It is official folks; we have a new beer engine in town.
I finally got back to NYC after the long weekend up north, and eventually got a chance to follow up on an Instagram lead from nyccaskcrew (cheers Kevin!) regarding a new handpump sighting in Brooklyn.
Yes folks, for the first time since the opening of the Grand Delancey we have a new cask venue that isn’t a brewery.
The bar in question is Beer Witch, technically and geographically in Park Slope but within easy walking distance to the four Gowanus breweries hanging off of Fourth Avenue.
Just nine blocks from the other permanent handpump at Wild East, and under ten minutes as the cask crawls.
So this past weekend, I put on my walking shoes and adventurer’s hat and took to the Q train to take me from home to familiar stomping grounds.
I could have, and should have, taken the ferry, but I was feeling lazy this weekend, besides how often do I get to take the subway at the weekend without being misdirected around the system while they are doing maintenance?
Beer Witch opens at 1pm on the weekends, so it gave me the perfect opportunity to dry run (he means wet run) the new crawl by heading over to Wild East first.
I was hoping that they would have the Prudence light mild on the engine, but I had missed it by a couple of days, and had to content myself with a couple of pints of their outstanding Standard Deviation stout instead; the Prudence should be back on by the time you are reading this.
The Standard Deviation was in fine form, some bittersweet chocolate notes up front and a dry roasty bitterness through the finish, brilliant!
I was fortunate enough to get an up close personal encounter with Patience, who had snuck out from the brewery to see what was happening in the taproom; big red cats are great!
After the cask pours, I grabbed a quick NEIPA (King Monday) as a palate cleanser before hitting the streets again for the short stroll over to Beer Witch.
This was my first time there, and I was very happy to see that they had placed the handpump right on the bar, before all of the draft taps, where everybody gets to see it and ask about it (and hopefully sample it) as soon as they walk through the entrance.
I was also happy that I wasn’t the only person in the bar that was drinking the cask ale; out of maybe a dozen customers, there were at least four of us enjoying the cask offering while I was there.
And what an offering it was too, a 3.4% bitter from Moor Beer Company of Bristol in the old country; something else that we haven’t seen in the city in many years, a UK cask ale.
I asked them how they managed to procure such a cask, and apparently, they have a special connection with the folks at Moor, so we can probably expect more (or is it Moor?) British delicacies in the upcoming future.
Hold me back!
The bitter was excellent, sessionable (well it would have been if I didn’t start with the 6% stouts) and complex beyond its strength.
A perfect traditional amber color with a foamy and ultimately scuzzy white head (no sparkler here); tea and biscuits, digestive I would say, with a long lingering bitterness.
Beer Witch is a cool place as well, Brooklyn cool; a minimalist layout, long skinny space, bar to the right, coolers with cans and bottles to the left, and a couple of high tables in the back of the room, very tech very modern.
It was a good visit and a good, albeit short crawl.
It will be repeated.
I have a feeling that I will be doing the ten-minute cask crawl again very soon.
Scorecard w/e 6/3/25
In the past week the Cask Whisperer has enjoyed the following casks:
- Wild East Standard Deviation Stout @ Wild East Brewing
- Moor Bitter @ Beer Witch
Upcoming Cask Events (Festivals and Otherwise)
6/7/25: Log Jammin’ V from Human Robot Beer, @ Cherry Street Pier, Philadelphia PA; will there be casks there? You never know, but the beer will be awesome anyway.
Upcoming Random NYC Casks
- Thursday June 5, 7-8pm at Brewer’s Row in Park Slope (7th Ave btw 3rd and 4th), Strong Rope will be tapping a cask of Burton IPA “Good Job” dry-hopped with Vista.
- Friday June 13 4-5pm, at The Hoptimist in the UWS, (on Amsterdam btw 80th and 81st), Strong Rope will be tapping a pin of their Pride Month beer, Aurora, a Honey Blonde Ale conditioned with orange peels and coriander in the cask.
NYC Cask Venues
Known Operational/Active Beer Engines
- Jones Wood Foundry (x2)
- Fifth Hammer
- Wild East
- The Shakespeare (x3)
- Cask Bar & Kitchen
- Drop-off Service
- Beer Witch
Occasional Pins (worth a follow on Instagram)
- Strong Rope
- KCBC
- Tørst
- Blind Tiger Ale House
- Threes Brewing
- Brouwerij Lane (First Friday Firkins)
- The Owl Farm
Cask Venues Reachable from NYC by MTA Train
Metro-North Hudson Line
- Draught Industries, Beacon NY (one handpump, Old Glenham beer range).
- Coopers, Beacon NY (one handpump, Old Glenham beer range).
- Happy Valley Arcade Bar, Beacon NY (one handpump, Old Glenham beer range).
Metro-North Harlem Line
- The Ambleside Pub, Mt. Kisco NY (four handpumps, Old Glenham beer range).
Metro-North New Haven Line
- Marlowe Artisanal Ales, Mamaroneck NY (one handpump, Marlowe beer range)
- Nod Hill Brewing, Ridgefield CT (two handpumps, Nod Hill beer range).
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We’re tapping the Burton IPA cask at Brewer’s Row as early as 7pm this Thursday evening. We also have a date for the Aurora cask at The Hoptimist, it will be Friday June 13, probably a 4-5pm tapping.
Cheers John, I will update the scorecard.
It looks like I will not be able to get out to Brooklyn on Thursday for the tapping, what’s the likelihood that there will still be some Burton available on Friday?