Beer Trippin'-Brooklyn

This past weekend I had to take a little trip out to Long Island with my wife, Brooke, to see some of her family. We planned it out so that we would stop off in Brooklyn for a few hours on the way home and grab a few pints. As much as I enjoyed it, it kinda sucked because I was the driver, so not much beer for me. I did, however, get to watch everyone else have drink after drink. Awesome, eh? Before I get into some of the places to see in Brooklyn, I'd like to say I've never been a fan of New York. I've never felt any kind of connection with the state itself, and I always feel mildly annoyed when I have to go there. I know, I married someone from New York, but what can you do? I tried my best to keep my feelings about New York at bay and explore the area with an open mind, and what I found out was that Brooklyn has a great beer scene even if hipsters have overrun the entire borough!

Our first stop was the Brooklyn Brewery. Every Friday night from 6 to 11pm they open their doors to the public for happy hour. It is situated in a really old looking building, actually kinda reminded me of The Ghostbusters firehouse,

but it could of just been from the gigantic red doors. Anyway, as you walk in you are staring straight ahead at 4 or 5 fermentation tanks, a mess of kegs, and some bags of malt. To your right is a few more tanks and directly to the left is where the beer lies. First you have to buy tokens and then redeem them for your beer. It is only 20 bucks for 6 tokens, and at 1 token per beer, that is pretty cheap. The only beers that'll run you more tokens are local 1 and 2. There were a good amount of people packed in there sitting at tables or standing around making conversation. You can even order a pizza and bring it in! On tap, they had the lager, pennant ale, eipa, sorachi ace, brown ale, pilsner, blast!, and the weisse. I ended up having a pennant and a very good double ipa in blast! I imagined the building to be a tad larger, but it was still really cool to be there.

Mugs Ale House was the next stop on our journey and it would end up being our last. It was so good of a bar, that we just couldn't leave! They have a great draft list consisting of at least 30 taps and 2 casks, 1 of which was on. I opted for a Bear Republic English Ale, while my wife went for a rye from Blue Point. Also available was Sierra Nevada Anniversary Ale, Stone Russian Imperial Stout from 2006 and Chelsea Hop Angel on cask. While I didn't order any food, the rest of my party did. I tried a bite of my wife's ostrich burger and it was delicious. Another impressive quality of this place is their bottle list. Goose Island Bourbon County Stout from 2006 and 2007 and many other finds that are near impossible to get your hands on. Try this place out!

Barcade. If you love beer, you've come to the right place. If you love 80's video games, you've also come to the right place. Combine the two, and thats one hell of a good time! Stop in and grab one of their 20+ outstanding taps and play a little centipede while doing so. They also sell some local snacks for you to munch on as well. This is a big hipster hangout, so be forewarned. It's also open til 4am on weekends, or is that the norm in NY?

Spuyten Duyvil. Here you're only gonna get 6 taps and a cask. I guess it's now appropriate to use the phrase, "It's Quality, not Quantity." They have a fairly lengthy import bottle list and usually some hard to find brews on tap. The inside of the place is small and kitchen-like and the outside is barely marked, so be sure to look close if you're trying to find it. Yet again, this is a hipster hangout, like much of Williamsburg, so prepare yourself for people wearing handkerchiefs around their neck and ridiculously tight pants.

If you're just looking to grab some bottles, I suggest you try Bierkraft. Beer,cheese,chocolate, charcuterie, and more is how it is described on their website... and they do carry a lot of beer. If you're looking for some breakfast you can try Siggy's Good Food, specializing in organic food. They also have beer and wine.

I couldn't help but feel a little out of place around some of the people that live in Brooklyn. I'm not saying everyone who lives there is a pretentious asshole or anything.. I guess my lifelong disdain for everything New York is just poking its way through right now. Either way, it's a great city that has some quality bars that any beer geek needs to check out....despite the hipsters. I'm glad I did.