Saturday 7 February 2009

The Big Artichoke


I'm just planning my day in the Big Artichoke, as I believe locals endearingly refer to New York. Day? What I mean is a pub crawl.

You can see my list to the right. List of pubs. The Blind Tiger, which someone recommended, is literally number one on my list. You'll have to make do with reading it sideways. I've no image manipulation software on my flippy-flop. I just hope it doesn't inspire a stalker.

I can't see me getting around all eight. Maybe two or three. Though the Hop Devil is pretty much a certainty. Because it's on St. Mark's Place. I used to do some of my boozing down there. In a basement bar that sold Prior Double Dark, a lager Mild that was one of the better beers you could find in NYC in the mid-1980's. I wish I could remember what the place was called. I once drank in there until closing time at 3 AM. I was playing darts partnering with an English colleague who was rather good. Mostly due to his efforts, we won several pitchers of Prior. We went into work without sleeping or going home. Happy days.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's been a while for me, but was that the Grass Roots Tavern on St Mark's? I think they had Prior there around at time (when I still lived in New York). It was a few steps down from street level to the door. It's an old place with tin ceilings, etc and had a decent selection of beer even if it was normally jammed with people. We mostly drank at other, cheaper places, but use to stop in there occassionally.

Gazza Prescott said...

I loved the Tiger, 30-odd beers available in tasters too. East Village had only been open a week when we were there and Alex was commissioning the handpump so no cask ale, but some of the best beers I've ever had - Weyerbacher Simcoe IPA and Green Flash IPA; top place.

Ginger Man was a huge letdown with a predictable range of beers, Heartland was okay.

I'd recommend Spuyten Duyvel, it's a corker. Actually, Brooklyn itself is a fantastic place for a bar crawl...

Zak Avery said...

Gramercy Tavern is a great place to eat and drink, but not really much fun as part of a pub crawl. It's the least taverny tavern I've ever been in. They have a good aged beer list, though.

Anonymous said...

Is dba still going? I went there in 2006 and they had a pretty good selection. Don't see it on your list.

Their website: http://www.drinkgoodstuff.com/ny/default.asp

Matt said...

never heard of lager mild, does it just mean a dark lager?

Anonymous said...

I see you have the Ginger Man on your list - it was my favourite of the places I visited last autumn. A perfect place to go in the afternoon!

Anonymous said...

So that's the:

Blind Tiger
East Village Tavern
The Ginger Man
Gramercy Tavern
The Half Pint
Heartland Brewery
and The Hop Devil.

That's a heck of a list, Ron.