Fourteen craft breweries currently call New York City home, and there are at least five more in the works. The city\u2019s current brew boom isn\u2019t a new phenomenon; it\u2019s a resurgence.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s Lane. By the late 1800s, the boroughs\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
Celebrate the city\u2019s sudsy past and present by making your next city walk (read: bar crawl) a brewery hop.<\/p>\n
The newest of Urban Oyster\u2019s<\/a> 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Our adventure with Naczycz began at Serra by Birreria<\/a>. Eataly\u2019s 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\u2019s FL!P Ale, a beer crafted specially for a traditional Flip<\/a> cocktail. On Chef Mario Batali\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n