the heck is happening to my face in this image, but I can only assume it is symptomatic of my joy and excitement when I learned McSorley's give you two beers when you ask for one. Granted they're not that big, but I do so enjoy a good deal when I see one...

McSorley's beer, is good honest beer, and it only comes in two styles; dark and lite. (McSorley's Cream Stock Ale and McSorley's Famous Lager) Don't be fulled by the term lite, it merely refers to the color and flavor of the beer, this isn't some weenie diet beer that I often find myself drinking in the hopes of keeping old man obesity off my trail. This is real beer and a real bar...

The image above captured one of the more unique highlights of the day for me. Our friends over at Brooklyn Brewery told me about a chandelier covered in turkey wish bones and a thick layer of dust, hanging over the bar at McSorley's. Ordinarily, I would find this to be a pretty nasty bio hazard in place where I purchase fine food and beverages, but there's a pretty compelling back story here. (Take a tour)

Apparently a large group of regulars enjoyed a last beer together at McSorley's before shipping out to fight in one of the World Wars. I'm pretty sure it was WWII, but I can't confirm that. At any rate, the story goes like this...

The men enjoyed a few round together knowing full well that the last beer that night might very well be their last beer ever. So they all hung their wish bones on the light fixture, toasted each other, and vowed they would come back after the war and take down their bones together and perhaps make a wish for bright future. The bones that remain are from the boys that didn't make it back from the war and the bones remain as a monument of sorts, so we never forget the price they paid for our freedom. The dust is there because no one touches the bones out of respect.

As a military man myself, this hit home. We toasted those boys that left their bones behind, thanking them for what they did...

Chris reflects on the toast we made to those that never returned.

We didn't stay at McSorley's very long because the place was packed. Not a free table in the joint. But I was glad we got the chance to see the place and enjoy a couple of beers. I hope to return on a less busy day so I can take in all the history that covers nearly every inch of the place. The walls are covered with old photos, newspaper clippings, awards, etc. There's a lot to see here.

As stated previously, beer makes Chris happy. Apparently it makes me look up...

I wonder who's job it is to update the number every year...

A view of me and Chris talking it up... Kenn was not feeling so well at this point of the day, so he decided to sit the beer drinking out for a little bit and man the camera... Poor Kenn... Bah! More beer for us!

"We were here before you were born..." Very true...

Kenn finally gave up the camera...

And on that note, I'll end this lengthy post. Next time I'll wrap up this whole New York City beer tour with some additional locations, images and some final thoughts. Stay tuned!!!

In case you missed the early parts of this tour check them out here!

• New York City Beer Tour Part 1
• Part 1.2: Brooklyn Brewery images
  
• A final video clip from Brooklyn Brewery
  

Brooklyn Brewery's Tasting room

One more image from Brooklyn Brewery... I wanted to get a shot of the bar-keep pouring me a tasty beverage. This one was a Brooklyn Brewery's Pennant Ale. A well balanced American Pale Ale... Might need to pick up a six pack of this!

NYC Beer Tour (part 1.2) Brooklyn Brewery

OK, I got an envelope in the mail last night from Chris with a CD full of images and a couple of video clips from our recent New York City Beer Tour. Thanks Chris!!!

I got tired of waiting for the images so I posted Part 1 of the tour last week here. I hope you enjoy the images from Brooklyn Brewery!!! More to come on the rest of the tour, so stay tuned!

This was the first sign that we were heading in the right direction...

Chris and I are enjoying a tasty beverage at the Brooklyn Brewery, in case you're blind... Then again, if you are you can't read this either.
Never mind then...

A closer shot of Chris and I enjoying some of Brooklyn Brewery's fine products... Beer makes Chris happy, can't you tell?

Our friendly Brooklyn Brewery tour guide gave us a detailed history on the company and the beer. She also explained the whole process, but sadly offered no free samples...
Friendly, but stingy...

Brewing in Brooklyn is a little more technical than it is in my kitchen.
I'm told the green button adds hops...

Thirsty beer-zombies stager into the brewing area for the big tour...
"More brains! I mean, MORE BEER!"

Kenn pauses for a moment as he leaves the brewery, convinced he saw a Brooklyn Brewery Oompa Loompa off in the distance...
Have another drink Kenn!

I need to get me a setup like this for the kitchen... Maybe in the next house?
Then again, this may be a little over kill...

The lonely Bar-Keep wasn't lonely for long at the Brooklyn Brewery tasting room. 8 outstanding beers on tap, and more available in the bottle too...

