With a dozen new beer gardens, NYC is on a brew streak. We rate the settings and suds — and tell you which are the best bars to visit with your buds
HOPS UNDER THE HIGH LINE
Lot on Tap
, under the High Line at 30th Street and 10th Avenue; thehighline.org/the-lot
Authenticity: This pop-up plaza under the newly extended High Line from chef Tom Colicchio — here for the summer only — succeeds in re-creating a beer-garden feel without having much to work with.
Setting: The off-the-beaten-track Chelsea setting means you won’t have to wait long to get in after a leisurely stroll on the High Line, even on a Friday night. And with seating for 350, it’s not too tough to snag a place at a communal table, where you’ll even find folks immersed in a game of cards or Scrabble they’ve brought from home. An interactive art installation next door called “Rainbow City” provides a colorful backdrop — and a cool spot to check out when you’ve had your fill of beer.
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Suds: The main bar, situated under the High Line, gets major points for Brooklyn Brewery’s light, fruity High Line Elevated Wheat and Gotham Project’s 2010 Chardonnay, Lot 30, both on tap and produced just for this beer garden.
Grub: A rotating group of food trucks (among them Taim and Rickshaw Dumpling) park in the back — so whether you’re craving falafel or pork, you’ll definitely have a variety of options. And don’t miss the dessert trucks closer to 10th Avenue, known to include yummy ice cream sandwiches from Coolhaus.
Cost: The $7 beer and $9 wine tickets, available for purchase at a kiosk, are a little pricey for bevvies served out of plastic cups.
HAPPY HOUR CHUG-A-LUG
Hofbrau Bierhaus, 712 Third Ave.; 212-867-2337
Authenticity: Communal tables, merry beer maids and loud live bands — complete with accordion players — make for an authentic setting in this second-floor beer hall, which extends onto a small terrace and once housed an OTB.
Setting: Proximity to Grand Central means long lines to get in and, once you get upstairs, a clientele of commuters and Midtown office types letting loose by crowding around the bar or one of the long wooden tables. And there’s a hint of a sleaze factor: Pretty 20-somethings can expect to get hit on by married men — or even the bouncer.
Suds: The bar’s 24 draft lines serve five types of beer from the centuries-old Hofbrau brewery ($8 each). The Hefe Weizen, a sweet wheat beer, has just the right amount of clove, and a hint of banana.
Grub: The Bavarian-heavy menu has an extensive list of schnitzels and brats — if you can’t decide, try the wurst sampler ($24), served with potato salad, sauerkraut and red cabbage ($24). Or you may be tempted to try a serving of massive, doughy pretzels ($4 for small, $9 for large) after seeing everyone around you gobbling them up.
Cost: At $8 for a half-liter, beers are on the pricey side, but food portions are massive; it’s only $13 to $14 for wursts and $15 to $31 for entrees. But you’ll more than satiate your hunger pangs if you split a few appetizers, such as the potato pancakes with apple horseradish sauce ($9).
CIAO DOWN ON A ROOFTOP
La Birreria at Eataly,
200 Fifth Ave.; 212-229-2560
Authenticity: A beer garden this isn’t — you won’t find any communal tables here. A better description for this new space with a retractable roof, on the 14th floor of Mario Batali’s massive Italian food and wine emporium, is a restaurant with an emphasis on beer.
Setting: Getting upstairs requires a Herculean effort — you have to put your name down even if you just want to stand at the bar, and waits are often an hour-plus — even on Monday nights. But if you aren’t deterred by the frustrating door policy, you’ll find a mix of tourists and in-the-know locals crowded around the white marble counter bar, or devouring plates of Italian cheeses at nearby tables.
Suds: Most beer gardens can’t boast that they brew their own beer on-site, but soon Eataly will be able to make this claim — brewing three varieties 30 feet from the restaurant. They’ll complement the nine beers already available on tap — several of which are Italian — and 20 mostly imported bottles. And for a beer-centric place, there are a lot of people drinking wine, served from taps (250-milliliter carafes start at $12).
Grub: There’s nary a pasta dish on the Italian-inspired Alpine menu — start off with an order of warm, crunchy pretzel bread ($5) before digging into house-made Cotechino pork sausage served with a healthy portion of tangy sauerkraut ($21), or share a plate of salumi.
Cost: Brews, such as the Eataly Thyme Pale Ale, range from $6 to $10. But you’ll pay dearly for food, including $21 sausages.
SUDS ON THE BEACH
Beekman Beer Garden, 89 South St. (on the north side of Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport); 212-896-4600
Authenticity: Sure, it’s outdoors — there’s even a small beach area — but the sole feature that screams “beer garden” about this 6,000-square-foot Water Taxi Beach replacement is the plywood seating in the central bar area.
Setting: Two foosball tables, pingpong and pool tables and even a life-size chessboard make for a playful setting with a stunning backdrop of the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges — perfect for grabbing a sunset drink at the bar, made from driftwood, on a hot summer evening. Weeknights are peaceful, with only a smattering of people lounging on the white couches in the beach area.
