Brooklyn Brewery

The perfect combination of historic NYC landmark and innovative Brooklyn business.

This is a great place to take visitors, but not necessarily somewhere I'd want to spend time on a weekend afternoon. There's a free brewery "tour" that lasts about a half hour and just stands you in the room with the giant vats, but the tour guide is pretty hilarious and can teach you a lot about the mob wars of early Williamsburg. Grab a big table and definitely get 5 tokens for $20, or $4 a beer. They let you bring food in and play card games if you're looking to make an afternoon of it. And don't think you have to stand in line for tokens—there's a little gumball machine that will give you some as well! Definitely try the Sorachi Ace, my favorite.

Walked in here on a Sunday afternoon and was able to go on the free beer tour (which lasts about half an hour). Killed some time (we had to wait 2 more tours before we were able to go on ours) and enjoyed some beers. $5 gets you a token (which is one beer) but if you want to drink more, definitely go for the 5 tokens which cost $20 ($4/beer which is a better bang for your buck). There were lines to get the tokens and then another line for the bar but it moved very quickly. 

This place reminds me of a biergarden (smaller - but still very spacious overall). It was difficult to find a table to sit at initially but once a new tour was starting, it was much easier to grab a spot. They had 10 different beers on tap. I enjoyed a Sorachi Ace and The Unsung Hero. Both were really tasty and cost a token each. I highly suggest trying the Unsung Hero because during our tour, our guide let us know that it only served this beer exclusively at the Brewery Tasting Room. If you want to get really buzzed you should probably try the Tripel Smash. However it is the only beer that will cost you 2 tokens and that's probably because its 9.1% abv. 

Our tour guide was excellent - super energetic and very knowledgeable. The staff was also wonderful and very friendly. Brooklyn Brewery is solid spot if you just want to relax and chill out on a weekend. I had a great time! Definitely check it out if you are in Williamsburg.

Visiting Brooklyn Brewery is one of my favorite New York weekend activities. The tour is nothing to write home about: the facility is very small and these days the bulk of their brew production is handled outside the five boroughs. A personable guide will walk you over to a small area to the side of the entrance where you can see some of the brewing equipment and talk you through the basics of beer brewing. The only real reason to join the tour is if you answer a trivia question correctly at the end of the tour, they may give you some free beer tokens for the tap room. However, the tap room is the real draw for me. Super casual, beer hall-style layout, the tap room is a fun spot to spend a winter afternoon with friends. Bring games (I’m partial to Cards Against Humanity) and park it for an afternoon of great beer. Bonus? They provide take out menus and you can order in directly to the tap room!