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Your Guide to Summer Events at Almost Every Local Brewery in Town

By Emilie Ruscoe | July 1, 2015 2:19pm
 Coney Island Beer is brewed in Brooklym
Coney Island Beer is brewed in Brooklym
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Kickstarter/Brewed in Brooklyn

Here's where you can spend the summer eating, dancing, playing, and listening to the best the city has to offer, all while drinking at the many local breweries in the city.

► Fourth of July Weekend 

Rockaway Brewing Company, 46-01 5th St. in Long Island City
Rockaway Brewing spins vinyl and serves from taps alongside their brewing equipment. Stop by on Fri., July 3, or Sat., July 4 for a popup dinner by burger and breakfast sandwich specialists Nitehawk's Kitchen, designed to pair with the house brews.

July 4 

Braven Brewing Company in Bushwick
Braven, which uses a New York State brewery system outside the city and hopes to brew out of Bushwick soon, has a brand new Bushwick Pilsner hitting the market just in time for the holiday weekend. They'll be serving it up at a launch party at Left Hand Path on July 4.

► July 4

Paulaner Brewery, 265 Bowery on the Lower East Side
Paulaner serves house-brewed German style beers and an extensive Bavarian menu and teaches cooking and brewing classes to boot. On July 4, they're hosting their second annual "BeerBQ" with a menu that's a mashup of classic American barbeque food and a traditional Bavarian feast.

► July 7

Coney Island Brewing Company, 1904 Surf Ave. in Coney Island
The company that makes Mermaid Pilsner is working on getting its storefront up and running, but they have plenty going on elsewhere in the meantime, including a "Victrola Burlesque" night on July 7 at the Lower East Side's Hill and Dale.

► July 7 

Evil Twin Brewing at The Owl's Head, 297 9th St. in Park Slope and at Tørst, 615 Manhattan Ave. in Greenpoint
Brooklyn-based "phantom brewery" Evil Twin is the brain child of Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø, the Danish entrepreneur whose craft beer bar Tørst is beloved by beer aficionados. The tasting menu at Tørst's in-house eatery Luksus features an optional beverage pairing. Additionally, on July 7, Evil Twin's brew Joey Pepper is one of the beers being celebrated at The Owl Farm in Park Slope.

July 25 and July 26

Alphabet City Brewing Company on Clipper City's Urban Oyster Craft Beer Tasting Sails (departing from the Battery, slip 2)
Alphabet City Brewing Company was started by two friends brewing out of their kitchen. While you can't visit the brewery, you can enjoy their brews on a sailboat — arguably more scenic than brewing equipment. Clipper City plays host to the craft beer experts from Urban Oyster tours every Saturday and Sunday at noon; ACB will be on board on Sat., July 25 and Sun., July 26.

►July 26

Flagship Brewing Company, 40 Minthorne St. in Stapleton
In addition to regular tasting room hours, a newly inaugurated annual wing fest, live music on select Friday nights and and occasional comedy nights, Staten Island's premier craft beer brewery will be hosting an all-day Flagship Fest on Sun., July 26.

► August 25

Brooklyn Brewery, 79 N. 11th St. in Williamsburg
Brooklyn Brewery's citrusy summer ale is the borough's unofficial drink of the season, and perhaps because of this, the brewery's summer events schedule is accordingly jam-packed. One noteworthy event: An Aug. 25 screening of Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" at the City Reliquary. Drink the summer ale, eat Two Boots pizza, and watch one of Brooklyn's most important films.

Ongoing Brewery Events:

► BIGaLICe Brewing Company, 808 43rd Road in Long Island City
This natural gas-fueled "nano-brewery" is able to offer up some pretty unusual brews because of their tiny batch sizes. They recently announced that they're working on a summer shandy collaboration with Smorgasburg favorite Renegade Lemonade, so stay tuned for news about a launch party for that.

► Bridge and Tunnel Brewery at 15-35 Decatur St. in Ridgewood
Previously a much smaller operation, Bridge and Tunnel has been making progress expanding the brewery and constructing a tasting room. Proprietor Rich Castagna anticipates being able to open to the public by the end of July, so stay tuned for additional updates once the opening date is locked down.