Suds: With just four beers on tap (Magic Hat #9, Sixpoint Crisp Lager, Blue Point Toasted Lager and Ommegang Witte Ale, all $7), the selection is limited — and nothing you can’t find at many pubs.
Grub: Average bar grub — crispy chicken wings ($6) and La Frieda burgers ($7) — complement bratwursts ($6) and a variety of seafood. But on a recent weeknight visit, the venue was out of cheddar bratwurst and all of its seafood — hopefully weekends fare better.
Cost: Competitively priced pints and bites, which generally don’t set you back more than $10 each, make this one of the cheaper options of the bunch.
HARLEM IS HOPPING
Bier International, 2099 Eighth Ave.; 212-280-0944
Authenticity: If a beer hall is supposed to be loud and boisterous, with both indoor and outdoor space and big communal tables, then Bier International is authentic. There’s not much in the way of decoration — the walls are accented simply with the word “beer” translated into more than a dozen languages — but it gets the spirit right.
Setting: Hopping with Harlemites — so much so that you’d be wise to snag a table outside. (“So loud!” exclaimed one young lady.) Crowds mean service sometimes suffers — on a recent visit, it took more than half an hour after being seated to get a mug.
Suds: A fine roster of 10 German, Belgian and British beers on tap is supplemented by an international bottle list of some 30 choices, including a Harlem-brewed beer (Sugar Hill, $6).
Grub: There’s a full menu of sausages and an excellent burger with fries ($12). But one should not leave without getting a buttery, salt-less hot pretzel ($4).
Cost: Beers on tap range from $3 (for a 0.2-liter glass) to $8, bottles from $6 to $14. The Bier Grand Sampling allows you to taste five beers for $15. Overall, the value is very good.
HAUS PARTY
Spritzenhaus, 33 Nassau Ave., Greenpoint; spritzenhaus33.com
Authenticity: Now this is what a beer hall should feel like — a big, wide-open space with a marble bar, some sidewalk seating, long wooden communal tables (with a nice smattering of tables for two) and a metal fireplace in the center.
Setting: Thanks to 6,000 square feet of indoor space, there’s hardly a crush of people — just a crowd of young, hip locals, some fiddling with their laptops as they sip beer and eat sausage.
Suds: There are 25 beers on tap emphasizing German and American offerings — and another 38 bottles behind the bar (that number will soon hit 50).
Grub: Served on pretzel rolls, the wursts ($7 to $9) are made by local sausage maker Scott Bridi — and they’re tasty!
Cost: Beers start at $5 and run up to $20 for a 750-milliliter Brooklyn Sorachi Ace — but most are in the $6 to $7 range, a solid value given the generous size of the glasses.
BREWS TO CZECH OUT
Hospoda, 321 E. 73rd St.; 212-861-1038
Authenticity: Despite its location in the Bohemian National Hall, this place doesn’t really have the feel of a beer hall. The bar is small (no stools!), and the tables are set for a sit-down meal or small plates.
Setting: Gentlemen in tweed jackets sip their Pilsner while whole families dig into dinner in a sophisticated room with wooden walls carved by a Czech graffiti artist.
Suds: There’s just Pilsner Urquell on tap, but it’s poured four different ways. You can order it “sweet” (mostly foamy, $6), “slice” (with a slightly bitter head, but not drowning in foam, $6), “Crème Urquell” (a traditional balance of beer and foam, $8) or “neat” ($8, with zero head, resulting in a taste akin to American beer — dare we say Budweiser?).
Grub: There’s a full menu of Central European favorites, but the hearty small plates are worth a try, including rabbit liver paté with red onion ($8).
Cost: Dinner is somewhat pricey ($32 for two courses), but the small plates are extremely reasonable at $8 apiece, as is a $19 draft tasting.
PARC IT BY PENN STATION
BeerParc, 845 Sixth Ave.; foodparc.com/eateries/beerparc
Authenticity: Well, it’s outdoors. And instead of taking cash, BeerParc has worked out a gimmick where you buy tickets ($3 each) and then exchange them for your food and drink.
Setting: After work, corporate types eager for a drink plop down on the metal chairs and unwind. Although BeerParc isn’t bad-looking, one does have to suffer the construction eyesore on 30th Street — but then again, this is Midtown. And they’ve been playing free movies every Tuesday and Saturday night during June. (Next up: “Jurassic Park” on Saturday.)
Suds: There are just five beers on tap, served in the sorts of plastic cups one would get at a ballgame. A bigger collection of cans includes such gems as Bud and PBR!
Grub: Despite some big names, the al fresco food stands are middling on the whole. Lower East Side hot spot Edi & The Wolf provides sausages and pretzels; Zak Pelaccio’s “Fatty Snack” serves brisket (OK) and pulled pork (disappointing); “Top Chef” winner Harold Dieterle’s Soi 29 offers fried chicken (not bad); and noted seafood chef Ed Brown has a lobster roll.
Cost: All the draft beers cost two tickets ($6), and nothing on the food menu is more than four tickets ($12), making it a decent proposition if you’re beer-drinking on a budget.