A Weekend of Brewery Visits

​Along with a few early Christmas celebrations I spent my weekend making stops at three local breweries. First up for me was Transmitter Brewing in Long Island City on Friday evening. I ran from my apartment to the brewery which is just a touch longer than five miles. I'm a member of their CSB so I needed to pick up my allotment for December and see what else they had to give as Christmas gifts. The brewery is open a few days a week and they're usually pouring samples of three or four of the beers and will give you a taste just for walking in, as long as your of age of course. I tried their newly release Gose which was awesome and took home two bottles, one of which didn't last the night. I also took home a bottle of the S1 dark saison which is definitely something I'll be drinking myself. I love Transmitter's beers, I plan on using them frequently for tastings because they're making really good farmhouse ales and have the appeal of being a brewing located within the five boroughs that is easy to get to.

Next up was Other Half in Gowanus Brooklyn. It's fairly easy to get to as it's only a few stops into Brooklyn on the F train and a short walk from the subway. For can releases at OH there is typically a line from when the brewery first opens but they're really started to figure things out and get people in and out of the brewery quickly. They've also teamed up with Gaddy Lane which is making sandwiches and coffee for those who waited patiently for the freshly canned pints. The smell of melting butter was intoxicating but I decided to pass knowing I had more eating and drinking to do later in the day. On this day they were selling Super Fun! and Green Diamonds and I picked up three four-packs of each to share with friends and family over the course of the holidays. All in, once I got on the line it was 40 minutes until I had the cans in my hand which isn't the end of the world. I said hi to a few fellow beer nerds in the tap room but quickly made my way back to the subway to get home to prep for my third and final brewery stop of the weekend.

Last but not least I headed out to Holbrook Long Island the check out Spider Bite Brewing's taproom. I had picked up a few bombers of their beers in the past but a friend of mine works with the wife of one of the co-owners so I made the trip out there with a few friends. It's in a small industrial park but at this point I'm not judging the external ascetics of any of the breweries I'm visiting, just the beers their brewing and the people I meet. Once there I ordered a pint of the 12 legs iIPA which is singled hopped with galaxy and it was a perfect example of a big easy drinking beer that you'd be shocked to hear was over 8% ABV. The other standout was the Boris imperial stout which I only hand a 3oz sample of and it got better and better as it warmed up. I was fortunate enough to get a tour from the other co-owner (not the one I had the connection with) of what goes on behind the scenes and get a better idea of how they're brewing their beers and managing the entire process.

All in it was a great weekend of experiencing a few great local breweries and having a chance to try some great beers and meet some awesome people.

***Look for another post in the near future on my experiences trekking out to breweries to pick up beers.