New York Breweries

New York like many other cities in America has a vibrant micro-brewery and brew pub culture. Many of these brewpubs and microbreweries offer free tastings of their special brews though some even have restaurants attached to their premises that offer classic finger foods like nachos, potato skins, hot wings, BBQ, meat loaf, mashed potatoes and more which perfectly complement the great brews that these breweries produce.

Brooklyn Brewery
79 North 11th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211

Brooklyn Brewery is one of the premier microbreweries in New York whose products can be spotted in restaurants around the world. The Brooklyn Brewery opened in 1996 but it had no brewing facility and it outsourced its production to F.X. Matt Brewing in Utica, New York which continues to produce beer for the brewery though today the brewery’s Williamsburg brew house produces and bottles several specialty brews as well and the Brooklyn Brewery is constantly being upgraded and expanded to accommodate its growing production needs.

The Chief Brewer at the Brooklyn Brewery is Garett Oliver and the brewery currently offers a wide assortment of core brews like Brooklyn Brown Ale, East India Pale Ale, Brooklyn Lager, and Brooklyn Pilsner which are available all throughout the year. The Brewery also produces seasonal brews like Brooklyn Summer Ale, Pumpkin Ale and Black Chocolate Stout and the Brew master’s reserve beers like the Sorachi Ace, Cuvee de Cardoz and Intensified Coffee Stout. The Brooklyn Brewery doesn’t have an attached restaurant but it does offer weekend tours of its premises.

Theses brewery tours are offered on Saturdays on the hour from 1pm to 5 pm while similar tours on Sunday are offered between 1pm and 4pm. These tours are offered free and are available on a first come first basis. The Brooklyn Brewery often ties up with various dining establishments around the country to promote its various brews some of which are also available in big bottles. The Brooklyn brewery is easily accessible by public transportation via the L train at the Bedford Avenue station and the G Train at Nassau Avenue station.

Chelsea Brewing Company
Pier 59, Chelsea Piers, New York, NY 1011

The Chelsea Brewing Company is located on Pier 59 on the extreme west side of Manhattan where West 18th street meets the West Side Highway. This brewery is located close to the Chelsea Piers recreation center which is the home to the only high tech driving range in New York City. The Chelsea Brewing Company brewery which extends over 12000 square feet also has a restaurant on its premises which offers gorgeous views of the marina and the Hudson River. The Chelsea Brewing Company creates hand crafted ales like the Checkered Cab Blonde ale and Sunset Red Ale which are produced using purified water, yeast and the finest malts and hops from around the world. These specialty beers are served at breweries’ restaurant and supplied to local breweries and bars around the city. The Chelsea Brewery company can be easily accessed by the M14 and M23 cross town bus services which are connected to nearly all the subway lines of the New York City Subway network. Additionally the brewery also welcomes bus tours and tour groups for a visit of its premises and restaurant.

Greenpoint Beer Works/Kelso
529 Waverly Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11238

The Kelso Brewery is named after its owners and chief brew masters, Kelly Taylor and his wife Soniya Giacobbe who founded the brewery in 2003. The Kelso Brewery supplies its hand crafted brews to many brew pubs and famous restaurants around New York City like the Heartland Brewery outlets, the Five Napkin Burger restaurants, the Peter Luger Steakhouse, the Bubby’s Restaurant and Bakery, Shake Shack and many more.

The brewery produces some great brews like Nut Brown Lager, the Pilsner, the St Gowanus which are available year round along with other seasonal brews like Chocolate Lager, Saison, Flemish Red Ale and the Recessionator. Kelso of Brooklyn has also collaborated with the Blue Hill restaurant at Stone Barns to produce a special brew which will served be at the restaurant which promotes sustainable agriculture by creating its fare from the produce that is grown on the farm at Stone Barns. The Kelso Brewery also offers tours of its facilities but these need to be arranged by prior appointment.

Sixpoint Craft Ales
40 Van Dyke Street, Brooklyn, NY

The Sixpoint Craft Ales microbrewery is yet another microbrewery located in Brooklyn that specializes in crafting specialty brews. This brewery was founded by former home brewer, Shane Walsh who founded the brewery on the premises of a factory which once produced filing cabinets in the Red Hook area of Brooklyn. Sixpoint initially didn’t bottle its beers but supplied kegs to local restaurants and bars like Barcade in Williamsburg and Jimmy’s No. 43 in the East Village, the Gramercy Tavern and others. However recently Sixpoint has invested in a bottling line and a brewing system that will let it increase production tenfold to about 60,000 barrels a year.

Southampton Brewery
40 Bowden Square, Southampton, NY

The Southhampton PublickHouse has been brewing and serving beers since the 1800s. During the Prohibition years the owners of the Publick House transformed the brewery into a restaurant which had a speakeasy concealed behind it. The Southampton Publickhouse continues to produces its signature brews until today which are brewed under the careful supervision of chief brewer Phil Markowski. Some of its most popular brews include the Southhampton Double White which is a Belgian Pale Ale, the Southhampton Altbier which is a North German –Dusseldorf style Altbier and the Southhampton Indian Pale Ale which is an amalgamation of an English Pale Ale and an American Pale Ale, that perfectly complements several spicy cuisines like Thai and Indian.