Time to Take the Field
Grimm’s two new trophies and a trip to carb heaven
Happy opening day of baseball season! There’s few things I associate more with baseball than beer. Going to a baseball game and drinking beer go hand-in-hand. That’s why I was so frustrated last year when Citi Field, home of the Mets, couldn’t be bothered to serve craft beer on most gamedays. This is not because they didn’t have it in stock — they just didn’t staff any of the stands that had said beers in their coolers. Heck, even on weekends or in crucial, well-attended games leading up to their playoff run, most of their craft beer was stuck behind lock and key at unstaffed, unopen stands on every level of the ballpark.
Will this year be any better? Well, there’s a small glimmer of hope. Two of the beer companies that are corporate partners with the Mets will have dedicated bars on the Excelsior (300) Level: Allagash Brewing and Boston Beer Company-owned Dogfish Head. And both breweries will have beers throughout the ballpark during the season. While I wish we could see a partnership with a local brewery, at least Mets fans might have the option to drink a beer that isn’t owned by a multinational conglomerate during every game this season. And for those who don’t mind the macro stuff: there will be $5 12-ounce Coors Lights at every Tuesday home game this season. I’ll report back after attending my first Mets home game of the season in a couple weeks with a fuller picture of the beer there.
Meanwhile, Yankee Stadium, the soulless temple to capitalism, will continue to kowtow to its corporate partner Anheuser Busch and completely ignore craft beer, as it has in nearly every season for the past decade. In a pre-season press release the team announced that its “signature Yankee Stadium beer,” New York Legendary Ale, will return for another year, available at the Kona Bleachers Bar in left field and in other locations around the stadium. The “crisp, aromatic and fruity golden ale with brilliant clarity” is brewed by… AB-owned and Chicago-based Goose Island Brewing Company. Because nothing says baseball in the Bronx quite like a brewery from Chicago.
Grimm takes top honors at New York State Beer Competition
New York City breweries took home some significant hardware at this year’s New York State Beer Competition, held last Friday as part of the New York State Brewers Conference in Albany. The event is open to every brewery in the state and the competition is fierce: over 1,300 beers were entered from 207 breweries in 32 different style categories assessed by 75 judges (including myself). 20 medals went to New York City-based breweries of the 96 total medals awarded — over 20% of all the medals awarded, despite the city representing less than 10% of the state’s breweries.
Most notably, Brooklyn’s Grimm Artisanal Ales had the strongest showing among the city’s breweries, taking the title of New York State Brewery of the Year for the fourth time in the competition’s history, tying Schoharie’s Wayward Lane Brewing for the honor. Grimm previously won the honor in 2021, 2022, and last year; Wayward Lane last won in 2023. Brewery of the Year is determined on a point system based on medals won — Grimm had three golds, two silvers, and two bronzes; Wayward Lane won four golds, one silver, and one bronze.
Grimm also won the Governor’s Cup for their Grimm Weisse, an award given to the brewery who makes the beer judged as best-in-show in the competition.
The full list of New York City winners is below. If you want to see the full list from across the state, check the list on the competition website.
