Is Park Slope A Secret Beer Mecca?

The slope is well known for strollers and shops, eclectic eateries and fancy abodes. Its residents are picky when it comes to produce, coffee or brunch. You’d think that when it comes to adult libations, it might be a hotbed of wine bars or high-end booze purveyors… martini joints and speakeasy-type cocktails made with organic, fair trade, sustainable mint and grass-fed, free range coconuts. 

But the evidence suggests that we’re very happy with beer. Good beer. I’ve noticed, time and again, that non-Slopers often have very good things to say about the beer selection in our pubs and eateries.  And while we’re not known for making it, we’re seemingly a great place for offering and enjoying a bounty of bevs. 

Of particular note:

4^th Ave. Pub

One look at their beer menu and you know that someone here is serious about their suds.  

Bierkraft 

Heck, there’s beer in the name. And beer in their veins. 1,000 different beers in stock, 14 on tap, which you can buy to-go in a pressurized “growler.” And for those who like to spend big, Bierkraft offers Samuel Adams Utopias, a special small batch brew, sold in decanters for $250.

Pacific Standard

Pacific Standard has a fucking awesome Frequent Drinker Program similar to airline and hotel points clubs.  The more yards of beer you enjoy, the more points you earn towards shit like discounts at BAM, tattoos and pedicures. Other rewards include customized poems, goldfish naming rights and all-expensed paid trips to Williamsburg. 

Der Kommissar  and Café Steinhof

Two Germanic places with beers that are hearty enough to be a meal. Or you can double the pleasure with sausages and other fare.

Beer Table

Yet another place with Beer right there in the title.  It’s a small space with a limited selection, but the entire focus is on pairing really good beer and really good food.  Draft Magazine named it "one of the top beer spots in the country."

And of course there are the many purveyors of adult bevs, supermarkets, plus specialty shops such as Grab. We also have the Royal Supermarket on 8^thAve, across from the YMCA Armory, which boldly claims in a big-ass sign: “We Have the Largest Selection of Beer Around.”  Quite a boast, but for a bodega, they probably do. In the South Slope we also have Eagle Provisions, whose kielbasa is as magnificent as their beer selection.

Maybe all this fermentation in the air is kicking up the nabe’s birth rate?  Or causing more hookups thanks to beer goggles?  If we get that promised beer hall in the North Slope, and a beer garden in adjacent Greenwood Heights, we might just start another baby boom.

In the meantime, do you have any favorite places to enjoy or buy a beer, or suggested product that other FIPS readers should try?