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Your 2024 Citi Field Beer Guide

I went to Citi Field for a Mets game on Monday night. It’s a tradition that I do not just because I love baseball, but because I get to inform you, the readers, about the beer selection at the ballpark for the coming season. This game was a classic case of the Mets completely blowing it in the tenth inning. And speaking of blowing it, Citi Field management blew their opportunity to sell me a second beer at the game. After grabbing a quick Brooklyn Lager from near my section to watch the first few innings, I got up to scope out the beer selection, knowing that some new stuff was available for this season, like Allagash White and Threes Vliet, which happen to be two of my favorite beers.

I managed to find these beers, but completely behind lock and key, next to Fiddlehead IPA and Sloop Juice Bomb IPA at an unoccupied beer stand. In fact, every single stand that sold these beers — seven stands in all, on all levels of the stadium — was closed on Monday night. And yes, I realize it’s a Monday night in April and not every concession stand would be open. But in previous years, Citi Field at least made an effort to keep one stand with certain beers open during every game. Sometimes that meant trekking across the stadium just to buy the beer you want, but you could still at least buy the beer you wanted somewhere. This year, based on my experience on Monday, I can’t guarantee that’s going to be the case. If Citi Field is going to keep all these stands closed for weeknight games, then they need move these beers to other concession areas that are open for every game.The sad, closed Boozy Buckets stand at section 131, where you can buy cans of Threes Vliet when it’s open

Anyway, if you’re lucky enough to get to a game when these stands are open, you’ll find Allagash, Fiddlehead, Sloop, and Brooklyn Summer at three generic-looking beer stands on the upper deck and the Coca-Cola Porch branded with Coors Light, Blue Moon, and Peroni, plus on the field level behind sections 114 and 129 in Coney Island and Montauk-branded booths. Threes Vliet is available in cans at two stands called “Boozy Buckets,” which are behind sections 131 and 418.

Generally, throughout the ballpark, the bigger regional beer brands are easy to find. You’ll find Boston Beer’s Coney Island on draft at some concession stands and sister brand Dogfish Head’s 60 Minute IPA fairly regularly available in cans. Brooklyn Brewery’s Lager and Pulp Art Hazy IPA are hard to miss, too, even showing up in the large Coors Light-branded bars behind home plate in the upper deck and in center field. Montauk Beer Co.’s Summer and Wave Chaser, along with other offerings, can be found in many of the grab-and-go beer stands.

The beer selection in the more exclusive club seating areas is significantly better, and features a long lineup of draft beers. The Clover Home Plate Club, accessible to those sitting in the seats behind home plate, has a bar offering 20 draft options like Ghost East Coast Ghost, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Montauk The Surf Beer, and EBBS Kolsch No. 2, in addition to many of the previously mentioned beers only available in cans elsewhere in the ballpark.

Non-alcoholic beer options are becoming increasingly common, and this year, you’ll find Blue Moon’s N/A, Sam Adams Just the Haze, and Montauk’s Non-Alcoholic IPA throughout the park in 12-ounce cans.

Not surprisingly, you’ll pay a pretty penny for these beers. 19.2-ounce cans, the preferred sizing in much of Citi Field, will run you $16.05 plus tax. A 20-ounce draft pour of Coney Island, Brooklyn, or Montauk will run you $14.55 plus tax. That’s still under a dollar an ounce (looking at you, Boston), but not by much.

A side note: I realize that IPAs are still generally the best selling style of craft beer, but can we get a little diversity in the beer lineup, please? How many different variations of light-bodied, pale, hoppy beers do we really need? There’s no possible way we’re going to get a stout into Citi Field (though Oracle Field in San Francisco serves Guinness), but a couple more craft lagers or anything with a little more body for the colder months of the season would be nice. That being said, I’m absolutely thrilled about Allagash White this season, and I’m legitimately impressed that was able to get cleared in a ballpark full of Blue Moon taps.

