When I was living above a 99-cent store in Greenpoint in 2004, my roommate told me of a bar that had just opened just a few blocks south of our apartment.
He described it as accurately as he could: “it’s a huge space with an amazing beer list, a pool table, and - oh, get this - a ton of video games from the 80s that you can play for a quarter a piece. You have to check it out!”
I flat-out didn’t believe him. No bar could have all that! Later that week, I saw for myself that he wasn’t kidding. It was real. It was amazing. And its name was Barcade.
Cider Week kicks off this Friday in New York City! Regional cideries have partnered with restaurants, bars, and others to dedicate an entire week to ciders in New York City. The ten-day celebration runs through November 2nd.
Now, naturally, we’re not talking about the kind of cider you like warmed and mulled with a little cinnamon. We’re talking the fermented kind - the kind that you can find on tap in bars… and the kind you may scoff at for no reason. Cider Week is a great time to open your mind to cider, learn that it’s not just for people who can’t stand the bitterness of beer, and maybe even enjoy it.
After three years of brewing elsewhere with the hopes of one day brewing in their namesake borough, The Bronx Brewery is now brewing in the Boogie-Down at their new facility in Port Morris. In addition to brewing, they’ve got a canning line, a tasting room, and a beer garden to better satisfy the borough’s beer drinkers. With its opening, it becomes the 20th operating brewery in New York City, and the 11th new brewery in the city in the last 12 months.
Every time we think there might be too many bars specializing in craft beer, a few more empty spaces start buzzing with activity in anticipation of opening. Here’s a few of the many upcoming beer bars we’re keeping an eye on for opening soon.
Back in 2011, we and Beertography celebrated the opening of Barcade Philadelphia with a bar crawl to all three Barcades in one day using only public transit. Well, by the end of this week, there will be five Barcades, with Barcade New York opening in Chelsea earlier this year and Barcade St. Marks opening on Thursday. On top of that, the original Barcade Brooklyn celebrates its 10th Anniversary this month. In a spark of creative genius (or complete insanity), we’ve decided to celebrate these occasions by reviving the Barcade Crawl to visit all five Barcades in one day: Saturday, October 18th.
Grab an NJ Transit ticket and join us after the jump…
Despite the Brewers Association’s depiction of a beer snob, you don’t have to be wearing a beret to be one. (Photo via the BA’s CraftBeer.com)
In trying to promote idea yesterday that craft beer is not a “hipster” trend, I pointed out that The Sporkful’s Dan Pashman went after a particular type of “hipster beer snob.” David Chang, in a piece today on GQ, described beer snobbery as “combing out my neck beard while arguing about hop varieties.” Beer snobbery is not at all limited to the realm of “hipsters.” Beer snobs come from all walks of life. And beer snobs are insufferable.
Seriously, if you embrace the term “beer snob” and tell people you’re a “beer snob,” you’re doing craft beer a disservice. It’s not just that writers on all beats turn to the beer snob stereotype whenever they need an excuse to deride craft beer; the bad habits of beer snobs can alienate other people from drinking craft beer. And that’s bad for the very brewers you think you’re trying to support.
Maybe you self-describe as a “beer snob” when you actually mean “beer geek.” There’s a distinct difference. Here are seven things that you’re be doing that might make you a beer snob.
