NY Times doesn’t know what a “beer garden” is, either
Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden is a real beer garden, but many of its imitators are not.
Yet another media source in New York has fallen victim to a mistaken definition of “beer garden.” As we’ve noted before, just because you can drink beer outside doesn’t make a place a beer garden. In addition, just because a bar has a German theme and serves German beer doesn’t make it a beer garden. In an article yesterday, the New York Times either didn’t bother researching the definition of a beer garden, or ignored the definition to write a phony “trend piece.”
By definition, a beer garden (taken from the German “biergarten”) is a ground-level, open-air space where beer and food are served. The concept actually originated as Bavarian breweries planted gardens above cellars to keep their lagers cool enough to ferment underground. More entrepreneurial breweries turned these spaces into outdoor spaces with communal seating that serve beer and traditional food.
Based on that definition, here are the fifteen places that the Times mentioned in their article, and which ones are actually beer gardens.
1. Hallo Berlin (626 10th Ave., at 44th St., Hell’s Kitchen)
Beer Garden or not? NOT.
Why: Most of its seating is actually indoors. Hallo Berlin’s outdoor seating is on the sidewalk and in the backyard, but the space is neither shaded by trees nor particularly communal.
Why the Times thought it was: Apparently, simply specializing in German food and beer is enough for them to consider it a “beer garden.”
2. Radegast Hall & Biergarten (113 N. 3rd St., at Berry St., Williamsburg)
Beer Garden or not? NOT.
Why: It’s indoors. It’s a beer hall, not a beer garden. The spacious building, with high ceilings and communal tables, is a beer hall - a very respected beer-drinking tradition in Germany as well.
Why the Times thought it was: Because Radegast improperly appended their name with “Biergarten.” There is no such thing as an indoor beer garden. It’s a beer hall. A retractable roof in a small portion of their space still comes nowhere near meeting the definition.
3. Studio Square (35-33 36th St., at 36th Ave., Astoria)
Beer Garden or not? BEER GARDEN.
Why: It’s outdoors. It’s got trees for shade. It’s got tons of communal tables. These are pretty simple criteria to make, but this place is one of the few the Times mentions that meets all of them.
Why the Times thought it was: Because it’s a beer garden. A beer garden that tends to attract a douchey crowd, yes, but a beer garden nonetheless.
4. Mission Dolores (249 4th Ave., at Carroll St., Park Slope)
Beer Garden or not? NOT.
Why: The outdoor space is about the size of the indoor space here, there are no trees for shade, and traditional beer gardens serve food (this place doesn’t). Hell, Mission Dolores’ owners have never used the word “beer garden” to describe it. It’s a bar that happens to have an outdoor space.
Why the Times thought it was: Because it’s a bar that happens to have an outdoor space. It serves some great beer, and it’s a fine place to sit outside during the summer. But it’s not a beer garden.
5. The Lot at 30th Street (W. 30th St., at 10th Ave., Chelsea)
Beer Garden or not? NOT.
Why: For one thing, this is a bar in a parking lot. But even in the Times’ details of this forthcoming Tom Colicchio-run space, they mention that the bar here will be under the High Line to protect it from rain. Even if the roof is an old train trestle-turned-park, if it has a roof, it’s not a beer garden.
Why the Times thought it was: Because you can drink beer outside there, and they needed an example of a celebrity chef jumping on the trend bandwagon to validate a beer garden “trend.”
6. The Beekman Beer Garden Beach Club (89 South St., at Pier 17, Financial District)
Beer Garden or not? NOT.
Why: Beer gardens don’t have sand. But, even if you’re willing to overlook that detail, all of the truly communal tables are under a tent. So much for “open air.” Oddly, nearly all of the vegetation here is under the tent, so if they got rid of the tent, this space actually might come close to being a beer garden.
Why the Times thought it was: Because the name says so. And ooh, they serve German sausages! It must be a beer garden!
7. La Birreria at Eataly (200 Fifth Ave., at 23rd St., Flatiron)
Beer Garden or not? NOT.
Why: Look, we’re thrilled about this place opening, but it’s a brewpub on a roof deck, not a beer garden. Beer gardens don’t have fancy retractable roofs, and you can’t grow trees on the 14th floor of a pre-war Manhattan mid-rise.
Why the Times thought it was: Because you can drink outdoors, and again, the Times wanted a celebrity-backed space to cite as part of their “trend.”
8. Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden (29-19 24th Ave., at 29th St., Astoria)
Beer Garden or not? BEER GARDEN.
Why: This is a beer garden today, and it was beer garden when it opened over 100 years ago. Communal tables? Check. Open-air? Check. Trees? Check. And there’s no table service here for the grill, either; another tradition of most German beer gardens.
Why the Times thought it was: Because they wanted to cite someone who was part of the beer garden “trend” before it was cool. It’s worth noting that manager Larry Spacek is bothered by this “trend” and says, “this is too much.” He hopes that “the fact that we are in a real park, with real trees, will bring people back.” We hope so too, Larry. We’re trying our best.
9. Zum Schneider (107 Avenue C, at E. 7th St., East Village)
Beer Garden or not? NOT.
Why: It’s entirely indoors, save for a few small tables along the sidewalk. As we’ve said before, there is no such thing as an “indoor beer garden.”