The complete beer list is below, noting which beers are only available in club seating areas:

Allagash White Brooklyn Lager Brooklyn Pilsner* Brooklyn Pulp Art Hazy IPA Brooklyn Summer Ale Coney Island Mermaid Pilsner Coney Island Merman IPA Dogfish Head Citrus Squall* Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA EBBS Kolsch No. 2* Fiddlehead IPA Founders All Day IPA Ghost East Coast Ghost NEIPA* Gutenberg IPA Lagunitas IPA Montauk Juicy IPA Montauk Summer Ale Montauk The Surf Beer* Montauk Watermelon Montauk Wave Chaser IPA New Belgium Fat Tire Ale* Samuel Adams Summer Ale* Sierra Nevada Pale Ale* Sloop Juice Bomb IPA Threes Vliet Pilsner

*Available in premium clubs

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Another big win for Grimm in NYS Beer Competition

New York City breweries took home 21 medals at this year’s New York State Beer Competition, held last Friday as part of the New York State Brewers Conference in Albany, and Brooklyn’s Grimm Artisanal Ales took home the top award of New York State Brewery of the Year for the third time in four years.

The event is open to every brewery in the state, and this year, the competition was stiff: 1,421 beers from 236 breweries were entered across the 30 categories. Of the 95 medals awarded, more than one in five went to breweries in New York City, despite the city accounting for just a tenth of the breweries in the state.

Grimm Artisanal Ales was named Brewery of the Year for their five total medals, including three gold medals. It’s their third time winning the title in four years — in 2021 they won the title outright, and in 2022 shared it with Rochester’s Strangebird Brewing. Other big winners in New York City included Threes and 18th Ward who won three medals each and EBBS Brewing Co, who won two medals.

The full list of New York City winners is below. If you want to see the full list from across the state, check the list on the competition website.

Light Lagers (Traditional) - 66 entries

Gold: Eleven - Strong Rope Brewery

Light Lagers (Modern and Contemporary) - 77 entries

Gold: Contiguity - Threes Brewing 

Silver: UN1 Basmati Rice Lager - Transmitter Brewing

​Dark Lagers (NEW!)​ - 51 entries

Bronze: Heavy Handed - Kills Boro Brewing Company

Wheat Beers (American, Wit, Hefe)​ - 33 entries

Gold: Grimm Weisse - Grimm Artisanal Ales

Golden & Blonde Ales​ - 32 entries

Gold: Prototype - Kings County Brewers Collective

Bronze: KOLSCH NO.2 - EBBS Brewing Company

​Cream Ales (NEW!)​ - 43 entries

Silver: Premium Cream Ale - 18th Ward Brewing

Pale Ale - 27 entries

Gold: Moderance - Wild East Brewing Company

Silver: Lighter Than Air - Grimm Artisanal Ales

​Hazy Pale Ale​ - 32 entries

Gold: Future Memory - 18th Ward Brewing

American IPA - 69 entries

Bronze: Venomous Villains - Kings County Brewers Collective

Experimental IPA - 36 entries

Silver: Forever Ever - Other Half 

Belgian Farmhouse - 22 entries

Silver: Wandering Bine  - Threes Brewing 

Experimental - 29 entries

Silver: States Of Being - Threes Brewing 

​Brown Ale​ - 32 entries

Silver: Brooklyn Brown - Brooklyn Brewery

Porters (Non-Imperial)​​ - 36 entries

Bronze: McNally Porter - 18th Ward Brewing

Stout (Non-Imperial) - 37 entries

Bronze: STOUT NO.1 - EBBS Brewing Company

Imperial Stouts & Porters - 25 entries

Bronze: Double Negative - Grimm Artisanal Ales

Strong Ales - 33 entries

Gold: XXXXX - Grimm Artisanal Ales

Wild & Sour Ales - 13 entries

Gold: Ambient Fizz Koyo Berries - Grimm Artisanal Ales

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Spuyten Duyvil announces it will close in April

Williamsburg stalwart Spuyten Duyvil, a pioneering beer bar that opened on Metropolitan Avenue back in 2003, has announced it will close next month. The bar has been a landmark on the city’s beer scene, hosting countless events including the popular Zwanze Day celebration from Belgium’s Brasserie Cantillon. That celebration will close out its 21-year run, hosting the beer release one last time on Saturday, April 20th before closing for good on Sunday, April 21st.

