You can drink incredible craft beer right within New York City. In particular, we found some of the best breweries in the borough of Brooklyn, NY.
LessFounded by Lindsay Steen, Tyler March, and Brett Taylor, Wild East Brewing Company opened its doors in February 2020. The brewery specializes in mixed-fermentation, wild, and sour beers such as saisons, pale ales, Berliner weisses, and more. In a former restaurant supply warehouse on Sackett Street, just a short jaunt from Threes Brewing, Wild East’s taproom is a place where you can enjoy the fruits of the trio’s experimentation.
We can’t write a piece on the best breweries in Brooklyn without mentioning Other Half. The brewery that arguably made can release lines popular – certainly in New York if not the rest of the country – Other Half continues to roll out the dankest, haughtiest, haziest IPAs on the East Coast.
For a long time, Grimm Co-Founders Joe and Lauren Grimm brewed nomadically. But in 2018, the duo finally put down roots on Metropolitan Avenue in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. The gorgeous taproom specializes in elegant Belgian-style beers, stunning sours, and trendy, turbid IPAs.
A perennial favorite, Threes Brewing made our list of the best breweries of 2018. Actually, we named it our best brewery of the year. Since then the brewery has continued to wow us with world class beers. From their pilsners, which landed in the top of our blind tasting, to their juicy hazies, and everything in between, Threes gets three cheers from us.
A standout in the Williamsburg neighborhood, the all-female-owned and veteran-owned TALEA Beer Co. opened a fresh, new taproom last March. Tara Hankinson and LeAnn Darland of TALEA Beer Co. shared a vision to leave their corporate jobs and start a brewery. The dynamic duo's desire to market beer that targets non-craft beer drinkers makes TALEA so special. Their hazy IPAs and fruit-forward sours are canned in vibrant, colorful packaging meant to attract all types of consumers regardless of gender
For four decades the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn remained brewery-less. Ironic since at the beginning of the 1900s, Brooklyn was considered the brewing capital of the U.S. with at least forty-five breweries. Of course, Prohibition killed that, forcing many to close. Since the last brewery shut its doors in 1976, none called Bushwick home. Until the trio of Zack Kinnery, Tony Bellis, and Pete Lengyel opened King County Brewers Collective (KCBC) in 2016. And they did so with a bang.
In a world of hazy, West Coast, and American IPAs, Strong Rope has made a name for itself by brewing top-of-the-line British-style ales with 100% New York State hops and malts. Founded by Jason Sahler and Christina Quintero, Strong Rope stays true to its traditions. And it has paid off. Strong Rope has earned all sorts of local accolades, including SMaSH Beer Competition Winner for Fat Man, Little Stout at NYC Beer Week 2020; a bronze for its Pre-Prohibition Lager, CULLEN, at the Indie Beer Cup.
Rob Kolb and Anthony Accardi actually started Transmitter Brewing in Queens in 2014 before opening a new taproom in Brooklyn’s Navy Yard Building 77 development in 2019. With the Queens location now closed, the Brooklyn taproom has become the number-one spot to enjoy the duo’s fantastic Belgian- and French-style farmhouse ales.
To understand Circa Brewing Co., you only need to hear these two words: pizza and beer. The 6,000 sq-ft brewpub operates a 7-bbl brewhouse while whipping up top-notch neapolitan-style pizzas in the heart of downtown Brooklyn.
Beer isn’t the only fermented drink on the planet. Take sake for example, a fermented rice drink with over 1,000 years of history in Japan. Brooklyn Kura brought the traditional Japanese beverage to the East Coast when it opened in 2018. New York State’s first sake brewery found a home in Industry City, a repurposed industrial complex in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park Neighborhood. Stop into Brooklyn Kura if you’re looking to try something adventurous and new.