In May I participated in “Queens Beer Week”, said participation consisted of getting a ‘beer passport’ and taking it around to all the Queens breweries and getting it stamped. There were a total of 10 but only 7 were needed to be entered to win the prize. I was determined to get all 10 stamps. And I did. This determination to get all 10 stamps morphed into an obsession to go to all the breweries in NYC before the end of summer. I’m almost there.
As I was sitting at Greenpoint Brewery recently, I looked past the bar at the windows in the back of the taproom that lead to the brewery, in my view were the tanks, I started composing a sentence in my head, it was then I realized that in addition to documenting my summer on Instagram I should have been writing about it as well. That way all the little events and my observations would be preserved, instead now I have to try and recreate them from my head. It also means that now I am going to have a very long blog post, at least there are pictures. If you click on the pictures a bigger image will open.
Rockaway was the first, and I had to go back there, two breweries had two stamps, Rockaway was one of them but I only got one stamp. When I went back the beertender said, “Well you have to drink …… (one of the details I’ve forgotten is the name of the beer, it was a collaboration between Rockaway and Fifth Hammer) to get both stamps.” Well he could have told me that the first time! I’ve been to Rockaway many times now, it is close to my office. It is dog friendly and there is an event room upstairs that I have been in for knitting meetups.
Next was Finback, another brewery I have knitting group meetups. It has a big tap room with big tables, good lighting and board games, it is family and dog friendly. From Finback I walked over to Bridge and Tunnel. The taproom guy at Finback said I should take an Uber, I ignored him (he was right). Bridge and Tunnel was having a comedy night. They have one the first Sunday of every month. The day I went was the first Sunday so I stayed for the show. This was my first time at Bridge and Tunnel. They are also dog friendly but I didn’t discover that until my second time there. It was also a Sunday, there was comedy and after the comedy show the taproom guy turned on Game of Thrones. That is apparently also a regular event. I don’t have pictures from either of these breweries.
Singlecut was next on the list, it was a brewery I had been to before and didn’t want to go back to. One because my ex took me there and two because Singlecut is heavy on IPAs which are not my favorite beer. I went on a Wednesday, I remember this because, since I had been there before I knew they served food, except on Wednesday. So I had to run across the street to get some food. Yes I know I could have gotten food delivered, this is fucking NYC even if I was in Queens, but what’s the fun in that(I have a flair for the dramatic bitches!) The beertender/tap room guy promised to save my seat. He did. There was a record player and they played music on vinyl records and showed movies on the wall (without sound). They also have a large taproom with big tables. I don’t know if it’s suitable for knitting because I didn’t break out the yarn and needles.
The next two were LIC Beer Project and Big aLICe. I went to both on the same day. Hey! I had to get stamps from 8 breweries in a week! I was on a mission. It was trivia night at LIC Beer Project but I was just there for a beer and my stamp, at Big aLICe Tucker licked the back of my leg. I screamed. No one was alarmed, apparently, that is what he is known for. That’s Tucker in the picture to the right. I have been to Big aLICe before, I had the Jalapeno Rye, so good. Big aLICe is also the other brewery with two stamps the other stamp is for Descendant Cider, every time I see that I think “Decadent Cider”. The taproom guy was nice and stamped my passport after I had just a taste not a full glass.
ICONYC is another Queens brewery I went to. It was hard to get to. For one thing, it is NOT is LIC it is in Astoria. Also it was fucking pouring the day I planned to go there. Just pissing down rain. But I made the trek, I drank the beer. I even bought a bottle to bring home.
The last brewery on the Queens portion of the beer tour is a tiny brewery named Transmitter Brewing. I don’t have documented what day I went there but it had to be a Friday. They are only open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It is kind of my favorite. They do not have a taproom. They open 3 beers and when you come in you get a small glass (ounce or two) of each. The beers are bottle conditioned* so they are cloudy. If you buy a bottle you can take it home or drink it there. There is a table and chairs near the entrance or you can walk through (next to) the brewery to the back where there are picnic tables and a chain link fence with vines on it. They have a skinny old brown spaniel there. If you google the brewery there is a picture. There is no bathroom at the brewery, however there is one in the abandoned building next to the brewery.
* Transmitter says their beers are bottle conditioned, however, The Pony Bar sometimes has their beer on tap, I don’t know how that works.
All the links in this post were typed in by me. They go to the breweries websites and the bars website.
I was not paid for my opinions about any of these breweries. However if anyone wants to, I can be bribed with good craft beer.
Next post will be the Bronx and Brooklyn. Cheers!
city girl drinking craft beer 