Spuyten Duyvil opened in the very early years of Williamsburg’s rise as a hip neighborhood, in an era where the beer bar began to thrive. There was a brief expansion in the form of a co-owned bottle shop — Spuyten Duyvil Grocery — that was open in the Williamsburg Mini-Mall in the late 2000s and early 2010s. The bar’s penchant for European imports made it a hot spot in the era before the American beer boom, and its focus on a curated bottled beer selection over draft beer was unique as the craft beer boom spread. The focus on beer was carried into the neighboring St. Anselm restaurant, and to nearby Fette Sau, which both have the same owners and will remain open.

Spuyten Duyvil has played host to Zwanze Day ten times since the beer release became a global event back in 2011. The special rare blend from Brasserie Cantillon in Brussels is released at venues around the world on the same day. This year’s beer is a lambic made with sea lettuce. The final release at Spuyten Duyvil will start at 11am on April 20th, with 140 tickets being sold for pours of the beer beginning at the opening, and the official tapping at 3pm. Even if you miss out on the namesake of the event, a host of other Cantillon beers will be available on draft and in bottles. It’s likely to be a tearful toast that day.

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Queue Beer Goes Highbrow/Lowbrow with Canal Champagne

This year in New York City might go down as the Year of the Lukr Faucet. The Czech-manufactured beer tap is appearing more and more around the city, with bars installing them as quickly as they can get their hands on them, Bushwick brewery Niteglow opening with an all-Lukr tap system, and this new twist that will probably have both its lovers and haters: Queue Beer in Gowanus is now pouring Miller High Life, branded at the bar as “Canal Champagne,” through a Lukr faucet.

Yes, you can get your side-pull on with the Champagne of Beers at Queue now for a cool $8 for a 20-ounce pour. It may seem like a gimmick, but it’s for a good cause — a portion of sales from Canal Champagne goes to the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, an organization that advocates and cares for ecologically sustainable parks and public spaces in the Gowanus lowlands while empowering a community of stewards. Queue’s Shane Monteiro claims it will be “the best pour of Miller High Life available anywhere,” and it’s probably the first time the beer has been poured this a Lukr faucet, unless some High Life-obsessed brewer drunkenly hooked a keg up to a line in a brewery taproom after-hours, just for fun.

Speaking of, the beer industry’s obsession with Miller High Life is an odd one. I’m more of a Coors Banquet fan myself. A casual poll of beer folks about this concept at last weekend’s NYC Beer Week Opening Bash resulted in a mix of intrigue, excitement, and disgust for the concept, with most of the disgust followed up with a “…but I’d try it once.” If you’d like to try it once, or several times, Queue is open seven days a week just two blocks from the Smith-9th Sts. F/G subway stop and around the corner from Other Half’s Gowanus taproom.

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Your Guide to 2024 New York City Beer Week

New York City Beer Week, the annual celebration of all things beer that the city has to offer, kicks off on Saturday. The week is organized by the NYC Brewers Guild, and is chock full of special events around the five boroughs that celebrate the city’s beer scene in all facets. From special guest breweries to tap takeovers to beer dinners, there’s a whole slew of events in the next week to whet your appetite for beer.

Here are just a few of the noteworthy events coming up to celebrate beer week:

Saturday, 2/24, 12:30pm — Opening Bash at Industry City Brooklyn It’s the biggest event of the year on the New York City beer calendar. Dozens of breweries from across the city and around the country gather at Industry City’s Building 7/8 for a celebration of all things beer, with food and music along for the ride, too.

Monday, 2/26, 7pm — Craft Beer Cagematch 4 at Covenhoven It’s back. Covenhoven pits breweries against each other in a night-long cage match — whichever brewery sells the most beer on Monday night will win. Among those in the running: defending champion Fifth Frame, previous champions Fifth Hammer and Mast Landing, and many more. And yes, there’s a championship belt.

