Last week, I had my first outdoor beer of the year in New York, sipping an Allagash White on the patio of my local dive bar, and it got me thinking back to a terrible, terrible trend that took this city by storm back in the early 2010s: the use of the term “beer garden” to refer to any outdoor space that happened to serve beer. Got a tiny backyard with four deck chairs and two little tables? Beer garden! Some sidewalk seating with a couple potted plants? Beer garden! A single picnic table in an alley way lined with astroturf? Beer garden! A partially-covered, open-air rooftop bar? Beer garden!
It was out of hand. I wrote too many admonishments of local media using the term, particularly when they started to use the term “indoor beer garden.” (That’s not a thing. Ever.) One year, Time Out New York even featured me in their print edition to explain what a beer garden is. I wasn’t the only one who felt this passionately about the abuse of “beer garden” — the Instagram account notabiergarten has been chronicling misuses of the term since 2017.
Anyway, if you catch any egregious abuses of “beer garden” this summer, send them my way. I’m planning a trip to Germany sometime later this year, and I’m sure some people over there will get a good chuckle out of it.
A Sure Sign of Spring: Threes’ Can Jam Returns
It’s the time of year for drinking canned beer outside. Threes Brewing’s semi-annual Can Jam is back in the backyard in Gowanus this Sunday, May 21st. The event celebrates all things canned beer, with special cans from breweries all across the country in a pay-as-you-go event. Grab a koozie and can tickets at the bar, then head to the yard for cans from a cavalcade of exciting breweries — the lagers of Human Robot and Bierstadt Lagerhaus, the IPAs of Foam and North Park, and many, many more. In addition, The Meat Hook will be grilling out back, and they’ll have music by DJ Dogwalker. The party starts at noon and runs until the beer runs out.
New York breweries honored at World Beer Cup
The World Beer Cup, a professionally-judged competition of beers from around the world that drew more than 10,000 entries from 51 countries this year, had three winners from New York State. The renown awards were announced last week in Nashville, Tennessee as part of the Craft Brewers Conference. This is the first time the competition has been held in back-to-back years, as it became an annual event beginning last year after previously being held bi-annually.
New York’s breweries took home one gold and two silver awards. The gold went to ABInBev-owned Blue Point Brewing in Patchogue, which won the top award in the Australian-Style Pale Ale category for Feel Good. At press time, the beer is still available in crowlers at their taproom. This is Blue Point’s fifth World Beer Cup award and their first since 2014. Auburn’s Prison City Brewing won silver for their foeder-fermented Something Something Something Dark Sour aged on sweet and tart cherries. The beer competed in the Fruited Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer category. This is the first World Beer Cup win for the celebrated Central New York brewer. And in the Contemporary American-Style Lager category, Upward Brewing Co. in Livingston Manor won silver for their Base Camp Lagerbier. It’s the first win for the Catskills Region brewery at World Beer Cup, but not the first time this particular beer has been lauded by judges — Base Camp won gold in 2021 in the New York State Beer Competition.
On a personal note, I did some number crunching, and of the 307 beers given awards at this year’s World Beer Cup, I have visited the breweries where 156 of them were made. That’s just over half. Coincidentally, the two winning breweries in Australia and New Zealand, Bucketty’s near Sydney and Garage Project in Wellington respectively, were stops on my overseas trip last month.
Next year’s World Beer Cup awards will be held in April in Las Vegas.
A Quick New York Beer News Roundup
Here’s a few other beer news items of note to New York City beer drinkers:
Return Brewing, a product of a team of former Sixpoint Brewery employees, has officially opened their doors up river in Hudson, New York. You’ve probably seen their beers on tap and in cans around the city, but now they have a home you can visit this summer. Check their Instagram for hours.
The National Black Brewers Association announced their launch at last week’s Craft Brewers Conference in Nashville. The organization, which seeks to promote the Black brewing community and support the growth of African American members of the industry, has several New York area members on its Board of Directors: Harlem Brewing Company’s Celeste Beatty, Brooklyn Brewery’s Garrett Oliver, and Montclair Brewery’s Denise Ford-Sawadogo.
Just days after opening their seasonal spot in Union Square, Torch & Crown Brewing will take their show out east for the summer, camping out on The Stretch between Amagansett and Montauk by taking over Best Pizza & Dive Bar. They’ll kick things off Memorial Day Weekend and host DJs, bands, and their lineup of beers every weekend there all summer long.
Brewery Tracker
Total brewery count: 3,092
Total breweries visited in 2023: 197
Total breweries visited in California: 255
Brewery Visit of the Week
Brewery #2,183, Transmission Brewery, Ventura, California (Visited 13-May-2021)
I wish I could remember Transmission Brewery, a charming spot in an old car repair shop in Ventura, for all the right reasons. The taproom was clean and polished. The bar had very comfortable chairs. The staff was incredibly friendly. And the beer, particularly the pictured Short Shift German Pilsner, was delicious. I strongly recommend a visit here if you find yourself in Ventura.
But I remember it for another reason, unrelated to the brewery itself. That bar at Transmission was where I sat down two years ago this week, sipped a beer, and opened Instagram, where several of my friends were pointing to Brienne Allan’s stories calling out allegations of rampant sexism, harassment, and sexual assault that takes place in the craft beer industry. It was gut-wrenching. It made me question why I had been so oblivious to some of what was going on and why I hadn’t spoken up against blatant sexism I witnessed first hand before then. It made me angry. When I stepped out of the brewery, instead of moving on to my next planned stop that day, I had to take a long walk along the beach just to find any sense of sanity.
What makes me angrier, though, is that very little seems to have changed in the two years since that supposed reckoning. Some of those accused of being serial harassers are still employed in craft beer, and worse, some are still celebrated. These are people who created hostile work environments that have forced many passionate, talented people out of the beer industry. And yet, every week, I’m reminded that changing this atmosphere still seems Sisyphean, like when I saw a high-gravity beer called Panty Dropper on a tap list last weekend (how is this still a thing?). Yes, there have been small, positive steps, with some breweries going out of their way to create more welcoming spaces for women who want to work in beer and instituting policies that make taprooms and beer festivals safer spaces for customers. But we have so much more to do.
I’m sorry, Transmission, that this is what I remember from my visit. Next time I come to Ventura, I’ll log off my social media before I sit down for your delicious beer. Promise!
Long Read of the Week
Apparently not satisfied with using hatred and bigotry toward trans people to bring down Bud Light, the far-right is now up in arms about a completely innocuous Miller Lite video from back in March that mocked the objectification of women in beer ads, with a gang of mouth-breathing, braindead goons calling it “woke,” as they do when they’re desperately looking for something to get offended by. To their credit, MillerCoors responded with a forceful defense. Emily Stewart has a good wrap-up of this and all the other bullshit that big beer has been forced to deal with over the past six weeks at Vox.
One More Thing
A reminder that the re-release party for New York-based author Josh Bernstein’s The Complete Beer Course is tonight at KCBC in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The instructional guide to beer that Josh first penned back in 2013 is updated for the 2020s, and he’s hosting a party from 6-9pm to celebrate. Tickets are still available, and at $45 include a copy of the book, two beers on the house, some cool stickers, and a special edition can. Another Friend of Brew York, Will Cleveland, has an interview with Josh that’s worth a read. Congrats, Josh!
Cheers,
Chris