Beer Festivals are usually a good time.  With much excitement, my girlfriend and I signed up for the annual Brewers Picnyc held on Sunday, May 29 on Governor’s Island (festival was also held for a second day on Monday, May 30).  The description told of numerous food trucks and breweries represented.  Four levels of tickets existed, with the VIP level costing $85 (or $55 through a special thrillist.com offer), which is what we purchased.  In addition to unlimited food/beer sampling, the VIP ticket allowed entrants an extra hour of fun, starting at 11am (the entire festival ran until 5pm).  The day started with a short ferry ride from Manhattan to Governor’s Island and a short walk from the Ferry terminal to Colonel’s Row, where the festival took place.

The setup was a fence-in rectangular area with the food trucks and beer stands set up along the perimeter along with some picnic tables in the middle of the space.  It had all the makings of a great day of warm weather, fun, craft beer and good food.  However, it soon became clear that this event was not going to live up to its billing.  The first problem was the 11am start time.  On Sundays, thanks to New York State Blue laws, no establishment can serve alcohol before noon.  So, that one hour for which many VIP ticket holders arrived early, did not include beer, just the food.

Once clock struck noon, it did not take much time for the lines at the three beer stands to grow very long.  In many cases, people were waiting in line for over 20 minutes for one beer.  The breweries represented were Brooklyn Brewery, Six Point and Goose Island; not the nearly ten we were told in some of the advertising.  In fact, later in the festival, the Six Point stand started pouring beers from the Greenport, Long Island and Two Brothers breweries.  So, even though the number of breweries was more than three, there were still only three beer stands.  That was disgraceful.  You cannot advertise an event as a beer festival and have only three stands serving beer to hundreds of participants.  Furthermore, one beer stand didn’t even have enough cups to serve the draft beer.  Other lowlights of the day:

1. Some of the food trucks ran out of food less than halfway through the festival

2. Lines were long for food as well.

3. Only part way through did we VIP ticket holders learn that we did not have to wait in the long lines for beer.

4. Overheard one event staffer say not too long after noon: “This is insane… not going well… We need to do something now”

In conclusion, this was a disappointing festival and I will not attend to next year’s event.  I hope the organizers can correct the errors, particularly by doing the following:

1. Adding more beer stands;

2. Increasing the number of breweries to at least ten;

3. Advising the food trucks to bring more food so that they do not run out of food mid-way through the event;

4. Not making the Sunday no-alcohol-served-before-noon mistake again by allowing the festival to run from 1pm until 6pm and let the extra hour for VIP ticket holders start at noon.

If they cannot take these necessary steps, I urge all potential participants to stay away from this event next year and beyond.

Did you attend the event?  Either way, please share your thoughts on my commentary and suggestions.

Not long after my visit to Spritzenhaus, I decided it was time to return to Williamsburg.  On this occasion, I wanted to sample several recently-opened establishments.  Starting near the Bedford Avenue L-train stop and working my way south, I achieved my goal by visiting five such venues.  Here’s what transpired:

Brooklyn Winery at 213 N. 8^th Street – It’s a wine bar that also offers the opportunity for customers to make their own wine for private consumption.  I believe it is due to state or local laws that the establishment is not allowed to serve the wine made on sight to its bar customers.  The bar itself is a medium-sized area with four communal tables in addition to a 10 seat bar.  There is also an outdoor courtyard that looks out onto N. 8^th street.  The winemaking occurs in the back.  Visitors can see dozens of aging casks in the backrooms.  Serving a dozen wines by the glass and another 16 out of the bottle, the Brooklyn Winery also serves 16 bottled beers; For food, chacuterie, bar snacks and small plates.  This place also offers tours of the winery on Saturdasy.

4^th Down at 170 N. 4^th Street – A solid Williamburg sports bar.  The neighborhood does not have much to offer of this genre, so 4^th Down fills a fairly large void.  4^th Down has seven flat screen TVs, affordable drink specials, six arcade games and one pool table in the back.  There is also a giant jenga set that all patrons must see in action (or play it!).  Add to all of this a friendly staff and this place is a must visit.  Two minor drawbacks: there is no kitchen (but they have take-out menus) and the beer selection is nothing special.  Nevertheless, 4^th Down is very fun and I certainly hope it survives much longer than its short-lived predecessors of 170 N. 4^th Street.

Maison Premiere at 298 Bedford Avenue – Located on the (migrating southward) border between North Side and South Side, this place is essentially a cocktail bar (including absinthe) that serves oysters.  The address is not readily visible and there is no sign in front reading “Maison Premiere”.  Rather, just a sign reading “Bar Oysters” (I must admit, I walked right by the establishment at first).  A U-shaped bar area takes up the front 2/3 of the space, with a small dining area in the back.  Wooden screwdriver tops serve as handles for the six beer taps.  The beers are served in Mason jars.  There is a solid wine list as well.

Black Sheep at 245 South 1^st Street – Located on an unassuming block between Roebling and Havermeyer (next door to the restaurant, Rye), Black Sheep has a pool table near the entrance a small bar area in the middle and a tiny outdoor patio in back.  The wall opposite the bar is covered in photographs of NYC and various celebrities.  The staff is very friendly.  The bar has six taps, including one Kelso and one Brooklyn.

Banter at South 1^st and Havermeyer – This is a great beer bar with 24 taps, mostly imports or New York State beers.  The bar is on the left soon after the entrance.  With lots of wood around the room, this establishment does not feel as though it’s on the southern edge of gentrified Williamsburg.  High-top tables in the bar area and small communal tables in back provide two different seating options for those not sitting at the bar.  Good happy hour beer specials.  This is a place I would definitely like to return to.  Banter will be part of the South Side beer bar crawl.