Just some tasty beer, sitting around Brooklyn Brewery with no one to love it. Poor beer, all it ever wanted was to be loved, and you wouldn't let it...
Maybe the lonely bar keep can give the beer the attention it so desperately desires...

Me posing with my new Brooklyn Brewery glasses on my way to the car before we hoofed it all the way to Barcade...

More on the big NYC trip is to come!!!

I love New York, and I love beer (Part 1)

Garrett Oliver on the cover of BeerAdvocate's August issue.

Sorry for the delay, but I've been waiting for the pictures and video clips from Chris... Well, minus a couple he sent me, I'm still waiting... My wife accidentally broke my camera a few weeks ago, so I had to borrow his. And then wait for him to mail me a CD. We're so old school, who uses mail? I'll update this post later with more images.

New York has always been and will probably always be my favorite city. It's huge and within it's vast boundaries there's so much to take in, including beer. So, after sharing a few bottles of my latest home brewed beer, I made the trek out to the Big Apple with some old friends (Chris and Kenn) this past Saturday. Our mission was to scout out the city and find some great places to enjoy great beer.

In retrospect, I should have cut my New York City Beer Tour in two. I think Brooklyn could stand on it's two feet as a great place to enjoy great beer. Not to mention Brooklyn is home to two breweries, Brooklyn Brewery and Greenpoint Beer Works. Unfortunately, we didn't get the chance to visit the later.

I made several attempts to contact the folks at Greenpoint Beer Works, but they never got back to me. If you're reading this, please shoot me an email or leave a comment. I would love to tour your brewery!

As we located the Brooklyn Brewery with the help of my trusty GPS, we took this opportunity to ditch our car. Actually it was Chris' car. At least one of us was brave enough to leave his ride unattended in Brooklyn for most of the day and night. Thanks Chris. The rest of our day would consist of walking, subways, more walking and some beer, crappy weather be damned! Brooklyn Brewery was a good time, and the perfect place for us to start our adventure on that rainy morning. I was amused to find that I have something uniquely in common with Steve Hindy, one of the two founders of the brewery.

He and I have both spent our fair share of time in the Middle East, and know the woes that come with spending time in a culture where beer is taboo. I was chatting with my companions in the car on the way to New York, explaining how my blog has had a number of hits from Iran, Iraq and many of the other neighboring Middle Eastern nations. I speculated that these hits were from oppressed locals or thirsty American and British contractors, searching the web for home brewing how-to's. After hearing the history and back story of Brooklyn Brewery, I think I may be right. Check out this exert from their brief history.

In 1984, Associated Press correspondent Steve Hindy returned from a six-year stint in the Middle East and settled in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood. Hindy had caught the homebrewing bug from diplomats stationed in Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait where alcoholic beverages were forbidden. With his downstairs neighbor, Tom Potter, a former lending officer at Chemical Bank, Hindy quit his job and founded The Brooklyn Brewery. Their initial goal was to bring good beer back to New York City.

The bottom line was, they learned to love home brewing in the Middle East, the birth place of beer, where it now stands as an illegal practice to consume. Now that's irony! These guys quit their day jobs, followed their dreams, and successfully opened their own brewery. I may have some new personal heroes here. If you're interested in learning more about the Brooklyn Brewery story, you might want to pick up a copy of "Beer School", I plan to...

Also from Brooklyn Brewery is Garrett Oliver, author of "The Brewmaster's Table", who recently had this little editorial, "Don't Fear Big Beer" in the New York Times. In it, Oliver offers up this warning to his fellow craft brewers...

MillerCoors is not a threat to craft brewers but a warning: we should not walk the road of overexpansion or be tempted by the lowest common denominator of the mass market. Miller, Coors and Anheuser-Busch were once small breweries making fine local beer, too.

If we truly want to restore the vibrant beer culture that flourished in this country before Prohibition, craft brewers need to retain the values and goals — creating beers that are flavorful, interesting to drink and made from proper beer ingredients — that put us on the map in the first place. Let’s not undo American beer again.

The tour was a brief walk and talk session that went over the companies history, and the basics of how the brewing process works followed by some Q&A. They invite you to grab a cup of beer from the tasting room and enjoy their product throughout the tour. We were happy to oblige them.

Take note: The beer is not free, but if you purchase "beer tokens" in bulk (7 tokens for $20 = $2.86 a beer, unless you opt for a glass of the Local 1) you can get a fair share of quality beer for a fair price. After the tour was complete, we headed over to the tasting room for more beer.