Tuesday, 2/27, 7pm — Hip Hop Trivia Night at Bierwax It’s a one-of-a-kind New York beer event. Beats by Bierwax’s own Minister Maestro at 7pm, Trivmatic Hip Hop trivia at 8pm, and beer from Kills Boro, Wild East, and Strong Rope all night long.

Tuesday, 2/27, All Day — Pizza and Pils at Paulie Gee’s Slice Shop Is there a more perfect pairing than a slice and a nice, snappy pils? Celebrate a lineup of local pilsners in Greenpoint with Other Half, Wild East, and more to wash down your pizza.

Wednesday, 2/28, 3pm — Borough Beer Fest at Blind Tiger Ale House One of the city’s most acclaimed beer bars hosts its annual all-New York tap takeover, with all 28 taps dedicated to beers brewed in the five boroughs. It’s the one Beer Week event that I never miss. Play hooky for the best selection.t

Thursday, 2/29, 4-8pm — Brews at Brookfield Place The annual event celebrating local beer has returned to the Winter Garden, with two weekly featured breweries and samples of food from Brookfield Place vendors. During Beer Week, Bronx and Torch & Crown will be featured, with all beer sales supporting the GO Project. (If you’re reading this on the 22nd, you can catch Singlecut and Transmitter tonight; on March 6th, it’s KCBC and Sixpoint.)

Friday, 3/1 to Sunday, 3/3 — Caskalot at Fifth Hammer Brewing For three full days, Fifth Hammer is hosting their annual celebration of cask ale from New York City. Enjoy casks all weekend from the host brewery, but also Finback, Wild East, Transmitter, Threes, and more. Free admission, pay as you go!

Saturday, 3/2, 1pm — 10th Anniversary Party at Gun Hill Brewing Company Can’t believe it’s been a decade! The city’s northernmost brewery celebrates this major milestone with a party featuring the annual release of their award-winning Barrel-Aged Void of Light, food from Bluebird Kitchen, and plenty of good cheer.

Saturday, 3/2, 2pm — KCBC/Pink Boots Society Dynamite Evolution Launch at Someday Bar Celebrate the launch and taste this year’s collaboration between the New York City chapter of the Pink Boots Society and KCBC, Dynamite Evolution, a hazy IPA that returns for its sixth year!

Sunday, 3/3, Noon — Ruppert’s Cup Competition at Endless Life Brewing Wrap up Beer Week with the Ruppert’s Cup, an annual award given to the brewery that makes the best beer with 100% New York malt and hops (by no coincidence, Endless Life is among the breweries that sources their ingredients exclusively from New York).

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Niteglow celebrates launch of Bushwick brewery

Niteglow has officially launched its first New York-brewed beers. The well-polished taproom is an all-day space that operates as a coffee shop during the day (as Dayglow) and a taproom at night (as Niteglow). The first beer brewed on premise in the rear brewery space on Wilson Avenue in Bushwick is Rare 03 NY Brown Ale, a coffee-spiked 5% ABV Brown Ale made in collaboration with Barcelona-based Nomad Coffee. Two other beers are currently fermenting in the tanks, including a Pale Ale that will debut at the taproom tomorrow.

While Niteglow has origins in Illinois, where its co-owner and brewer Jonny Ifergan got his start in beer and spent more than three decades of his life and where Niteglow beers were initially brewed as the brewhouse got up and running, this spot has planted its roots in New York. They’ll be focused on brewing with New York State ingredients as a licensed Farm Brewery. The Rare 03 uses New York-grown pale malt from revered Massachusetts maltster Valley Malt, darker malts from New York Craft Malt, and New York-grown Columbus hops. The forthcoming H03, a bright Pale Ale I got to sample earlier this week, utilizes New York-grown Centennial and Cascade hops. In my conversations with Jonny, it’s clear he’s passionate about New York beer agriculture, understanding processes and fermentation, and appreciating the art of the pour — all of the draft beers at Niteglow are poured from Lukr taps, and the three core traditional Czech-style pours are offered. And yes, there are milktubes.

