My good fortune continued as my NYC beer experience began at the Ginger Man for no other reason than it was closest to our hotel and I was in need of some good beer. I was immediately impressed with the warmth of the Ginger Man's decor when I walked in the door. The staff was friendly, helpful and honest with their opinions about beers I should try. I had explained that I'm from San Diego and that I wanted a good beer that I didn't think I could get here at home. This led me to 400lb Monkey by Left Hand Brewing out of Longmont, Colorado. I wasn't sure if I could get this beer here in San Diego so I figured that I'd start with it. I'm glad I did. The beer was refreshing and went down easily. I could have spent time with a beer like this, but had to move on.
My next beer was the BrewDog Paradox Springbank on Cask. I have had this in the bottle but didn't want to miss the opportunity to have it on cask. For me, this was a nice transition from 400lb Monkey, but I managed to get a sample of Goose Island Bourbon County Stout and this set my taste buds on fire. Nothing against Paradox, but I'm a sucker for the bourbon. This was a fantastic beer! Don't take my word for it, check out what the some of the reviewers at the Beer Advocate say about this beer and you will understand why I was so impressed. My only question is how or where do I get more of this in San Diego. By this point I was thoroughly impressed with the Ginger Man and had to find out where else I might go in NYC to find beers that would broaden my horizons. The staff at the Ginger Man sent me to Rattle-N-Hum, and they also pointed out that I should stop in at the Whole Foods so that I could get a few bottles to bring home. To those of you in NYC that will be seeing this posting, you are so lucky to have the beer collection in that store, they have done a great job with it, and again, the staff there was so helpful.
I was not disappointed by what I found at Rattle-N-Hum which was a more intense beer experience and a little closer to what I'm used to here in Southern California. The staff was kind and supportive of my quest for beer that I can't get at home. I started with a beer made by Cigar City Brewing Company called Jai Alai .This was followed by Marshal Zhukov, a seasonal Russian Imperial Stout by Cigar City that I thought was really good. I followed that one with a Left Hand Imperial Stout and ended with the Left Hand, Twin Sister DIPA. Thank God that session ended when it did because those were some pretty alcohol laden beers and I had another day of beer drinking ahead of me. I still had to make my way to the Blind Tiger.
The Blind Tiger was a popular place with the locals. The bartenders were very helpful and patient as the place was loud, busy and challenging to order a beer. Well worth the effort as I completely trusted the bartender and drank what he or she brought me and tried to figure out what it was after the fact. Not my ideal way of doing things, but given the crowds, I was just thankful I had a beer. My first beer I think, was Harpoon Brewery's, Triticus. The next beer was a Smuttynose Big A IPA followed by a Brooklyn Brewery Detonation Ale. All three of these beers have an abv from 9% to 11%. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty good by this point and still had maintain some semblance of order as we made our way to dinner.
By the end of the trip I was ready to come home. I needed the detox from the beers and needed to catch up on things that had been neglected. I thought the people of NYC were generally friendly and helpful. The beer bars were great because beer lovers understand another beer lovers drive toward discovery. I'm looking forward to a return visit.
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