Riley and Rian McCormick took The Good Beer Seal Challenge over July Good Beer Month. From the beginning of July to Labor Day, Riley and Rian visited all 27 GBS bars taking notes and pictures on the way. Now you get the benefit of their experience! At long last, we present to you Riley McCormick’s Notes on New York City’s Good Beer Seal Bars:
July was a 100% good beer month for my wife and I. We had a wonderful time going to each and every of the 27 Good Beer Seal bars. Many of these craft beer bars we had never been to before. We were very excited by the chance to have some new, tasty beers and earn the super special edition t-shirts. Jimmy Carbone promised the shirt was going to be the best looking beer shirt in the world!
A few things I learned from the new bars added this year:
124 Rabbit Club – Was completely new to me and I had a fun time finding it and enjoying some Belgian beers. It was a really fun dark basement adventure (in the best way possible).
The Waterfront Ale House – Has a great lunch (my favorite is their french dip) and great beers.
Rebar – A fun walk over the bridge from Manhattan and a wonderful lunch special for like eight bucks. This place was really unexpected for me – more of a restaurant than a bar. It even has a movie theater in the back with car seats for chairs. Fun stuff.
Lucky Dog – Very glad to discover that place. Just a fun Bedford bar with some great people watching seats on the street in the front, a nice garden out back and shuffleboard.
Sunswick 3535 – This place has such a large food menu that I was completely blown away. They have everything from wings to pizza to a full veggie friendly menu. I will go back there again for sure.
Bronx Ale House – Going there is an adventure from the East Village. Well worth the trip. I was expecting a dirty dive bar and got a super clean Ale House with kick ass BBQ. The beer here was great but for some reason what blew me away was the ketchup. They have a smoker in the basement and smoke their own tomatoes to make their own Bronx Ale House Ketchup. I would bathe in this ketchup it is so good. After the beer we walked back into Manhattan over the Broadway bridge and visited The Cloisters for the first time. A very educational day.
A few old favorite bars that stood out include:
– Jimmy’s 43 (awesome food/beer events each week)
– Blind Tiger (going on Wednesday at around 2:00 for lunch is my favorite time to visit)
– Rattle N Hum (biggest beer selection, awesome environment, great bus trips to breweries)
– Barcade (simply one of the funnest places to go. I’m always pleasantly surprised with what’s on tap)
– DBA Brooklyn (Sundays in the summer is Tchoup Shop – some of the best Cajun food I’ve ever had)
I enjoyed all the places we visited. I’m betting next year will even include more Good Beer Seal Bars. So the future looks cheersy!
Riley McCormick