City Beer Happenings Compiled by Alex Hall I have to start this column with some news that is poised to be a potentially big blow to New York City’s craft beer scene. Please sit down if you’re not already doing so. News has reached me that <strong>The</strong> Blind Tiger Ale House (518 Hudson Street, Manhattan) is likely to lose its lease later this year, and will consequently have to close. Already the upper floors of the building have been gutted, and the bar is marooned inside a jungle of scaffolding. However, the dedicated people behind this awesome beer bar are already looking for another location in the vicinity to start a new, apparently larger, version of the revered Tiger – <strong>The</strong> <strong>Gotham</strong> <strong>Imbiber</strong> sincerely hopes the flow of quality beers will continue in the West Village once a new location is found. Meanwhile, make the best of the Tiger’s remaining days while you have the chance – she’s not quite dead yet. To elaborate on last <strong>issue</strong>’s column, Standings (41 East 7 th Street, Manhattan) is not a third bar on that location but a renaming of Brewsky’s now that it is under new ownership. <strong>The</strong> only major change apart from that is the installation of television screens to enable sporting events to be shown. Puffy’s Tavern (81 Hudson Street, Manhattan) has been on the up recently. Former Sparky’s Ale House beer hero Gerry Campbell is now on the team, and has wasted no time introducing a limited but diverse range of bottled beers such as Aventinus, Smuttynose IPA, Sam Smith’s Nut Brown, Duvel, and <strong>The</strong>akston’s Old Peculier. On tap is Brooklyn Lager plus a rotating guest, currently Sierra Nevada Summerfest. <strong>The</strong> Hop Devil Grill (129 St. Marks Place, Manhattan) is now fully open for business with the opening of their Belgian room, though final touches still have to be made to the cask cooler. Up in the <strong>The</strong>ater District, <strong>The</strong> House of Brews has opened its second location at 302 West 51 st Street (just off 8 th Avenue). <strong>The</strong> beer range is much the same as the original venue just five blocks away – so is definitely worth a visit. Heartland Brewery continue to roll out their tasty seasonals, supplemented by some small-batch special brews only available at the Empire State Building location. Currently on tap there is Oak- Aged Bourbon Stout (6.0% ABV), but note that it is word-of-mouth only due to that outlet’s huge turnover that would be too demanding of the small batch sizes produced. Regular seasonals in all outlets will include Smiling Pumpkin Ale (5.5% ABV) which is brewed with real pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg; this comes on tap in early September. Mid-September will see their 6.5% Octoberfest, a smooth, crisp brew made with German malts. A month later, look out for Bavarian Black Lager (6.5% ABV). Matrimony Ale, a tasty saison-style brew, is available through September at the Empire State and South Street locations only. And to follow the Bourbon Stout, the Empire State Heartland plans to have a small-batch hop-infused nitro IPA called Indie 500. Also, Head Brewer Kelly Taylor has begun holding beer classes at the Empire State outlet on the first Wednesday of each month. <strong>The</strong> Brazen Head (228 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn) has started hosting monthly gourmet food and craft beer pairings in conjunction with Graze Catering, as documented elsewhere in this <strong>issue</strong>. $4 pints with free gourmet hors d’oeuvres, plus a raffle with prizes from the featured brewery, is great value and a good way to learn about beer and food pairing. Also, the Brazen Head’s 7th Cask Festival is scheduled for the first weekend in November. Finally, looking very out of place in the ‘new beers’ section of the menu at <strong>The</strong> Ginger Man (11 East 36 th Street, Manhattan) in August was 1996-vintage Kulmbacher Eisbock! This 9-year-old certainly packs a punch!
Change language