I Hope Nothing's Fishy With This Pickle, Dog.

Once upon a time, in a mystical, magical land called Park Slope, craft beer was kinda Yeti-like. There was The Gate. There was Bierkraft. There was...well...pretty much nothing else. These days in the area around the Slope, there are plenty of places to grab a craft beer or two or six. That's great and all, but when it comes to bars, it's often the same beers over and over again: A Sixpoint on tap. A Brooklyn Brewery beer on tap. Perhaps a Founders or a Victory. MAYBE one unique beer...not usually though...

...and at the same time, throughout the NYC’s twee-est borough, the artisanal food & drink movement has been booming. Just ask The NY Times...and ask them again...and then ask them one more time, because they really have a lot to say on the subject.

Did you hear that pickles are in? It's true! I'm not jus' talkin' bout yer annual LES Pickle Fest. I'm not jus' talkin' about Gus's or even Brooklyn's own The Pickle Guys. I'm talking pickle-producing, up-and-coming whippersnappers. Brooklyn's McClure's Pickles has been making a name for themselves for a few years now. Thirty-something Shamus Jones, of Brooklyn Brine, has gone from making pickles and selling them in dark alleys to making pickles and selling them out of a Parkwanus storefront.

Personally, I've never stepped foot in the murky waters of the Brooklyn Brine. Pickles are aight and all, but to be straight, I could give two shits about them. Big deal. You left some stuff in brine or some junk. Stop gherkin me around. You want my attention and/or business? Open a biscuit or nugget or mayo store.

Surprisingly, until this week, craft beer and pickles were never truly joined together in Kings County-certified holy matrimony. Enter Pickle Shack, Brooklyn Brine's collaboration with Delaware craft beer rock stars Dogfish Head Brewery and Dogfish's NYC follow-up to their partnership with Eataly. I friggin' love Dogfish Head's beers. After growing up in New England in the shadow of Sam Adams, I've become acutely aware of just how lame Sam Adams' "craft beers" really are. I get it...slightly different audience...but still, c'mon Jim Koch. You're not fooling anyone.

So yeah...Brooklyn Brine on the food. Dogfish on the drink. Strong Mad on the bass. Pickle Shack. Matches made in heaven and whatnot.

On Wednesday evening, a mere 3.5 hours after the NYC Health Inspectors came by & waved their magic wand, Pickle Shack officially opened in the former Root Hill Burger space on 4th Ave near Carroll. I was rather occupied on Wednesday night with watching the Red Sox beat the hapless Cardinals and become World Champions. Luckily, that meant there was no baseball to watch on Thursday night, so once my daily office drone tasks were complete, I headed to Pickle Shack to see what they had going on.

It's a semi-dark space, a room with sixteen table seats and about the same number of bar seats with an open kitchen in the rear. There's apparently a backyard that's about the size of the bar too. If you went to Root Hill Burger, you're probably familiar with the backyard. I blinked and never got to check out Root Hill Burger.

The beer selection was priority number one for me. Like I said...two shits about a pickle. With nothing but Dogfish on tap, I knew I had little chance of going wrong. While there's an eight-tap setup behind the bar, they currently have five beers on tap--the 60 and 61 Minute IPAs, the Punkin Ale, the Bitches Brew and the American Beauty. In short, they have the ability to feature different Dogfish beers and rotate in new stuff on the regs and even have a fresh-hop device on the way. BAM.

I started with a 10 oz of the American Beauty ($8), Dogfish's latest music-beer collaboration...this time with The Grateful Dead. It's a beer that was made after reaching out to Dead fans for legal ingredient suggestions. Eventually, they decided to brew a beer made with granola. It's a pretty good beer, one with a obvious breadier complexion. Strangely, it doesn't smell like patchouli.

While they have a limited menu for now, they'll eventually have a permanent, vegetarian-focused menu with four to five specials. For now, there's shizz like cheese plates ($7-$16), sandwiches ($9-$11), bar snacks ($3-$5), an entree ($14) & desserts ($8-$9). As is expected, a bunch of the dishes feature beer or pickles.

I started with an order of the Fried Hop Pickles with Preserved Lemon Aioli ($5). With a light breading & somewhat thick pickles, I enjoyed them but wasn't really blown away. Maybe I've been spoiled on the McClure's-based fried pickles from Astoria's Sweet Afton or something.

The dude behind the bar suggested that I try the sandwich of Chanterelle Mushrooms, Farm Eggs, Raclette, Chives & Thyme with Dijon & Herbes de Provence, Arugula ($11), prefacing it by saying "I don't know if you've had breakfast yet, but..." I got it with a Punkin Ale ($6/16oz) because, I mean...it was Halloween for Christ's sake. PUNKIN! As for the sandwich, the herbed-up combo of fluffy eggs & chanterelle mushrooms worked quite well. You know when you should eat it? They open at noon, so HAIR OF THE DOG BRUNCH SQUEE BLAH BLAH BLAH.

I'm interested in seeing where they go from here. Just over twenty-four hours after opening their doors, things seemed promising. Pre-7pm on a Thursday with a limited menu and limited press, I sat at the bar, one of a half-dozen people and watched as Chef Neal Harden (formerly of Pure Food & Wine and Maimonide of Brooklyn) and two other chefs intently worked in tandem in a small kitchen to put together dishes. It'll be interesting to see how this translates to nights when Pickle Shack gets packed, with only twelve tables & a larger menu. It has to get packed, right? Park Slope beer nerds unite!

I'm a beer nerd. I will be back. You'd better believe. I still haven't had the Bitches Brew on tap...and I'll totally be stalking them for some of the Deltron 3030 brew or a lil' Theobroma. I might even get drunk enough to eat a dozen pickles one night. Just try me, bitch.

Pickle Shack, 256 4th Ave, Open Sun-Thu Noon-10pm, Fri-Sat Noon-11pm

Read way more from Shawn at eatdrinksnack.com & eatdrinktaco.com.