Manhattan Bar Scene/NY Craft Beer Week
 

We'll be in town for NYC Beer Week and we're interested in doing a neighborhood crawl. We thought it would be a fun way to bar hop and cruise one of the neighborhoods. We're staying in Midtown near ESB. It's our first time in NYC so we'll be hitting up most of the touristy spots in the 5 days we'll be there.

A little about us ~ in our mid 30's, not into the club or trendy scene. Lounges are cool. OK with the younger crowd as long as they're not obnoxious. We're not beer experts, but like to kick back with a brew, hang out, meet people and people watch.

We have a choice of Downtown Brooklyn, East Village, Greenpoint, LES, Midtown, Park Slope, UWS, West Village, and Williamsburg. Not sure if our schedule will allow a late evening in Brooklyn, and not really interested in Midtown as we'll probably be hitting up those bars for a nightcap independent of the crawl.

To be honest, I'm interested in East Village or West Village. Can someone let me know which neighborhood might fit better with our characteristics? What kind of crowd hangs out in these neighborhoods?

The East Village sounds more like you.

Beer Week is not something that's (to my knowledge) widely advertised here. I found the website and noted the places included or participating in each area. The West Village and the Lower East Side each seem to have more well known places or places known for good beer. For others who want to have a look, website here
http://www.nycbeerweek.com/maps/

dba
Blind Tiger Ale

are both known as good beer places. Ginger Man which will be near your hotel if you're staying near ESB is another. Here's one of many web lists with good beer places
http://gridskipper.com/61099/new-yorks-best-beer-bars

Ok, after reading your post I thought that maybe I wrote this post. hehehehe! I'm the same way...not into the club scene, I'm more into the lounge/dive bar crowd! Well...I think I have the spot for you. I have been to NY a few times and I always seem to stray over to Alphabet City. My kinda scene and bar hopping is perfect for this area.

I have included a link so you could check out all the bars in the area and then you can do a little side research on them.

http://mondomap.com/?bid=153&cid=749

Have fun! I LOVE NY!!

Hill
www.edufire.com

I found the link on newyorkology.com. The crawls sounded perfect ~ something that we're totally interested in doing.

LES.....what's the crowd there like?

The crowd- Alternative Rock scene type people! LIttle older than the trendy, Midtown clubbers! I would say that they are right in our age range late twenties- late thirties!

I also know that the Meat Packing District has tons of bars (but I think much more clubby than Alphabet City)

Hill

Thank you HillaryJane!

We're definitely going to do the beer crawl. I like that it gives us an itinerary of bars to go to, with the option of popping into other bars in the neighborhood.

We've elminated West Village, and now it's in between East Village and LES.

So if LES is alternative rock kinda people, what's East Villagers like? :)

If you opt for the East Village..some suggestions:
- dba (huge selection on tap)
- Puck Fair (at an off-peak time...can get uncomfortably crowded during happy hour/late night...right next to Broadway-Lafayette subway stop)
- Against the Grain (next door to a great little restaurant called Grape and Grain on 6th street)

Thanks Katie! Against the Grain is one of the bars in the East Village crawl.

For $19, I'm leaning towards doing the East Village crawl. One 8oz beer per bar (6 bars total). It's a great deal!

Yes - meat packing is generally much more clubby than the East Village. the former is not a beer area, more like the - new drink of the month and who are you with - area in many places.