The Great American Ale Trail - Christian DeBenedetti [129]
REBAR
147 Front St. • DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY 11201 • (718) 766-9110 • rebarnyc.com
Rebar has the feel of an artist’s loft, if all artists were rich and could afford vaulted brick ceilings, recessed lighting, and plush couches. There’s a deep list with eighty bottles and fifteen rotating taps; specialties include Belgian ales (Trappists are well represented), beer cocktails, and upmarket bar food. Since 2006, this has been the perfect spot to refresh while on a Dumbo gallery tour or after walking across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan.
4th AVENUE PUB
76 4th Ave • Brooklyn, NY 11217 • (718) 643-2273 • myspace.com/4thavepub
With rarities from Pretty Things, Allagash, and Jolly Pumpkin, 4th Avenue Pub is narrow architecturally but fat as a prize pig when you factor in its twenty-seven taps and a cask beer on at all times, not to mention a deep bottle list and a pleasant backyard space for hot days.
STUDIO SQUARE BEER GARDEN
35-33 36th St. • Long Island City, NY 11106 • (718) 383-1001 • studiosquarenyc.com
This expansive, 20-tap, birch-tree-shaded beer garden shares an urban setting in Queens with Kaufman Astoria Studios, the Contemporary Art Center PS1, and the Museum of the Moving Image, making it an ideal destination drinking spot for culture vultures. Excellent beers include Green’s Discovery (a gluten-free beer) and Bear Republic’s juicy Racer 5 IPA.
LAZY BOY SALOON
154 Mamaroneck Ave. • White Plains, NY 10601 • (914) 761-0272 • lazyboysaloon.com
A trusted Westchester County beer-lovers outpost with huge international tap row, four casks (with fresh casks added Thursdays), deep bottle list, and vaunted hot wings in unusual flavors like Caribbean jerk and tequila citrus.
MAHAR’S PUBLIC HOUSE
1110 Madison Ave. • Albany, NY 12208 • (518) 459-7868 • itsonlybeer.com
Small, renowned, crowded beer-geek hideout with an ever-changing list and four to six casks at a time, and a bit of local edge, so order with authority. In the words of the owners, there’s “no juke box, no bands, no beer specials, little or no food, and no tolerance for bad attitude or bad manners.”
EMPIRE BREWING CO.
120 Walton St. • Syracuse, NY 13202 • (315) 475-4400 • empirebrew.com
These brewers of highly regarded barley wines also sling solid burgers and onion straws in a contemporary, subterranean space. There are ten house taps, three for New York state brewers, and one macro for the misinformed.
THE BLUE MONK
727 Elmwood Ave. • Buffalo, NY 14222 • (716) 882-6665 • bluemonkbflo.com
Opened in 2010, this ode to Belgian beer culture boasts frites cooked in duck fat, mussels steamed in Ommegang or Delerium Tremens (a strong golden ale from Belgium), and thirty-two taps of very hard-to-find Belgian and craft brews along the lines of Glazen Toren Saison d’Erpe-Mere, a hazy, pale gold Belgian beer with earthy, bright and tart fruit notes and a snow-white head. There’s also the option of Blaugies Darbyste, a 5.8% ABV Belgian pale ale brewed with figs.
Connecticut
Middletown
ELI CANNON’S
695 Main St. • Middletown, CT 06457 (860) 347-ELIS(3547) • elicannons.com • Established: 1994
SCENE & STORY
First thing’s first: Eli Cannon’s, built in a historic old brick building, is absolutely crammed floor to ceiling with brewery ephemera, antiques, old TVs (some on, some off ), barber chairs, tap handles, road signs, motorbikes—you name it. That it is also a bar and grill with good food and thirty-three taps of constantly rotating microbrews, a smart bottle list, visiting brewery nights and tap takeovers, a cool outoor patio drinking area, and a fun, youngish crowd makes it all the reason to clamber in and see where things go.
PHILOSOPHY
The more there is, the better.
KEY BEER
Harpoon’s lemony, spicy UFO White (4.8% ABV), a Belgian-style witbier (white beer) would make