Why the Times thought it was: Because it specializes in German food and beer. Of course, German food and beer are also served in German beer halls, but apparently, the Times is blissfully unaware of this concept.
10. Loreley (7 Rivington St., at Chystie St., Lower East Side and 64 Frost St., at Meeker Ave., Williamsburg)
Beer Garden or not? Maybe? Honestly, we’re torn on these two.
Why: Both locations have outdoor spaces with picnic tables, but no trees in the garden, only along the edges. The Manhattan location is a crowded backyard that serves German beer and food. The roomier Brooklyn space is only a year old, and if you give it a decade, the trees might grow out enough to provide some shade. But there’s communal tables, vegetation, and it’s outdoors, so they’ve got about two and a half out of three criteria met.
Why the Times thought it was: Because these places have backyards with picnic tables and happen to serve German beer and food. There are plenty of places that don’t serve German beer or food with bigger backyards than Loreley’s Manhattan location, but the Times - nor most sane people - would call them “beer gardens.”
11. Killmeyer’s (4254 Arthur Kill Rd., at Sharrotts Rd., Charleston, Staten Island)
Beer Garden or not? BEER GARDEN.
Why: It helps that this place is in Staten Island, where there’s a bit more room to spread out. Giant, shady trees line the edges of this beer garden behind a Bavarian-style Inn, where you can saddle up to a beer at a big communal picnic table. A nice touch: you can buy beer from the gazebo at the center of the garden.
Why the Times thought it was: Because it is. And they needed to acknowledge something outside of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.
12. Berry Park (4 Berry St., at N. 14th St., Williamsburg)
Beer Garden or not? NOT.
Why: A rooftop isn’t a beer garden. It’s a rooftop. From up here, you can see trees, but there aren’t any providing shade. It is, however, a good place to dehydrate yourself with some good beer on a hot day.
Why the Times thought it was: Because it’s outside, we guess. And they serve some pretty good beer.
13. Bierhaus (712 3rd Ave., at 45th St., Midtown East)
Beer Garden or not? NOT.
Why: It’s completely indoors. It’s a traditional German beer hall with fresh German beer.
Why the Times thought it was: Because they have completely lost their minds trying to shoehorn places that aren’t beer gardens into this article. It becomes clear now that they have absolutely no idea how to distinguish a “beer garden” from a “beer hall.”
14. Local West (1 Penn Plaza, at 33rd St., Midtown West)
Beer Garden or not? UNKNOWN.
Why: Since the space is a work-in-progress and won’t open until next month, we can’t tell if this will meet the traditional “beer garden” definition or not. But since it’s in the middle of Midtown, we’re a bit skeptical that it will, although the 40 craft beer taps they’re promising sound mighty tempting regardless.
Why the Times thought it was: Because they’ll believe anything a PR flack tells them in order to jam the “beer garden” trend down your throat.
15. Bier International (2099 Frederick Douglass Blvd., at 113th St., Harlem)
Beer Garden or not? NOT.
Why: Again, it’s completely indoors, save for a few tables on the sidewalk. It serves a fine list of imported beer, including stuff from Germany, but you can’t drink it under the shade of trees - just the shade of a ceiling.
Why the Times thought it was: Because it’s clear that from four of the places they cited, they don’t understand that a beer garden must be outdoors. This is a simple concept, yet even the photo in the Times’ slideshow shows just a sliver of light from the windows looking onto the street.
So, by our count, not a single actual beer garden has opened in New York so far this year, making it far from a trend. The only trend this year might be bars opening and branding themselves as beer gardens when they’re not, but the Times doesn’t investigate that aspect of things, and instead merely jumps on the same bandwagon.
And to Larry Spacek at Bohemian Hall: as long as people are looking for a real beer garden and aren’t suckered into believing that slapping the term “beer garden” on a backyard or rooftop, you’re going to be just fine.
Let’s put this one detail about the definition of “beer garden” aside and focus on some other absurdities in this article.
One, for example, is the claim that La Birreria will be “the first beer garden in America to employ firkins.” Firkins, of course, are casks of beer. This is an outlandish by every stretch of the imagination. There are plenty of craft beer bars with outdoor spaces across the country that serve cask beer. Heck, using the broad definition of “beer garden” that the Times uses, there’s one right here in New York: d.b.a. Brooklyn (113 N. 7th St., at Berry St., Williamsburg) has a spacious outdoor space and serves three cask beers.
There’s one quote in this article, however, that shows that the entire basis for the article - an iPhone app called “Beer Gardens NYC” - is deeply flawed. After the app’s creators say that there are over 50 beer gardens in New York City (huh?), Hope Tarr, one co-creator, makes this absurd remark:
“If you take a date out in Park Slope or Manhattan, even to a modest restaurant, it’s a not inconsequential amount of money. But at a beer garden, you can get good beer for two to three dollars and, once the season starts, most have a grill menu, too. There’s probably still room for the market to grow. I don’t think we’ve reached the saturation point.”
If Hope can point me to a beer garden - or any bar, in fact - where I can “get good beer for two to three dollars,” I’d love to see it. Most of the places listed in this article sell their beer for at least triple that amount. Has she ever even bought a beer in New York? Does she even know what good beer is?
Once I track down this mythical New York City beer garden where I can buy a good beer for two dollars, I’ll let you know. But in the meantime, I’ve heard I can get a good deal on the Brooklyn Bridge.
