homebrewandbeer.com

I've only ever been to California and unless you're tipping 10% or something the prices are pretty much similar. Craft beer venues charge pretty much the same as their local counterparts. I often pay US$9-$15 per glass there.

I messed up my point about the dollar above though. It is unusual for the dollar to be so strong is what I mean. I also misspelled 'diner'. The shame of it all!

I was being nice in not pointing it out

As I was on a honeymoon, and not an awesome beer tour like Oliver is on, I was doing most of my beer drinking in restaurants and paying anywhere from $4-$7 per beer (although they wouldn't have been anything near as good as from a craftbrew pub, I'm sure.) That and the price of food, even with a 20% tip (except for the 50% I gave them at the SN brewery because it was so good and I was a bit drunk) I found it to be much cheaper than both NY and home.

The dollar was about even when I was there last, I should probably point out, too.

Perhaps I'm just going to the wrong places there or right places here.

Day 23: New York City
The beer highlight of the day was a Pilsner Urquell, drunk with a pizza at Fred's restaurant at Barney's department store. It was one of the very few lagers (and few imports) I have had on this trip, and the best by far. I'd forgotten how good it is.

Just cocktails and wine over a birthday dinner for my lady and my brother at Buddakan -- another great place to eat but good beers, in fact any beers, were thin on the ground -- followed by a Southern Tier IPA (a solid beer, from what I recall at that point late in the evening) at a nearby bar and a trip home in the oldest, diciest, most decrepit limo that you could imagine.



Tomorrow: The last day in NY (including Letterman and ice hockey!).

Cheers,

Oliver

Oliver wrote:...including Letterman...

I've heard a tip for if you want to get your mug on the telly whilst at Letterman; laugh as raucously as you can.

Apparently Jason Morrison and Paul Murray off 2UE in Sydney went to a taping and Paul was so loud and carried on so much that it caused Letterman to comment on "the jolly guy up the back."

Do it, then tell us who was interviewed so we all know which show to tape

On the topic of US beer, I just came across the article below from a recent beer news newsletter from Belgian Shop, to which I subscribe.

Interesting, and amazing, figures.

Oliver

USA: Number of actual and breweries in planning skyrocketing – unofficial estimate
At the end of November, there were 1,927 US brewer and brewpubs, including over 50 that opened in just the last 2 months, Beer Marketer’s Insights report.

There are presently about 175 more craft brewers than there were in 2010. Those are actual brewing facilities, and do not include contract brewers, gypsy brewers and most nano brewers (thereby leaving out a lot of good craft brewers). If you included those, there are almost certainly already over 2000 craft brewers, Beer Marketer’s Insights estimate.

The official Brewers Association statistics are that there are now 858 breweries in planning in the USA. Not all of those will come to fruition. But that number has skyrocketed. More than doubled in last 18 months before November 2011; at mid-year 2010, there were 389 in planning. And it’s more than quadrupled from mid-2008, when there were “only” 208 breweries in planning.

Day 24: New York City
After going to the taping of Letterman we headed to the ice hockey to see the NY Rangers defeat the New Jersey Devils 2-0.

I was astounded by the beers that were available at Madison Square Garden: Anchor Steam (tap), Bud and Bud Light (tap and plastic bottles) Heineken
(cans), Blue Moon Belgian White (tap), Yuengling Lager (tap), Amstel (tap). And they are just the ones I can remember!

And to think, back at Australian sporting stadiums we're stuck with Tooheys or CUB megaswill and the "choice" between heavy (if you're lucky), mid-strength or light. What an eye-opener.

Anyway, we decided that when in Rome, and downed a few Buds, in cups from the tap and in bottles. If you're looking for a completely inoffensive, easy-drinking beer that doesn't taste bad (and by that I'm not suggesting for a moment that I mean it tastes good, because there's actually not that much taste), then Bud is your beer.



I tell you what, if I could choose between Bud and Carlton or VB at Australian sporting venues I'd pick Bud any day of the week. It may not taste of much, but at least it doesn't taste like VB.

Controversial, I know, but I write that statement in the cold, hard, sober light of day.

However, here's one thing you're unlikely to see at an Australian sporting venue: the guy beside you drinking beer from a cup with a straw



Then it was on to a couple of bars suggested by Tom from Mountain Goat.

First up it was Rattle N Hum, a bar that has 41 beers, including a cask ale, on tap. The beer list is printed daily, and includes the barwoman's "picks for today" (today they were Stone Imperial Russian Stout, Kasteelbier Cuvee de Chateau, Emelisse White Label Imperial Russian Stout and Stone IPA), the IBU and RateBeer.com ranking of each of the beers, and tips on beer tasting, courtesy of BeerAdvocate.com.



The other interesting thing they had was a wall suggesting different beers to try based on "if you like X mainstream beer, then try Y on tap". A great idea for getting people out of their brand comfort zone.



I had a Davidson Brothers IPA, from New York. It was quite a sweet IPA with a thin head. It was a little on the sweet side for me, but by no means a bad beer.

The little lady had a Bear Republic Crystal Wheat, a clean, US-style wheat beer probably not best drunk at the end of a long evening!



There were Coopers bar mats (seven in all) around the bar. The barwoman told me that the bar used to sell Coopers until about two years ago but they still
use the bar mats.



Then it was around the corner to Ginger Man. This is in a similar vein to Rattle N Hum, but larger and less grungy. Again, the daily beer menu listed their tap beers -- 66 in all -- (this time arranged by country of origin rather than style) including a few "featured" taps. There were also several hundred bottled beers from around the globe, including Coopers Pale, Sparkling and Stout (all $6 a stubby), and Mountain Goat Pale Ale ($20 for a 660ml bottle). Although the Goat was listed as 4.5%, which doesn't seem right to me for the 660ml bottle.

This is half the taps.



I chose a Ginger Man Novel-ty Chocolate Stout (NY, 7.3%). It was rich, dark, chocolatey, slightly sweet and oh, soooo drinkable. The head was a little on the thin side, but overall it was a tremendous beer.



It may well be the last US beer we have on this adventure. If so, it was a fitting end to an amazing trip.

Tomorrow: NY to LA, and home.

Cheers,

Oliver

The home stretch
A few made-in-Holland Heinekens at the airport lounge after the six-hour flight from New York to LA set me up for the 15-hour flight home that departed at 11pm. No beers on the plane, just nine hours' sleep then a few movies.

I am putting together a "what I learnt" about the trip and will post it when I can.

I also plan to document all the places we stayed and breweries and bars we visited, along with their websites and directions in case anyone wants to follow in our epic footsteps.

Stay tuned.

Oliver

Awesome

I just need to win lotto, get a new wife, find a babysitter for a month, and book myself in for a liver transplant

Nice work

P.S. and learn to tolerate americans