Niteglow is open seven days a week from 11am-11pm at 8 Wilson Avenue in Brooklyn, the space that was previously home to Non Sequitur Beer. This is their grand opening weekend and they’ll roll out more new beers gradually while they also offer guest taps from the likes of other New York breweries like Wild East, Wayward Lane, and Drowned Lands. Cider, cocktails, NA beer, and snacks from La Cabra Bakery are also available.

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The Grand Delancey announces closure

The Grand Delancey, a bar that has served New York beer drinkers one of the best selections of beer in the city for over four years, has announced its closure. Its final day of operations will be Sunday, February 18th. The bar is located in The Market Line, an underground food hall in a somewhat hidden location in on the Lower East Side, which has seen a loss of vendors in recent weeks that contributed to the closure, the bar’s owner said in a statement.

Notwithstanding the twists and turns that have affected the industry in the last few years, we have loved getting to know our neighbors in the Lower East Side and the many, many friends we have made in and beyond NYC’s craft beer scene. We still believe in the vision that brought us to New York in 2019: the marriage of the best craft beer in the world and the collection of amazing NYC-based food and beverage operators like Nom Wah, Schaller and Weber, Veselka, Peoples Wine, and many others. Unfortunately that vision was never fully realized, and now with just a handful of fellow vendors left it has become impossible to sustain our operations at The Market Line. While our original location may be closing, we're actively seeking a new home for The Grand Delancey so that we can continue our mission of delivering the most memorable craft beer experiences to the New York market. In the meantime, please join us over the next two weeks as we say goodbye with a host of bottle and draft specials. We look forward to raising a glass with all of you. - The Grand Delancey

The Grand Delancey hosted numerous noteworthy beer events over its short time in business — a period that included the Covid-19 pandemic. Among the noteworthy events were a lot of Belgian imports, like massive drops of bottles and kegs from Cantillon, a visit from Brasserie de la Senne founder/brewer Yvan De Baets, a tasting with Pierre Tilquin of Gueuzerie Tilquin, and a meet-and-greet with the producers of 3 Fonteinen. And while the occasional Belgian invasion was fun on its own, many noteworthy American breweries passed through their doors over the past four years, including Trillium, Hill Farmstead, Monkish, Good Word, Lawson’s, and more. They were one of the few bars in the city to support cask ale through its near-extinction and slow recovery in New York. And their bartenders were some of the most knowledgeable people in beer in the five boroughs.

The Grand Delancey's home, The Market Line, is expected to close fully in April.

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A Sampler Tray of NYC Beer News

Here are some recent news and notes about New York City breweries and beers… let’s fly through it!

Other Half Preps for 10th Anniversary

Other Half turns ten years old this month, and they’ve started the 10-week long celebration with a series of throwback beers from the brewery’s early era to get drinkers amped leading up to their 10th Anniversary Week in February. First up: OG Green Diamonds, the Imperial IPA that started it all, back when Other Half was still brewing out of Greenpoint Brew Works in Fort Greene in late 2013; and their 1st Anniversary TIPA, the only anniversary beer that Other Half never canned (back then, the brewery was doing a swift growler-filling business in their shoebox-sized taproom in Gowanus). Both are out today at all OH locations.

Circa Brewing Co. rebrands as Sound + Fury Brewing

There’s a new name for the Downtown Brooklyn brewpub that calls 141 Lawrence Street home: Circa is now Sound + Fury. The Faulkner-esque rebranding comes with a refresh of their lineup of beers and food menu, and they’re officially launching the new brand this weekend. It’s the second rebranding of a brewery this year in New York City — Queens-based ICONYC Brewing became Focal Point Beer Co. back in the spring.

It’s a Holiday Market Weekend!

If you’re looking to sip on beer and get some gifts for the holidays, you’re in luck this weekend in the city. Finback is hosting its annual holiday market at their Queens location on Saturday from 1-6pm with an array of goods from local artisans for sale, beer specials, Invisible Force Coffee, and pizza from Traze. Over at Grimm Artisanal Ales, they’re hosting a Holiday Vintage Market with their neighbors at Daniel/Oliver Gallery on Saturday and Sunday from noon-7pm. Expect vintage clothing, books, prints, jewelry, and more gift finds. Shop ‘til you drop — preferably not from overconsumption.