American IPA - 55 Entries
Silver - All or Nothing - Threes Brewing
American Lager - 42 Entries
Gold - Well Earned - The Bronx Brewery
Bronze - Home Slice - Finback Brewery
Belgian Farmhouse - 19 Entries
Silver - Castling - Grimm Artisanal Ales
Bronze - Pearly Dewdrops - Grimm Artisanal Ales
Dark Lager - 55 Entries
Bronze - Crispy Nights - Finback Brewery
Golden/Blonde Ale - 38 Entries
Bronze - Octo Brau - Kings County Brewers Collective
Hazy DIPA - 50 Entries
Silver - Cats Are People Too - Finback Brewery
Bronze - Psychedelic Gardener - Grimm Artisanal Ales
Hazy IPA - 104 Entries
Gold - Blue Cheese - Other Half Brewing
Imperial Stout and Porter - 21 Entries
Gold - Double Negative - Grimm Artisanal Ales
Kettle and Simple Sours - 17 Entries
Gold - Psychokinesis - Grimm Artisanal Ales
Light Lager - Modern & Contemporary - 54 Entries
Silver - Petrini - Strong Rope Brewery
Light Lager - Traditional - 90 Entries
Bronze - Killsner - Kills Boro Brewing Company
Pale Ale - 31 Entries
Silver - Ordinary Brooklyn Bitter - 18th Ward Brewing
Bronze - Fresh Coast - TALEA Beer
Porter (Non Imperial) - 28 Entries
Bronze - Visual Sounds - Threes Brewing
Wheat Beer - 36 Entries
Gold - Weisse - Grimm Artisanal Ales
Wild and Sour Ale - 26 Entries
Gold - Trellis - Grimm Artisanal Ales
Silver - Contour Interval - Wild East Brewing Co.
Beer Events of Note This Week
Manhattan: Bat Flip Day at Torch & Crown, Friday 3/28 from Noon-11pm, tickets available for $15
Brooklyn: NYC Cask Crew Cask Crawl in Gowanus, Saturday 3/29 starting at 12:30pm
Brewery Tracker
Total brewery count: 3,704
Total breweries visited in 2025: 78
Total breweries visited in Texas: 103
Brewery Visit of the Week
Brewery #3624, Batch Craft Beer & Kolaches, Austin, Texas (Visited 30-Dec-2024)
I wrote a couple months back about how Austin, Texas is the Lager Capital of the United States, and why there’s a very good reason for that: the region’s Czech and German heritage. That’s also the reason that this part of Texas is also known for a particular specialty pastry: kolaches. These fluffy pillows stuffed with savory and/or sweet goodness are found throughout the Austin area (and at Kings Kolache or Brooklyn Kolache if you’re looking for them locally in NYC), but there’s only one spot to my knowledge that makes both kolaches and beer on the same property: Batch. Batch is both a bakery and brewery on the east side of Austin, and it was a highlight of my last trip to town.
Being a bakery and brewery means the taproom is an all-day affair: it’s part coffee shop, part kolache counter, and part bar. The space evolves throughout the day, and the backyard on my visit was equally filled with families enjoying some sweet pastries and groups of adults sipping on beers. Those beers run from traditional, like their Batch Pilz (a Czech-style Pilsner, unsurprisingly), to the offbeat, like their PB&J Kolache Beer (inspired by their pastry creation of the same name). It was late morning when I stepped in, so I decided to take part in a little bit of everything: a coffee, a pair of kolaches (a three cheese and a vegan sausage and jalapeño), and a beer. It was a match made in heaven… carb heaven.
The Doom and Gloom Tracker
At least 2 breweries I’ve visited closed or announced their closure this week:
Brewery #650, Halfpenny Brewing Company, Centennial, Colorado (Visited 4-Oct-2016)
Brewery #1665, FlyteCo Brewing Company - Berkeley, Denver, Colorado (Visited 21-Aug-2019)
The Weekly Reader
Torch & Crown will tattoo you tomorrow for free beer [Hannah Frishberg, Gothamist]
Wild East is The Spill Awards Brewery of the Year [Courtney Iseman, Inside Hook]
A messy end for a Rochester-area brewing facility [Gino Fanelli, WXXI]
Gentrification helped breweries grow, right up until it didn’t [Dave Infante, VinePair]
One Last Thing
A reminder that Beer Street North, a staple of Williamsburg for more than a decade, is serving its final beers this weekend. Its last two days in business — and the last days of its month-long Suarez Family Brewery residency — will be Saturday and Sunday, so if you haven’t been over to pay your last respects, this is your last chance.
And don’t worry if you can’t make it, since Beer Street South will keep the flame burning long after Beer Street North is gone.
Cheers,
Chris