Let me hear from you.  What do you think of these places and my comments?  Please share your thoughts.

Spritzenhaus, the latest addition to Brooklyn’s beer bar scene, opened in late April.  It’s located at 33 Nassau Avenue (at the corner of Guernsey Street), which is close to the border of Williamsburg and Greenpoint.

Layout: Two bars, one L-shaped at the back, left of the room and one U-shaped bar at the back, right of the room.  An open kitchen at the back in between the two bars currently serves a limited menu of snacks and oysters. Full menu coming in a few weeks.  Spacious seating areas allow for communal tables in front of the L-shaped bar and tables for parties of 2 to 6 in front and around the U-shaped bar.  Floor to ceiling windows, facing both Nassau and Guernsey, can open in nice weather.  Bathrooms to the left of the L-shaped bar have neat showerhead faucets.  Outdoor seating is available along Nassau Avenue.

Beer Selection: There are 100 taps, but the bar serves only 25 different beers and repeats each beer four times.  While there nearly 10 German beers available, there are more American craft beers than German imports with a good focus on locally brewed New York State beers.  Two of the three Brooklyn beers (Kelso and Six Point) were available.  Even though Spritzenhaus is located five blocks north of the Brooklyn Brewery, not one product of the Brooklyn Brewery was available on tap!  Beer prices range from $6 to $7.

My take: Spritzenhaus has more of a hybrid beer bar-biergarten feel to it.   The patrons were mostly in their 20s and 30s.  I’d definitely like to return here with a group of friends.  I’ve seen some negative reviews of this spot in cyberspace.  Some of these reviews came from people expecting a place like the nearby Radegast Hall & Biergarten or the two biergartens in Astoria.  Spritzenhaus is not a classic New York biergarten.  And I don’t think it’s trying to be like that.  Spritzenhaus is more of a beer bar with some biergarten elements (a few long, communal tables; several German beers available).  My one disappointment was to learn that the 100 taps were in fact 25 beers repeated four times.  Nevertheless, I hope to return soon.  It’s a nice place to sit down with friends, share some laughs and enjoy good beers.

What are your thoughts?  Have you visited this place yet?  Please share your comments on my review or on the establishment itself.

From time to time, I like to head out for an evening of exploring recently-opened bars.  Sometimes, I will visit multiple neighborhoods (and boroughs) in one evening.  It’s not quite a traditional NYC pub crawl, but is fun nonetheless.  One recent outing had me focused on the East Side of Manhattan.  Starting on the Upper East Side and working my way down to the Lower East Side.

7:30pm – Caledonia Scottish Pub at 1609 2^nd Avenue near 84^th St.  A Scottish Pub in Manhattan!  There are not too many of these in NYC.  The only other one that comes to mind is St. Andrew’s near Times Square.  Open since January, 2011 (the 1609 Second Avenue address has been a bar for over two years, under different owners), Caledonia is a small, narrow, sort of dark place.  Medium length bar on the right and a small seating area in the back.  Crowd is mostly locals.  The bar has eight tap beers, including two taps for Bellhaven (a fine line of Scottish beers).  A long sword hangs lengthwise over the top center of the bar.

8:15pm – Copia on E. 53^rd Street, near 2^nd Avenue.  For those who remember Metro 53, Copia’s layout and feel is fairly similar.  Catering to the after work crowd with a couple of private areas in the back of the main room and downstairs, Copia has an L-shaped bar to the right and a small dining area in between the bar and the slightly elevated private areas in the back.  The bar has a total of 16 tap beers, but has some repeats and nothing too hard-to-find.

8:45pm – La Cava on 2^nd Avenue near 50^th Street.  A solid wine bar amongst a strip of Irish Pubs and Sports Bars, La Cava serves nearly 20 wines by the glass and another three dozen by the bottle.  The bar is on the right side of the room with high-top tables around the front and left side of the room.  The small, open kitchen in the back puts out a variety of chacuterie, cheese plates and other small plates.  Two floor-to-ceiling windows by the front entrance that open up in warm weather add a nice touch to this establishment.  La Cava has Happy Hour from 4 – 7pm and the kitchen is open typically until 1am.

10pm – Little Town NYC on 15^th Street, near Irving Place.  In the spot formerly known as Vintage Irving, Little Town NYC has changed the place into a more beer-focused bar than its predecessor (Vintage Irving was a wine bar with a decent beer selection; Little Town NYC has reversed that).  What makes this place remarkable is that it only serves beer brewed in New York State.  From Greenport Harbor in Eastern Long Island to Southern Tier in Jamestown at the far western edge of New York and many in between, Little Town NYC has covered the entire state with 20 taps and dozens of bottled beers.  The three Brooklyn breweries (Brooklyn, Six Point and Kelso) are well represented.  This spot is a must on the Union Square beer bar crawl.

11pm – Lower East Side, Orchard and Rivington.  I had hoped to visit the new spot named APL (pronounced “Apple”), but the spot will not be open until later this month.  Given the small bar in the middle of the room and seating areas with place settings in the front and back of the bar area, it looked a bit more to be a restaurant than a bar, but I need to return to see the place in action.

It was a fun filled evening exploring much of the East Side of Manhattan.  I hope you enjoyed this post.  I will have more of these types of experiences to share.  Please leave a comment!