New York City Beer Week Ready To Roll

The New York City Brewers Guild gathered at Heartland Brewery at the Empire State Building to preview this year's New York City Beer Week, the 6th annual installment of the city's premiere craft beer celebration. Brewers were on hand to provide samples, share their events for Beer Week, and discuss their breweries and enthusiasm for this year's festivities.

One of the themes of the evening was craft beer's growing popularity, especially in New York. "Two years ago there were 1,600 brewers in the US. Now there are 2,600, with more opening every day," said Jeremy Cowan of Coney Island Brewing. He added: "In 2013 the Brewer's Guild expanded from 11 to 16 members. In what other industry do you get almost 50% growth in one year?!" "Beer Week is all about celebrating New York's beer revival, getting back towards pre-prohibition levels of production," said Sixpoint's Jeff Gorlechen.

Some of the many beers shared included Brooklyn Brewery's new Wild Streak (Belgian pale ale with wild yeast aged in bourbon barrels), KelSo's Red Rye IPA (proceeds of which go to City Harvest), City Island's Pale Ale (made with homegrown hops) and Houston Hall's Sorachi Ace Wheat Ale. There was also excitement about Bronx Brewery's new facility opening this spring or summer, coinciding with their extensive barrel-aging program.

New York City Beer Week runs from February 21st to March 2nd. Can't-miss events include the Opening Bash at Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Terminal (2/21), CASKALOT at 508 Gastrobrewery (2/23), NYC Brewer's Choice at Wythe Hotel (2/26), and the Closing Beer Brunch at Houston Hall (3/2). Check out the full list of events at nycbeerweek.com.