Save the Date!

The biggest and best celebration of beer in New York City is back for another year to kick off NYC Beer Week. Opening Bash will return to Industry City’s Box Factory for its second year, and it will be held on Saturday, February 24th. If you go to one beer event next year, make it this one. Tickets will be on sale soon and I’ll let you know when they are.

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Peekskill Brewery announces closure

After fifteen years in business, Peekskill Brewery will close its doors this week, its owners announced on social media on Monday. Its final day of operation will be today.

Peekskill has been a staple of the Hudson Valley beer scene since 2008. They were best known for the Simple Sour and Eastern Standard IPA, both staples of their beer lineup from Industrial Arts founder Jeff O’Neil’s tenure as brewer from 2012 to 2015. During that time, the brewery won two Great American Beer Festival medals and began regular distribution across the region. Peekskill’s current location boasted several floors that encompassed their brewpub, production space, and event spaces, and was the site of the first modern coolship in New York State.

The brewery cites business challenges in the wake of Covid-19 for their closure. “Over the last 15 years, many societal tragedies have deeply cut us on a personal level. However, none have impacted the business of Peekskill Brewery as much as the COVID-19 pandemic,” co-owner Morgan Berardi posted on Facebook in a statement. “We have done everything we could to keep PB operating including incurring debt and restructuring operations.” The statement went on to note that brewery sales never bounced back to where they were prior to the pandemic.

If you’re reading this on Wednesday and nearby, Peekskill will be open until 8pm tonight for a Kick the Keg party with crowler specials, for those looking to wish the brewery one last farewell.

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Five Boroughs sold to owner of New Hampshire’s Smuttynose

Sunset Park, Brooklyn’s Five Boroughs Brewing has been sold to the New Hampshire-based company that owns Smuttynose Brewing, the brewery announced on Tuesday. The deal closed in October and in the announcement this week, all parties indicated the deal was mutually beneficial, with Five Boroughs consolidating most production in Hampton, New Hampshire and Smuttynose unlocking the brewery’s New York-area resources.

Finestkind LLC, the new parent company of Five Boroughs, was formed among the group that acquired Smuttynose when it went to auction in March of 2018. Since then, the long-time brewery has remained in operation, taking on contract brewing and adding a canned cocktail line to their portfolio, in addition to rebuilding the Smutty brand, which was founded in 1994. Smuttynose and Five Boroughs both hope to benefit from broader distribution. Currently, Five Boroughs is distributed in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, while Smuttynose’s footprint extends as far north as Maine and as far south as Florida on the East Coast.

Five Boroughs launched in 2017 after a long buildout of a large production facility in Sunset Park. The brewery expanded distribution over their six-year history to encompass the entire Tri-State area, and diversified into hard seltzer with a brand called Party Water back in 2021. The Sunset Park taproom will remain as an “innovation hub” brewing small-batch beers, the company said. “We remain dedicated to our Sunset Park taproom's role as a hub for creativity and experimentation,” Five Boroughs Co-Founder and COO Kevin O’Donnell said in a press release on Tuesday. That taproom, on 45th Street, has been in operation since the brewery launched six years ago.

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Coney Island Brewing to close Brooklyn brewery and taproom

The brewery of New York’s playland is closing up shop. Coney Island Brewing Company will serve its last beer at its Brooklyn taproom next month, after eight years occupying the space under the third base stands at Maimonides Park, the home of the Brooklyn Cyclones.

It’s the second time Coney Island Brewery has shuttered in the neighborhood. Its previous incarnation, a short-lived “world’s smallest taproom,” operated a few blocks away in 2012, before being damaged in Superstorm Sandy. That iteration eventually moved to Clifton Park, New York with co-owned Shmaltz Brewing Co. before the Coney Island brand was sold to Boston Beer in 2013. Boston Beer, determined to have a presence for the brand in its namesake neighborhood, eventually opened a brewery at then-MCU Park in 2015, expanding it further into an adjoining space in 2019.

