Still Strong After All That's Gone On
NYC Beer Week makes a triumphant return, a trip to Newark, and the largest brewery-less cities
Hey, there’s some good news in this week’s newsletter: the return of another NYC beer get-together that we’ve been longing to see again. We’re coming up on two years of the pandemic and one year of this newsletter, and I’ve really been missing writing about the things that make us all smile while seeing all the people I miss in beer together in one big room. Maybe some of you aren’t ready for that yet (heck, by the sound of last week’s newsletter, I don’t know if I’m quite ready for that yet, either), but things are turning a bit more optimistic as case rates are on the decline in New York City and we’ve weathered the Omicron storm.
Let’s hope I don’t live to regret saying that.
Anyway, given that beer bars across the country are threatened in this new economy, I’m going to start featuring a New York City beer bar here every couple weeks, and I’d like to hear from you: who’s got a great beer list, survived the pandemic, and might fly a little under the radar? I don’t want to blow up your favorite neighborhood spot, but I’d like to get to know some of the city’s more hidden gems with great tap lists. Leave a comment and shout out your local — enough good beer in me and I’ll wax poetic about it in a future newsletter.
It’s On: NYC Beer Week Opening Bash tickets on sale now
After a hiatus that feels something like a decade even though we only missed one year due to Covid, the biggest event on New York City’s beer calendar is back on for this year: the New York City Beer Week Opening Bash. The official kickoff of the biggest week in NYC beer will be held Saturday, February 26th from 2-5pm. In years past, this has been the biggest annual celebration of beer in the five boroughs and beyond, and the 2022 edition will be no different, but in a new venue: Building 269, a big space in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Building 269 is a massive building that’s had several lives from Naval facility to fish warehouse. It’s got booming ceilings and plenty of room to spread out. For many attendees, this will be the first time seeing this unique space, inside or out.
While it’s new scenery this time around, there will be a lot of familiar aspects: 30+ member breweries of the New York City Brewers Guild will be pouring their beers in an all-you-care-to-drink format, paired with friends of those brewers in attendance from out-of-town, including Hudson Valley newcomer Return Brewing, Long Island favorite Barrier, Georgia outfit Two Tides Brewing, and many more to be announced.
As always, food trucks will be there to help wash down your beer with some food, and there will be a live DJ pumping some good tunes.
Tickets are on sale now for $75 for General Admission and $100 for VIP, which affords you an extra hour and a half in a more lightly-attended format from 12:30-2pm.
Query: What’s the largest US city without a craft brewery?
Prior to the opening of this week’s Brewery of the Week (see below), Newark, New Jersey was the largest city in the United States without an independent brewery (its other brewery being the hulking Anheuser-Busch facility across from Newark Airport). So I had to update my research: what’s the largest city in the country without a brewery today? Newark was the nation’s 62nd largest city in the 2020 Census.
What’s noteworthy from my digging is that each of the the country’s 100 largest cities now has a brewery for the first time in history. The two others that lacked a brewery at the start of 2021 saw openings: North Las Vegas, Nevada, the 84th largest city, welcomed North 5th Brewing Co. in December, which I visited last month, and Laredo, Texas, the 88th largest city, saw the opening of Laredo Brewing Co. in October.
So, now we have to dip in the next tier of American cities to find one without a brewery. It doesn’t take long, but the ultimate answer is surprising: the 102nd largest city in the country, San Bernardino, California (population 222,101), is the first one in rankings by population that lacks a brewery. That’s a recent development — Brew Rebellion was the city’s only brewery until it closed its location there in 2019. Not surprisingly, in the state with the most craft breweries in the nation, you don’t have to go far outside the San Bernardino city limits to find a brewery: Ritual Brewing Co. is barely a third of a mile over the line in neighboring Redlands.
