Fourteen craft breweries currently call New York City home, and there are at least five more in the works. The city’s current brew boom isn’t a new phenomenon; it’s a resurgence.
Back when NYC was still New Amsterdam and well before lager-loving Germans flocked to the city in the 19th century, Stone Street was known as Brewer’s Lane. By the late 1800s, the boroughs’ pint glasses runneth over. As Urban Oyster founder David Naczycz will proudly inform you, NYC was once home to 125 beer breweries, with 48 of them in Brooklyn alone.
Celebrate the city’s sudsy past and present by making your next city walk (read: bar crawl) a brewery hop.
The newest of Urban Oyster’s food and history buff-friendly tours, the NYC Brewery Tour takes the thirsty and curious to meet the staff, learn the craft, and of course, taste the good stuff (with pizza to soak it up). Kicking off just in time for NYC Beer Week, the four-stop tours rotate between breweries. You can also use Urban Oyster’s helpful map (scroll down) to plot your own personal brewery crawl. Just be sure to confirm if and when your destinations are open for public tours.
Our adventure with Naczycz began at Serra by Birreria. Eataly’s covered rooftop beer garden, Birreria crafts three exclusive beers in copper casks. Our tasting finished with a bang, or rather, Flip. A true chilly afternoon treat, the FL!P begins with Dogfish Head’s FL!P Ale, a beer crafted specially for a traditional Flip cocktail. On Chef Mario Batali’s suggestion, Dogfish Head gave the toasty, crystallized ginger-spiced ale Italian flair by way of green cardamom and Saba, a red wine reduction often used to produce balsamic vinegar. Birreria mixes egg white with the beer and heats the drink with red-hot iron (more on that the video below). The result is a delicious, belly-warming alternative to egg nog or stout.
The Other Half Brewing Company
Next on our tour was the Other Half Brewing Company. Carroll Gardens’ Other Half Brewing Company began brewing in late 2013. The operation is helmed by Sam Richardson, Matt Monahan. Both formerly worked at Greenpoint Beer Works, and Monahan brings extensive restaurant experience from in the kitchen. Other Half is currently brewing five beers, including two excellent IPAs. The intimate, rustic tasting room feels as relaxed and straightforward as the duo behind it—and their brews. Next on tap for Other Half: more sour beer and more local ingredients. The beer served in their tap room contains at least 20% NY state ingredients, as per the new Farm Brewery License.
Watch this video to get a glimpse:
The Brooklyn Brewery
No stranger to tours, Brooklyn Brewery welcomed us for our nightcap. The borough’s daddy of craft beer offers free-for-all weekend and slightly more intimate weekday tours daily. Taste the classic (and still the brewery’s bestseller) Brooklyn Lager and limited-edition specials while you soak up anecdotes about how it all began and where they are now (read: also brewing in Sweden). Back where the magic—and packaging—happens, your knowledgeable and charismatic guides will let you know all about the beauty of dry hopping and the road to greater efficiency.
Watch this to get a glimpse:
All that history, science, and suds left us feeling tired and inspired. Four breweries down, many more to go.
La Birreria: Upstairs at Eataly, 200 5th Avenue at 23rd Street, eataly.com/birreria.
Other Half Brewing Company: 195 Centre Street, Brooklyn (b/w Court and Smith), otherhalfbrewing.com.
Brooklyn Brewery: 79 N. 11th Street, Brooklyn (b/w Berry and Wythe), brooklynbrewery.com.
Want even more brewery guides? See oM guides to breweries by neighborhood: Queens, Brooklyn, and Long Island.
Sarah Knapp is a Brooklyn based entrepreneur whose love for the outdoors and community building led her to the October 2013 creation of OutdoorFest. She has a BA in History, is a Wilderness First Responder and a NY state hiking, camp and boating guide. Her proudest achievement to date is reading the Aeneid in Latin. 
Allison was one of our first top writers and Chief Editor but is no longer working with offMetro. Allison is a native New Yorker, who has lived in Rome, Tuscany, Melbourne, Toronto and Los Angeles. She frequently contributed travel pieces to Family Travel Forum, using her own children as guinea pigs as they travel the globe. She never missed a chance to sample local delicacies, as her love for travel goes hand-in-hand with her love for food and wine. 
Josh Laskin is a freelance travel writer and photographer based in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. When he is not at work or on the road, you can find him in the mountains snowboarding, climbing, hiking, fly fishing, mountain biking, and eating bagel bites.
Annie is a travel writer, environmentalist, and surfer based in Venice, CA. She heads up our West Coast team, keeps our grammatical errors in check, and makes sure our California writers always have a plan for their next adventure. Follow Annie’s travels @annelisemcb.
Carly Pifer is a freelance writer who has been known to follow whims inspired by romantic movie scenes or colorful street style shots to India, Japan, Tunisia and Argentina. After stints living in Seoul, Boston, Paris and Los Angeles, writing and searching for something intangible, she landed somewhat steadily in Brooklyn and has begun to find inspiration in her more immediate surroundings. 
Kate E. O’Hara is a New York based freelance writer and photographer who loves all things food—especially the people who make it and market it. Her writing aims to capture the essence of the food experience; the stories that go well beyond a plate of ingredients. In addition to her love of food, Kate is also known to have a hankering for red wine and craft beer. You can also find Kate on Instagram