Where To Celebrate International Beer Day In NY

By Jessica Allen

A celebration of—you guessed it—beer, International Beer Day takes place on the first Friday of August (this year, that's Aug. 4). The spots listed below offer you the chance to celebrate in style, whether you want to sip a fancy ale or kick it with a lager, whether you want to party or chillax. However you'd like to commemorate this holiday, we've definitely found the place for you.

Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden
29-19 24th Ave.
Astoria, New York 11102
(718) 274-4925
bohemianhall.com

It's pretty much always International Beer Day at the Bohemian Beer Garden. The old-timey beer hall was established way back in the early 20th century in order to give recent immigrants from Austria-Hungary a taste of home. On Friday, you can enjoy Happy Hour from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., but you'll want to make that last special pint, well, last until 10 p.m. when the DJs arrive. The rest of the night will be devoted to "quiet clubbing," in which participants done headphones, dance, drink and do everything else one does at a club, minus the earth-rattling noise.

Brooklyn Brewery
79 North Eleventh St.
Brooklyn, NY 11249
(718) 486-7422
brooklynbrewery.com

Helmed by Garrett Oliver, one of the foremost brew masters in the world, Brooklyn Brewery offers several types of craft brews from a large loft-like building in Williamsburg. Try one, some or all at the brewery's Tasting Room, open on Friday from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. with free tours starting at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. No cover, no reservations, no frills, no special guests (in other words, if you miss the window on International Beer Day, you can try again next Friday or the one after that). There will, however, be fresh, excellent, locally brewed beer on tap. Drink up!

LIC Beer Project
39-28 23rd St.
Long Island City, NY 11101
(917) 832-6840
licbeerproject.com

The LIC Beer Project is a collaborative endeavor "brewing farmhouse styles of mixed fermentation, American sour ales, and hoppy delights." Some of its brews come in multi-color, street art-esque cans, which look as cool as they taste (get ready to 'gram), while some are aged in oak wine barrels. The taproom is open on Friday from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. and, if the weather is nice, the waitstaff just might open the ginormous garage door at the end of the industrial steel-and-concrete space so you can watch the world go by (and enjoy a swell breeze) as you imbibe.

McSorley's Old Ale House
15 East Seventh St.
New York, NY 10003
(212) 473-9148
mcsorleysoldalehouse.nyc

Allow us to state the obvious: McSorley's doesn't care about International Beer Day, or your birthday, or the Rangers making the playoffs. So how come it's on our list? It's an institution, that's why. When you've been around since the 1854, you've earned the right to do things however you want. Here, that means sawdust on the floor and two types of beer (dark and light); it also means walls jam-packed with memorabilia, including (legend has it) a horseshoe from a horse that helped pull Abraham Lincoln's hearse. Just remember the bar's equivalent of the golden rule: be good or be gone.

Top Hops
94 Orchard St.
New York, NY 10002
(212) 254-4677
tophops.com

Part store, part bar, all beer, Top Hops is the city's go-to destination for import and craft beers. We're talking some 600 varieties in cans and bottles along with 20 tap lines (available for tasting flights or growlers). Don't be nervous if you don't know your malted barley from your bottom ferment. Top Hops prides itself on catering to professional brewers, novice tipplers and everyone in between, offering the best of international and domestic beer. A self-described "culture center," this Lower East Side spot celebrates "beer, and the good people who brew it."