The Great American Ale Trail - Christian DeBenedetti [112]
Indeed they had. The board eventually relented, and in March 2007, the Tiger reopened with a huge (but civilized!) party that hasn’t really stopped. Infinitely cleaner, but no less fun, it’s New York’s most fiercely defended beer territory.
JIMMY’S No. 43
43 E. 7th St. • New York, NY 10003 • (212) 982-3006 jimmysno43.com • Established: 2005
SCENE & STORY
Most nights when you amble down the stairs into this amiable rathskeller (a bar below street level) the compactly stocky New York craft beer maven Jimmy Carbone is perched on a stool to greet you, along with the aroma of some very good food cooking—stick-to-your-ribs fare like ribs and gnocchi. Jimmy’s got a twinkle in his eye and a beer in hand, and he’s glad to see you. It’s got a small, cozy dining room area, a narrow bar, and more or less feels like it was transported, inch by inch, out of Germany (those who have been lucky enough to travel to Aecht Schlenkerla, in Bamberg, will feel right at home). There’s something wonderfully enveloping about the bar, or maybe that’s just the way it feels when you huddle in cheek by jowl to sample beers and rap with Jimmy and his friendly crew.
PHILOSOPHY
With twelve ever-changing taps of beer, and some twenty-six in bottles, Carbone takes things coast-to-coast, and somehow he manages to score a lot of unique kegs other bars never seem to have, or are too chicken to put on tap.
KEY BEER
Jimmy loves his Belgian ales, from the mother country and our American counterparts, sometimes pitting them against one another in taste offs. Brasserie De Ranke’s XX Bitter, a dry, bitter, and peppery Belgian pale ale inspired by Orval is sometimes on tap. It was brewed to be the hoppiest beer in Belgium and is not for the fainthearted, but rewards those who love earthy, intensely flavored brews.
LA BIRRERIA AT EATALY NYC
200 5th Ave. (top floor) • New York, NY 10010 Entrances on 5th Ave. and 23rd St. (212) 229-2560 • eatalyny.com • Established: 2011
SCENE & STORY
Set in an 8,000-square-foot aerie soaring above Manhattan with views of the Flatiron and Empire State Buildings, La Birreria serves up the ultimate in Italian-style cask-conditioned ales (brewed on premises) paired with food by Mario Batali. The dream team in charge includes American brewing star Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head and creative Italian craft beer upstarts Teo Musso of Birrificio Le Baladin and Leonardo Di Vincenzo of Birra del Borgo. Brewer Brooks Carretta is at the kettles. That’s a lot of hands in the brew house, but all very able ones indeed.
PHILOSOPHY
Old-world flavors and techniques mingle with unhinged experimentation, both in the kettle and on the plate. “This may well be the craziest and most amazing brewery in the world,” says Di Vincenzo.
KEY BEER
All of the Birreria’s beers are served on cask, with three cask beer engines featuring two year-round beers and one rotating seasonal. Staples include an English mild made with Italian chestnut powder and American pale ale made with dried thyme from Italy. In addition, there are eight draft taps with beers from Italian and American craft breweries.
THE HOPSICLE EXPERIENCE
DIABLO ROYALE ESTE
167 Ave. A (at 11th St.) • New York, NY 10009 (212) 388-9673 • diabloroyale.com
It gets really, really hot in New York during the months of June through September. Enter the Hopsicle Experience, a can of Tecate ingeniously spiked with simple syrup and lime, then frozen with a wooden stick—frozen-pop-style—for four days. Craft beer? Not so much. But here’s the crafty