The expansion was a gamble just before the pandemic, and while the brewery survived Covid, sources at Boston Beer say there’s no path to profitability for Coney Island in the space moving forward. The brand, however, will live on. The brewery’s core packaged offerings are brewed at Dogfish Head in Milton, Delaware, and will continue to be distributed throughout the New York area.

The final day of business for Coney Island’s taproom will be November 9th.

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Big aLICe to close original Queens taproom

After more than ten years in Long Island City, Big aLICe Brewing is closing up shop on their original location on 43rd Road this weekend, pouring their last beer this Sunday, October 29th.

In an announcement earlier this week, the brewery’s founders said they’re “shifting focus” to their other locations: their Barrel Room in Brooklyn’s Industry City and their production facility and taproom in the Finger Lakes. The LIC brewery opened in 2013 and was one of Queens’ earliest breweries in the new wave of craft breweries, starting with a one-barrel system and selling hand-bottled beer through a CSA-type program. Big aLICe has grown over time, with the Brooklyn Barrel Room opening in 2019 and the Finger Lakes brewery in Geneva opening in 2021.

To mark the end of their run in LIC, they’ll have a lineup of special celebrations this weekend. They’ll start tonight with a special tapping of Fistful of Rubies, a 100% New York ingredient Kettle Sour aged for three months on cherries in red wine barrels. Friday, they’ll have live music from 6-8pm and a tapping of The Many Lives of Our Lives, their fruited barrel-aged sour that won gold at GABF in 2020. And on Sunday, they’ll finish things out one last time to toast where it all began.

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TALEA opens new West Village taproom

The growing empire of TALEA Beer Co. has expanded back across the East River, with a new location on Christopher Street between Bleecker and Bedford in the West Village. It’s their first permanent location in Manhattan after operating a pop-up location near Grand Central in the summer of 2022.

The West Village taproom, their third, offers all the comforts of their brewery location in Williamsburg and taproom in Cobble Hill: a pastel aesthetic and marble slab bar, set flights and pours of their beers along with wines, cider and cocktails, light snacks and cheese and charcuterie boards, and a friendly, welcoming staff. On first glance, the space itself feels a lot smaller than their other locations, but it winds into a cozy back room with lounge-like seating, and there are a few seats on the sidewalk as well.

This is the first of two upcoming locations in Manhattan for TALEA. A second outpost, on West 40th Street across from Bryant Park and the New York Public Library, is currently under construction.

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New York breweries win six medals at Great American Beer Festival

Six New York state breweries, including one in New York City, took home medals at this year’s Great American Beer Festival in Denver last weekend.

 Relative Risk Brewing Co. in Penn Yan, Great South Bay Brewery in Bay Shore, Coney Island Brewing Co. in Brooklyn, Industrial Arts Brewing Co. in Beacon, Blue Point Brewing Co. in Patchogue, and New York Beer Project in Lockport all scored wins in the 37th annual edition of the competition, which featured over 9,000 beers from breweries in all 50 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico in 99 categories. This was New York’s best showing at the festival since 2019, when the state’s breweries won seven medals, and a marked improvement over last year’s performance, when the state’s breweries took home just two medals.

Of note, four of the six winning breweries were first-time GABF winners, and one of the winning breweries is barely a year old.

Relative Risk Brewing Co. won a silver in the Fruit Wheat Beer category for their Inclusion Criteria, a Strawberry Rhubarb Wheat beer, among 106 entries in the category. The brewery, which is on 12 acres in the Finger Lakes, just celebrated their first anniversary last weekend as they won their first GABF medal.

Great South Bay Brewery on Long Island took home their seventh GABF medal this year for the Jetty Cream Ale in the Honey Beer category, among 67 entries. Jetty is practically a perennial winner, taking home a silver medal this year, a bronze in 2019, a silver in 2017, and a gold in 2016 in the same category.

Also winning a medal in the Honey Beer category was Coney Island Brewing Co., who won bronze for the Valhallale, a potent 10% foeder-aged honey ale. It’s the first medal for the long-standing Boston Beer-owned brand, which has been brewing beer in its namesake neighborhood since 2015.

