It couldn’t have been a more perfect night for stopping into The Bad Old Days, or maybe there’s no better bar for a rainy night. Either way, immediately after walking into this brand new bar in Ridgewood I felt like I was in some kind of geothermal beer womb. Warmth radiates up from the wooden floorboards and out of the living room lamps, and half-curtains hug the tall windows, shielding boozers from the depressing weather outside. If you need a new winter bar, here’s a stellar contender.
beer
Lions Beerstore, a Gastropub and Carry-Out Shop, Aims to Unite All the World’s Beer Snobs
Lions Beerstore—an all-in-one gastropub, retail store, and self-described beer consultancy—will open Monday in Spice’s former home at Second Avenue and East Sixth Street.
Puppies N’ Pints! Brooklyn Brewery Went to the Dogs Last Night
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Radegast Hall’s Respectable Cousin, Witlof, Opens Tonight in Williamsburg
How many times have you had to warn your visiting friends to stay far, far away from Radegast Hall & Biergarten lest they get blasted with barf by some weekend warrior who doesn’t understand boots are made to be shared, not enema’d? Well, as of 6 p.m. tonight, you can simply dismiss Radegast as the naughty, trashy cousin of Witlof and point your pals in the direction of this new, sophisticated “Flemish brasserie.”
War Flag Brewery is ‘Going to Surprise a Lot of People’
After reading this intriguing post about a Greenpoint-based brewery (well, in the sense that Braven Brewery is based in Bushwick, which is to say it’s operated right here in Brooklyn, but the actual brewing happens Upstate) we met up with the owner of War Flag Ales & Lagers, James McFillin, at Roebling Tea Room in Williamsburg over beers. We discussed what it takes to get a brewery operation running from hops all the way to bottled, fermented drank, his plans to build out a brewery in Brooklyn in the near future, and rumors that his company is tied to the Koch Brothers. (Hint: It’s not… and actually, James really likes Bernie Sanders.)
Chatting With Some Regulars at Bar Brooklyn… in Sweden
Taking a break from writing the Meet the Regulars book (slated to be published by Skyhorse in May 2016), I was visiting a friend in Stockholm, Sweden. As soon as I learned about Bar Brooklyn, a restaurant and bar inspired by Williamsburg’s Brooklyn Brewery, I had to check it out.
At New East Williamsburg Bar, The Topaz, Sip a Cocktail Named for a Death Yarn
I was in the grips of a full-on Sunday hangover, on a caffeine-addled regret-stroll through East Williamsburg, when I locked eyes with a bar I’d never seen before, The Topaz. I wondered if the name, bestowed on this cocktail and small plates establishment, might be a play on “tapas.” Perhaps. But it also betrays the spirit of the place: a glimmering but none-too-fancy oasis in an otherwise spartan stretch of the neighborhood.
Do Rooftop Yoga or Ride a Mechanical Bull at These Al-Fresco Foodie Frolics
It’s getting to that point in the summer where doing much of anything besides moving that lawn chair to the kiddie pool and cracking open your daily 40 seems interminably arduous. For hell’s sake, you’ve been wearing the same sweaty tank top, bucket hat, and cut-offs ensemble for, like, weeks now, dude. Pull yourself together and get to some of these combination music-food-shopping-booze-drink affairs. You’ll realize economy of movement as well as restoration of dignity.
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Cinco de Mayo Isn’t the Mexican 4th of July, But Drink Up Anyway
Cinco de Mayo is probably best known as a reminder of American ignorance. Northern-dwelling Americans, including myself, are often raised to think of this Mexican national holiday as the equivalent of Independence Day in the US (it’s actually a holiday celebrating the Mexican Army’s victory over the French in 1862 at the Battle of Puebla) and while correcting factual misunderstanding is somewhat easy, old habits die hard. That’s why we’ve thrown our good judgment out the window and made this list of great happenings on and around Cinco de Mayo.
Braven Brewery Keeps the Bushwick Beer Dream Alive
A refreshing new IPA is on tap in Brooklyn just in time for spring. You may remember that we spoke with Eric Feldman and Marshall Thompson a couple years back about their new Bushwick-based micro-brew company, just as things were getting started. Now after two years of fits and starts, planning, scrapping, and straight hustling, Braven Brewing has finally become a reality.
We caught up with the brewers Wednesday night at fancy digs– a place called Cow and Clover, which is all poured concrete, reclaimed wood, and refurbished industrial lighting– adjacent to the now long-gone 285 Kent. Despite the close proximity of the staff, noise at the softly-lit “seasonal wood-fire kitchen” barely reached above a polite, pleasant hum at all times. The pair admitted this place was quite different from anything in Thompson’s neighborhood, Bushwick– well, for now anyway.