DRAFT Magazine

In honor of DRAFT’s “Best Bars” list — which can be found in the Jan/Feb issue, we’re running a city-by-city breakdown on DRAFTMag.com in the coming weeks. Next, we finish off the city of New York.

Bushwick Beer Garden
www.bushwickbeergarden.com
This backyard beer garden is one of Brooklyn’s intentionally best-kept secrets. Its Web site boasts that you have to pass through four locked doors before you arrive at the garden; only natural, considering that Paul Nicholson and roommate Jan VanDamme built this bar themselves behind their apartment (you’ll have to email them to get the bar’s address). The BBG seats 37, and the sky’s the limit on the beer selection since it’s BYOB. But for the most unusual drinking experience around, this is the place.

Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden
29-19 24th Ave., Astoria, NY 11102
718.274.4925 | www.bohemianhall.com
The lone representative on this list from the borough of Queens wouldn’t be out of place on the outskirts of Munich. New York City’s enormous beer garden features the best, including Staropramen, Czechvar, BrouCzech, Erdinger, Hoegaarden, Krusovice, Stella, and Spaten. A restaurant serves traditional Eastern European food, and the friendly staff will gladly point you in the right direction for all your gastronomic and quaffing needs.

Blind Tiger Ale House
281 Bleecker St., New York, NY 10014
212.462.4682 | www.blindtigeralehouse.com
The Blind Tiger Ale House doesn’t boast the greatest number of beers in the city — although with almost 100, you’ll certainly have to come back more than once — but its selection is almost unparalleled. Featuring 28 taps, 60 bottles, and a few casks available at all times, you’re sure to stumble across a dozen you never knew existed. Bring money (for the beers that start at $6), an appetite (for the food) and an adventurous palate (for both).

Bar Great Harry
280 Smith St., Brooklyn, NY 11231
718.222.1103 | www.bargreatharry.com
This beer bar in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn offers a relaxed setting in which to enjoy some of the world’s finest nectar. Its 12 taps change daily (the list is updated on the bar’s blog, www.bargreatharry.com/blog) and feature a mix of traditional (Yuengling Lager) and decidedly untraditional (Legacy Hoptimus Prime Douple IPA) brews. There’s no kitchen, but patrons are welcome to bring in food from any of the many restaurants that dot Smith Street.

Barcade
388 Union Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11211
718.302.6464 | www.barcadebrooklyn.com
This Brooklyn bar just might be one of the coolest hangouts for kids over 21. There are 25 excellent craft brews on tap, and that alone would ordinarily keep people glued to the bar. But here the room is filled with games, from photo hunt and billiards to oodles of old-school arcade games that speak to the youngsters in all of us.

Against The Grain
620 E. 6th St., New York, NY 10009
212.358.7065 | (No Web site)
The owners of this teeny beer bar (read: 350 square feet, seating for 25) first strutted their stuff with an adjacent wine bar called Grape and Grain. But Against The Grain was no afterthought: The 75-beer menu packs a pretty big punch and the creative fare, including beer-steamed cockles and beer sausages, certainly holds its own.

To see all of DRAFT’s best bars, click here.