The Best Craft Beer Breweries in NYC to Visit

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Craft Beer in NYC/Manhattan

No trip is complete without checking out some breweries during your time spent in in NYC. Manhattan is an amazing place to visit for great food & drink. Due to the compact nature of the city, it’s not very conducive to the large spaces needed for beer brewing and production. Many craft breweries are located near but just outside of Manhattan. If you love beer as much as I do, it’s worth a trip outside of Manhattan/NYC to grab some great brews.

In Manhattan proper there really is only one brewery operating and actually producing beer. More about the specific brewery in NYC craft beer section below.

NYC Craft Beer

There are plenty of restaurants and pubs (or beer pubs) where you can get craft beer in Manhattan, however I personally prefer more of a taproom type environment that you can only get at a brewery. Even though the only operating full production brewery in Manhattan does have a restaurant so some could argue it’s more of a brew pub.

Torch & Crown Brewing Company

Torch & Crown is Manhattan’s only full production brewery and restaurant. Conveniently open for both lunch & dinner all week while also offering advance reservations. Depending on when you plan on visiting it’s pretty easy to just pop in for a beer or two and sit in the bar area as well. It definitely had a more traditional taproom or brewery feel while being right in Manhattan/NYC. If beer isn’t really your thing, they also offer wine & cocktails as well. So, it’s definitely a place you could go to appeal to everyone if there are people in your party that don’t necessarily care for beer.

Large steel beer brewing vessel in the taproom at Torch and Crown brewery in Manhattan NYC, New York — Torch and Crown Taproom/Restaurant

Other Half Midtown Rockefeller Center Taproom

While not actually brewed in Manhattan, if you’re short on time and can’t make it to the brewing facility/taproom in Brooklyn the beers are flowing in Midtown at their taproom! In a great location near Rockefeller makes this a great option before or after viewing NYC from above experiencing the “Top of the Roc”. This is a newer location as they operated a pop up in the fall of 2021 and the Midtown taproom is now open.

NYC Craft Beer bottle shops

If you’re too busy taking in all of the sights and walking all over the city, Beer Table is a specialty craft beer store conveniently located in Grand Central station. It’s located near the 43rd & Lexington entrance across from track 13.

NYC Pub Crawl or Beer Tasting Tour

If you’re looking for more of a social experience, a pub crawl or beer tour in NYC is a great way to try some local beer and experience local or historic locations although not necessarily breweries in NYC/Manhattan. I’m also a huge fan of making your own pub crawl. Link to specifics detailing a craft beer brewery crawl on public transportation in the Twin Cities of MN at the end of this article.

Craft Beer Breweries in Brooklyn

Most of the craft breweries close to Manhattan/NYC proper are located in Brooklyn. Brooklyn Brewery, the namesake of the area is one of the most well known. However, there is a lot better beer at other breweries. Below are the breweries that are definitely worth a visit.

Other Half

This brewery has multiple different locations. Multiple locations are in Brooklyn, NY. We visited the Domino Park but the Centre Street location is just two blocks from the Smith & 9th subway station making it really easy to get to!

During my visit, the tap list was extremely IPA heavy with only a few other brews that weren’t IPA’s. For me, this was disappointing because I’m more of a fan of what I call “gimmicky IPA’s”. (Milkshake IPA’s that are fruity and creamy and not just a smack in the face of hops.) But, my hophead husband loved all of the beers he tried. If your favorite beer style isn’t IPA’s, I would definitely recommend checking the tap list in advance of visiting Other Half Brewery while you’re in the NYC area.

Pink sour beer sitting on a table with the lights of the taproom and bar in the distance at Other Half Brewing in Brooklyn, NY

Evil Twin

Evil Twin Brewing has a pretty wide distribution range as I have been able to stumble across many of their obscure beers at Total Wine and local bottle shops that sell craft beer in Minnesota. Visiting the taproom in the trendy DUMBO area of Brooklyn after snapping some pictures in the area it was fun to sample a flight of what they were offering.

Some of their beers are pretty heavy but with good flavors and I loved being able to try those beers in a flight. Sometimes committing to a whole 16 oz. of an imperial stout is a bit rich and too much for me. Trying beers like this in a taproom is really my favorite!

Flight of beers with man sitting behind it sitting on the table at Evil Twin Brewing taproom in Brooklyn NY

GRIMM Artisanal Ales

Grimm had an amazing ambiance and vibe to their tap room. It was just really small, more intimate and really chill. All of the beertenders working were so helpful, friendly and personable. We chatted with several of them about the breweries in the area and also some of our favorite breweries we’ve been to during our travels abroad and across the USA. As well as our favorite breweries in Minnesota, Wisconsin &North Dakota. Experiences like that and how welcoming and open others are to chat about beer is what I enjoy the most about traveling and visiting other taprooms.

The variety of beers offered at GRIMM Artisanal Ales was fantastic. There was quite the range of beers on tap and each style was very well done. They will ship their beer to select states and will deliver locally via Grubhub & Caviar.

pink colored sour beer in a stemmed beer glass sitting on a coaster on the wooden bar with the back of the bar in the background

Getting to Brooklyn

One of the most popular things to do while in NYC is walk across the Brooklyn bridge.Depending on when you’re planning on visiting the breweries and what the weather is like you could walk to the first taproom. It’s also a great feeling knowing you’ve walked and earned your beer/brews.

Brooklyn is pretty well connected to Manhattan NYC via transit so it is definitely doable to take the subway/train. Keep in mind though, depending on the time you’re visiting typically the trains don’t run as frequently later and on the weekends.

Once we arrived via walking over the Brooklyn bridge, we walked to the first brewery then ended up taking Uber’s as it was a little more convenient. Although, it cost more it just helped us to maximize our time and not wait around for public transportation. But, that was a personal decision. It’s definitely doable using the subway system.

The Best Craft Beer Breweries in NYC to Visit

Craft Beer in NYC/Manhattan