► The Bronx Brewery, 856 E. 136th St. in Port Morris
The Bronx Brewery's Beer Garden is open for business for the summer, complete with board games and a cornhole setup.

► Dirck the Norseman, 7 N. 15th St. in Greenpoint
Dirck is home to Greenpoint Beer and Ale Company, a small craft brewery that named a beer "Flannel Shirt" because...Brooklyn. With Sunday brewery tours, Wednesday trivia nights, live music and regular multi-course meals with beer pairings in addition to the standard menu, the joint stays bustling.

► Finback Brewery, 78-01 77th Ave. in Glendale
Finback recently celebrated its first anniversary at its space in Glendale, Queens and apparently has a Settlers of Catan board that visitors are welcome to play. Brewery tours are taking place on the weekends, but call ahead to confirm timing before making your plans to head out, and keep an eye on Finback's social for news about upcoming tap takeovers like a recent one at Berg'n.

► Grimm Artisanal Ales in Gowanus
The husband and wife team behind this label brews their beers during residencies at area breweries, which means that their batches tend to be small, one-time deals. Grimm is one of the beers selected by the editor of the New York Craft beer map to be on tap at the map's launch party at Crown Heights craft beer watering hole Covenhoven, where it will hopefully remain throughout the summer.

► Gun Hill Brewing Company, 3227 Laconia Ave. in Williamsbridge
Located at the site of a strategic battle of the Revolutionary War and evoking the Declaration of Independence in their branding language (as well as referring to the United States' revolutionaries as "the original punks"), Gun Hill Brewery also hosts Latin nights, Caribbean nights and, starting in July, drink and draw networking afternoons hosted by BxArts Factory.

► Kelso Beers at Greenpoint Beer Works, 529 Waverly Ave. in Clinton Hill
While Kelso and Heartland Brewery share a production space, the former is the one that gets the attention of hopheads. The civically and environmentally-minded brewing company doesn't have a brewery tour schedule, but check out their calendar for tap takeovers and other events.

► The LIC Beer Project39-28 23rd St. in Long Island City
This brand new brewery is just getting its sea legs, but the team at the Beer Project is already having a great time and producing some sophisticated suds. Stay tuned for upcoming brewery events.

► Other Half Brewing, 195 Centre St. in Carroll Gardens
Other Half has regular taproom hours and schedules brewery tours by appointment. No word on whether they're planning on doing any chocolate pairings again in the near future, but an informal poll suggests that it would be welcome if they did.

► Threes Brewing, 333 Douglass St. in Gowanus
Threes' events schedule includes dramatic readings, live music, DJ nights and comedy, and the in-house rotating kitchen residency is currently hosting Dover/Battersby through July 12 (after which Roberta's Pizza will be taking over).

► Transmitter Brewing, 53-02 11th St. in Long Island City
Transmitter's focus is on heirloom styles of farmhouse ales, and they use traditional strains of brewer's yeast. They also offer a beer lover's answer to a CSA program, with a monthly beer pickup at the brewery (there are still shares available for the summer season). Otherwise, tasting room hours are Friday evenings and weekend afternoons.

► SingleCut Beersmiths, 19-33 37th St. in Astoria
Most of SingleCut's beers are named after the brewery's favorite musicians, so it's only natural that in addition to weekend brewery tours, the taproom hosts live music. But the most unusual offering at this joint is its monthly running tour, which concludes with a free pint at the brewery and are held every second Saturday. Visit some of Queens' beautiful historic sites, get a workout, and wrap up your run with a well-earned drink.

► Sixpoint Brewery, 40 Van Dyke St. in Red Hook
Brewery tours are on hiatus while renovations are under way at this juggernaut of a local brewery; in the meantime, take a look at their New England events calendar to find out where they'll be the center of attention over the summer (day trip, anyone?), or download their app to see where you can find a can or two in town.

Were there any breweries that we missed? Tell us in the comments.