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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
