With more than 400 breweries across New York state and over 40 of them in the city, it can seem like every week is NYC Beer Week.
But the New York City Brewers Guild’s annual celebration is about more than drinking your way across them. Back for its 11th year Feb. 23 through March 3, NYC Beer Week brings together over 70 breweries for nine days of celebrating beer by pouring some of the best and weirdest brews they create all year.
It’s a chance for breweries to try out all their off-the-wall ideas and pour it for true beer nerds with special can releases, collaboration beers and pairing dinners — because beer and cheese can totally be a meal.
Just to give you an idea of how much beer is out there, New York state has the most breweries it has ever had (thanks to some favorable new laws). Of the more than 40 in New York City, there are the home-grown breweries like Grimm Artisanal Ales and its Vogue-worthy taproom, as well as the new battleground for warring Danish breweries Mikkeller and Evil Twin.
And while you can and should leg it across the five boroughs to see them all, from Flagship in Staten Island to Coney Island Brewery and up to Gun Hill in the Bronx, NYC Beer Week is a Metrocard-friendly way to meet the brewers and taste what they’re about.
There are dozens of events planned, and you’ll probably find something going on every night at well-known and loved craft beer bars around the city like Blind Tiger Ale House, Alewife Brewpub, Spuyten Duyvil and Folksbier Brauerei.
As for the bigger events, there’s the always unmissable Opening Bash where you can taste every all 75 local and invited breweries’ wares, now with two sessions for the first time (Feb. 23, Brooklyn Expo Center, $75-$115).
The guild also likes to invite some of the country’s most acclaimed brewers so you can taste their beers while they swap brewing trends (Feb. 24, The Well, free). And because drinking locally supports the entire city, celebrate all things Brooklyn at Fools Gold with DJs spinning local hip-hop artists on vinyl all night to pair with local beers (Feb. 26, free). Cheers!
Check out the full list of events at nycbrewed.com.
