There are three requirements for perfecting a craft: hard work, patience, and Skeet Ulrich totally lying and telling everyone you're terrible in bed when you didn't even sleep with him. Not cool, bro! Dedicating their store to The Craft of suds: Good Beer NYC.
Started by a guy who after 14 years saw his prospects in the publishing world dwindling, GB's a sunken hybrid beer cafe/shop with with a raw, old-school general store feel, boasting a wall of refrigerators stocked with bottles to take with you, and taps set up for enjoying draughts at a handful of metal tables, but not Metallica tables, as then you'd just Spill 'Em All. The small batch/craft bottles're geographically arranged starting up front with the Northeast (the densest offering, including stalwarts like Smuttynose, Captain Lawrence, Six Point, and Dogfish Head), roaming the states to cover everything from Cigar City (Tampa), to Founders' (Mich.), to Bear Republic (Cali.), and ending with international options like Delirium Tremens, Lucifer, and Hobgoblin, proving once again that all things foreign are terrifying. On-the-spot pours (also avail in growlers to go) are spread over twelve taps, with the opening rotation including Arcadia's Jaw-Jacker Pumpkin Ale, Oskar Blues' Dale's Pale Ale, Coney Island Sword Swallower, and a a house favorite, "extravagantly hopped, full flavored, medium bodied, and copper colored" West Coast IPA from Green Flash, so good you'll think you're the savor-er of the universe.
Should you want to fortify, GB's also supplementing the hooch with organic grass fed dogs, kielbasa (spicy or cheddar filled), pretzels, and cheese plates, but no Meyer's ice cream or Campbell's soup, because those are just people who were in The Craft, and have nothing to do with this whatsoever.
Opens early next week: 422 E 9th St; btw 1st and Ave A; East Village; 212.677.4836
