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Evil Twin will pop-up at Ridgewood’s Nowadays while they construct their taproom (Photo via Instagram)
Evil Twin Brewing has been hard at work getting its brewery up and running in Ridgewood, Queens, and while its taproom isn’t quite ready yet, today they announced plans to bring beer to the neighborhood later this month.
New York City’s newest brewery, Torch & Crown Brewing Co., has officially landed. The brewery, which will have locations in both The Bronx and Manhattan, will start rolling out kegs this week to bars in Manhattan, starting with a hazy IPA and a lager.
Some future members of the New York City Brewing Class of 2019
New York City now has 40 breweries across its five boroughs – a far cry from the four that were open when we started this site nearly a decade ago. While that may seem like a lot, on a per capita basis, the city is well below the national average; New York City has 0.6 breweries per 100,000 people aged 21+. If the city were a state, we’d rank dead last in breweries per capita, just behind Mississippi. Obviously, the simple cost of entry in the city helps keep the number low here, but every year, the number of breweries in the city keeps growing… and that won’t stop this year. Here are some of the forthcoming breweries that will help add to that number in 2019.
On the heels of last June’s hop-heavy Hop City festival, Brooklyn’s Other Half Brewing announced their next shindig at Industry City this March, and it’s gonna be sweet. Literally. Pastrytown is the name of this event, and Other Half’s inviting 30 of their closest friends to pour at the festival, held at Industry City on March 16th. The party will celebrate Pastry Stouts, fruited Berliner Weisses, Barrel-Aged Barleywines, and all the other richness the beer world has to offer.
Among the brewers attending: Angry Chair, Cloudwater, J. Wakefield, Mikerphone, Prairie, Surly, Trillium, and many more. And to make things more entertaining, they’re bringing back NY Wrestling Connection to host professional wrestling at the festival.
Tickets start at $100 for general admission to the 4-hour fest, and there’s a $300 VIP experience that comes with an extra hour, a special glass, and beer to take home. You can read more and purchase tickets at Other Half’s event page.
The numbers are in for 2018. This year, five breweries opened in New York City, bringing the total in the city to 39. That’s down from nine openings in 2017, but it’s still substanial growth. This year’s theme was undoubtedly contract brewers growing up; of the five breweries in the city that opened, four started as contract or nomadic brewers – breweries that had their beer brewed for them, or made their own beer at someone else’s brewery. It may be a testament to the fact that with persistence and some good recipes, those business models can get your foot in the door. Now, let’s welcome the New York City Brewery Class of 2018…
In early November, the Camp Fire swept across Butte County, California, scorching an area the side of Brooklyn and Queens combined, destroying over 18,000 homes and businesses, and killing 86 people. The fires really hit home for one of America’s largest brewers, Sierra Nevada. Their Chico brewery came within a mere mile of the flames, and many of the brewery’s employees were affected by the fire.
Enter the beer industry.
Sierra Nevada sent out a “bat signal” days after the fire for help in building out a fundraiser to support the fire’s victims. They worked with hop, malt, and yeast suppliers to donate ingredients and sought breweries across the country to collectively brew the Resilience Butte County Proud IPA. Supplies were sent earlier this month to participating breweries – 1,400 of them in all – to whip up batches of the beer with a simple premise: 100% of the sales go to the Camp Fire Relief Fund.