You also don’t have to go far to find the second largest city in the US without a brewery: Moreno Valley, California, the 109th largest in the nation (population 208,634), is just 15 miles south of San Bernardino. It too saw its only brewery, Woody’s Brewpub, close recently — though you could strike the city from this list by purchasing and reviving the space if you have about $3 million kicking around. Moreno Valley is more a collection of strip malls and sprawling suburbs than an actual city, so don’t feel bad that you’ve never heard of it.
And heck, you don’t have to go much further for the third largest city without a brewery. That’s Fontana, California (#111, population 208,393), about 10 miles west of San Bernardino. The fourth largest is Frisco, Texas (#120, population 200,509), a Dallas suburb that barely makes the list with a Flix Brewhouse quite literally across the street from that city’s corporate limits. And rounding out the top five is another Dallas suburb — Grand Prairie, Texas (#128, population 196,100).
Brewery Tracker
Total brewery count: 2,539
Total breweries visited in 2022: 10
Total breweries visited in New Jersey: 45
Brewery Visit of the Week
Brewery #2531, Newark Local Beer, Newark, New Jersey (Visited 13-Jan-2022)
In late November, Newark, New Jersey welcomed its first craft brewery in nearly a decade. The brewery is in a roomy space on Broad Street, just four blocks south of the NJ Transit Newark Broad Street rail station, which itself is a one-stop ride from Penn Station during rush hours. It’s also a 15-minute walk from Newark Penn Station. So, if you’re looking for a quick and easy brewery adventure, here’s a good suggestion.
The space is open and airy and was abuzz with students from the nearby Rutgers Newark campus. There’s foosball, cornhole, and ping-pong to keep you occupied while you sip on their beers. On my visit, the lineup was a pretty mixed bag, style-wise, with the obligatory Hazy IPA (a boozy number called Freight Train) and West Coast IPA (a clean interpretation with berry and citrus notes called Fantasy), plus a delightfully crisp Kolsch called Lite Rail, a Porter called Oak Island, and a kettle sour called Switch Failure with notes of apricot and peach.
The brewery, run by husband-and-wife team Steve and Miller Hughes, is in the historic Walker House, a 21-story art-deco skyscraper that served as headquarters for the Bell Company when built in the late 1920s. The building today is a registered National Historic Landmark.
Newark last had a craft brewery in 2011, when Port 44 Brewpub closed its doors after just over a year in operation.
Social Post of the Week
Beer of the Week
The Big Gavone
Bridge & Tunnel Brewery (Ridgewood, New York)
Pastry Stout
7.5% ABV
Let’s celebrate the small and scrappy Ridgewood, Queens beer pioneer this week. I’ve always been enamored with brewer/founder Rich Castagna’s willingness to throw New York ingredients in his beer, from bagels to local honey to rainbow cookies — and as a boy from Rhode Island who subsisted on red sauce, pizza, and Italian bakery cookie platters growing up, this Rainbow Cookie Pastry Stout speaks to me. A touch of amaretto bitterness and raspberry and chocolate sweetness really rounds this out. It’s not cloyingly sweet, but it tickles my childlike sweet tooth.
Long Read of the Week
I almost always detest “beer predictions for the new year” pieces — often, it feels like the same predictions get repeated year after year. But Josh Bernstein’s piece at SevenFifty seems to avoid many of the tropes of these lists, or at least puts them in a more informed perspective. “More lagers” seems to make appearances on all of these lists, but Josh’s piece paints them as a consumer-driven demand, not just wishful thinking among brewers who crave them.
One More Thing
Shout-out to Hoplark Water, by the way. It was as expected, delightfully hoppy and full of hop flavor that dances on your tongue. Can’t stress this enough… if you’re a hop fiend who can’t get behind non-alcoholic beer, this might be the N/A drink you’ve been looking for.
Cheers,
Chris
I know a good spot in Woodside…
Revisit the Good Beer Seal vars, since we last posted summer 2019..
https://www.google.com/amp/s/brewyorknewyork.com/post/186637389448/21-new-york-city-bars-added-to-good-beer-seal/amp