Me (up top) and Kenn, looking lame in the brewery.
Sadly Mr. Wonka did not give me the brewery at the end of the tour.

The tasting room is nothing to write home about, with the exception of the fine variety of Brooklyn beers they have on tap and the friendly people enjoying them there. They had approximately 8 different beers on tap and some special beers on bottle, including the Local 1. The Local 1 cost 3 tokens, but you got a special gold rimmed glass to drink it from and take home. The beer was pretty damn good too, a trip to the brewery would not be complete without sampling this treat.

Me (on left), Chris (middle) and Kenn (right) after a few samples... Man I'm a tired looking sack!

What makes Local 1 unique is that it undergoes bottle re-fermentation. Check out the video on the Brooklyn Brewery web page that shows the entire bottling process. Unfortunately, there was no bottling going on the day we were there, I asked... They said no...

According to BeerAdvocate Local 1 is a Saison/Farmhouse Ale.

Description:
Saisons are sturdy farmhouse ale that was traditionally brewed in the winter, to be consumed throughout the summer months. Not so long ago it was close to being an endangered style, but over recent years there's been a massive revival; especially in the US.

This is a very complex style, many are very fruit in the aroma and flavor. Look for earthy yeast tones, mild to moderate tartness. Lot of spice and with a medium bitterness. They tend to be semi-dry with many only having touch of sweetness.

Average alcohol by volume (abv) range: 5.0-8.0%

In this case, the abv was a whopping 9%! Later on I'll post a couple reviews based on some chicken scratch notes Kenn and I took after already downing a few tasting beers that day...

As stated above, the folks in the tasting room were very friendly. When they saw us drinking beer and taking notes, people were curious about what we were doing. I ignored them at first, but finally I said hello and introduced myself. From there a couple of great conversations took place. We even got some recommendations on additional places to stop on our tour, including Mcsorley's. But more to follow on that a little later...

After using the rest of our beer tokens, we wished Brooklyn Brewery a fond farewell, promising to return again some day with more friends in tow. Our next stop, according to my Google map, was Barcade. After a longer than expected walk through Brooklyn, we found it, but sadly we were too early. Barcade was closed. So we decided to follow our new friends' recommendation and locate Mcsorely's. The GPS came in very handy here, as did Chris' subway knowledge...

Stay tuned for the next installment: Mcsorely's, Hop Devil Grill and beyond...

NYC Beer Tour (V1.0) this Saturday

This Saturday I'm heading out to the Big Apple for my first attempt at a NYC Beer Tour. I've managed to talk a couple of buddies that I've known since college to come along with me. They've seen me at my worst, when Natty Ice was my idea of quality. Hey, it was college, I was broke and I didn't know any better...



I have a hand full of stops already mapped out with the help of Google Maps. Thanks to the BeerPirate for some great location suggestions. But I'm open to more, so if you're from NYC or at least know of some must go places for enjoying the New York beer scene, please let me know.

I was a little disappointed in the brewery selection in NY. You have Brooklyn Brewery, which will be my first stop, but apparently they charge for each beer, no free tastings like Sam Adams or Harpoon. I called the Chelsea Brewing Co. and while they do offer free tours M-F, they charge... brace yourself... $75 for a tour on Saturday! let me say that again, $75!!! That's not including the tasting, that's an additional $10 a piece... Good god!

Six Point Craft Ales seems to be hibernating or something at the moment... So perhaps I'll hit them up on a later NYC trip. There's also Greenpoint Beer Works but I have not been able to get a hold of them yet... Besides that, there's a brewery or two on Long Island, but I want to stick close to the city, so they'll need to wait a bit before I visit them...

This leaves me with some cool bars to hit like Barcade and the Millennium Hilton Hotel bar, which in and of itself isn't that cool, but it offers an outstanding nearly bird's eye view of Ground Zero and doesn't seem to ever be super busy. I'll be sure to toast those we lost on 9-11 from my favorite booth. I may stop at Moran's for a quick pint, this is another 9-11 connected favorite spot of mine, but I'll save that story for later. There's a number of other places I may stop at, but I wont spill all the beans now.

If our time and budget allows we may hit the Brewtopia: the Great World Beer Festival. But we haven't decided just yet. Like I said above, if you have any recommendations, please let me know by Friday night this week so I can add them to the list.

More to follow...