Blue Point Brewing Co. in Patchogue was awarded a silver in the Contemporary American-Style Lager category for their Shouganai Japanese Rice Lager, a summer release from their Innovation Series. While it’s their seventh medal overall, this year’s silver marks Blue Point’s first medal in the competition in a decade; they last won for their Rastafarye back in 2013.

Industrial Arts Brewing Co. in Beacon earned a bronze medal for their Week 365 in the American Pilsener category, among 141 entries. The hoppy pilsner, which was released for the brewery’s seventh anniversary, was Industrial Arts’ first since opening in 2016.

Finally, New York Beer Project won silver in the Classic Saison category for their Disco Elephant. The category had 62 entries. It’s the first medal for the brewery that’s been making beer since 2015 in Lockport, about 15 miles northeast of Buffalo.

Across the Hudson in New Jersey, a pair of nearby breweries also won medals: Bolero Snort Brewery in Carlstadt won silver for their Jersey Vice Berliner Weisse, and Kane Brewing Company in Ocean won silver for Sneakbox in the Juicy or Hazy Pale Ale category.

Great American Beer Festival will return next year, October 10th through 12th in Denver.

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A-B to sell off Blue Point to owner of Montauk Brewing Co.

A blockbuster deal in beer this week that involves Anheuser-Busch selling off some of its craft beer assets will have local implications here in New York. Blue Point Brewing in Patchogue is among eight brands that A-B will sell to Tilray Brands, a Canadian cannabis company that has been growing its craft beverage portfolio since first acquiring Georgia-based SweetWater Brewery in 2020. Tilray more recently acquired Montauk Brewing Co. late last year.

A-B is selling eight brands in full: Blue Point, 10 Barrel, Red Hook, Widmer, Breckenridge, and Shock Top in the beer space, plus Square Mile Cider and HiBall Energy. The all-cash deal is expected to close at the end of the year, and indications are that the brands sold for an estimated $85 million.

In New York, the deal essentially merges Long Island’s two biggest beer brands. The transaction will include Blue Point’s production space and taproom in Patchogue, opening up the opportunity for consolidating production of Montauk’s core brands in-house (most are currently contract brewed). There are other regional synergies in the broader deal, with four Pacific Northwest brands all coming into Tilray’s portfolio, and the acquisition of Breckenridge Brewery aligning with the company’s existing ownership of Breckenridge Distilling.

Tilray has been investing heavily in Montauk this year following acquiring the brand, expanding their distribution footprint across several markets, including Upstate New York and most recently eastern Pennsylvania last week. Time will tell if similar investments will be made in Blue Point, or any of the newly-acquired brands.

[brewyork]

Meet Lala’s, Grimm’s new pizza joint now open in Williamsburg

The long-awaited rooftop restaurant at Williamsburg’s Grimm Artisanal Ales will hold its grand opening this weekend, serving up their house beers and wines, cocktails, and New Haven-style pies. Lala’s sits three flights above the street-level taproom and features an indoor and outdoor space, a horseshoe-shaped bar, and a brick pizza oven adorned with the Grimm logo.

The colorful space will serve an array of New Haven-style pizza, or “apizza,” as it’s called up there, hand-stretched, charred, and served sliced on rectangular trays (I would say the pies compare most in presentation to Sally’s or Bar from my experience, but as a Modern die-hard, I won’t hold that against them). The traditional red, white, and clam pizzas are all on the menu, the latter coming topped with a butter sauce made with Grimm’s Physica Riesling. A seasonal pie made with summer squash and ricotta is a delicious if untraditional offering, and the Hot Pepperoni Pie kicks up the heat with serrano chilis and a drizzle of honey.

As expected, a wide variety of Grimm’s beers made downstairs will be on draft, and for the beer-averse, wine and some house cocktails will also be available to pair with the pizza. Lala’s will be open this weekend on Friday and Saturday from 3-10pm and on Sunday from 1-8pm, with further expanded hours to come in the weeks ahead.