Sixpoint Craft Ales

9/24/2007 12:49:49 PM, monday, september 24, 2007
Tour was a bit boring and long, kind of a lot of rambling but a nice showcase of the malts they use. The brewery is nice looking, but I don’t care for their products. I would skip this in favor of the Brooklyn Brewery, unfortunately I chose the opposite and got to Brooklyn too late.

6/3/2007 4:50:53 PM, sunday, june 03, 2007
This starts out as a small local bar attached to the Brewery. The beers are great and the owner gives an entertaining tour. You finish up on a roof deck which is quite nice. A goodf time and a must visit for Sixpoint fans!

5/29/2007 10:19:36 PM, tuesday, may 29, 2007 [ Updated tuesday, may 29, 2007 ]
Anoher highlight of my trip. Small sports bar setting which I love a few booths and bar area with a pool table and a couple tv’s, also a stage in the room next to it for bands, they also have a roof deck. The beers were really good actually the IPA was awesome and the Brown Ale was pretty good Only 6 to choose from but it’s all their beers. The pizza kicked ass and was just right, got to drink some good beers play pool and sit on the roof, I had a blast.

5/16/2007 12:48:36 AM, wednesday, may 16, 2007
I assembled a small group to visit this little brewery and the bar it is connected to, which seems like it is on the edge of the world with NYC in the distant background. After sitting at the bar and tasting a pint of the brewery’s finest, the tour started at roughly 1:30. At that point, the group was introduced to Shane and Andrew who led an interesting tour through their storage areas. I have to say we were drinking the Apollo Wheat by the pint all through the tour as I was with two experienced home-brewers who were amazed by Shane’s candid stories about changing the recipes by the week and how experiments became great beers. We had a great lunch there of wings, pizza, and beer.

11/14/2006 1:40:05 PM, tuesday, november 14, 2006 [ Updated tuesday, november 14, 2006 ]
This was a great brewery. The tour is very informative, thorough and intimate. You get to see all types of malts hands on and see the actual brewing room. I also got to sample the Brown Stone Ale straight out of the fermenter. That was awesome. You also get a complimentary pint at their bar. The burger wasn’t bad either. I recommend this place to eager beer lovers who want to learn.

5/15/2006 1:22:24 PM, monday, may 15, 2006
Went on a Saturday 1 o’clcok tour, even though the thing didn’t really start until 1:30. So the brewery is pretty much a room in the back of the Liberty Heights tap room. The tour is great however, it was pretty much us and Shane (the brewmaster) just sitting on the roof patio and him telling us how it all started. Free pint in the beginning. Got samples out of the fermenters. Got to ask him everything. At the end you could just sit at the bar and talk with everybody. This was definitly a great brewery tour.

3/9/2006 11:37:04 AM, thursday, march 09, 2006
went on the 1pm saturday tour, which started well after 1:30. apparently, they were waiting on some folks who were running late. the bar (the attached Liberty Heights Tap Room, where tours begin and end) was full of 12 year-olds who were preparing for the monthly (?) School of Rock showcase held there. an interesting vibe. 5 or 6 sixpoint beers on tap, and brick oven pizza (thin and greasy looking), among other things. one of my favorite beer tours ever. led by brewmaster shane welch with one of the sales reps tagging along. a wonderfully thorough treatment of ingredients (nearly 30 minutes in the malt room with plenty of tasting and explanation of the flavor characteristics and biology of malted grains), less focus on brewing process. shane’s presentation was open to interaction, nuanced, knowledgeable, humorous, and passionate throughout. my non-beer loving friends were well impressed. check it out--these guys are blowing up and with good reason.

1/14/2006 3:47:52 PM, saturday, january 14, 2006 [ Updated saturday, january 14, 2006 ]
This is a rating of the brewery and Liberty Heights Tap Room . During this past Thanksgiving holiday, I attended a free tour of this nine-month old brewery. Shane Welsh, brewmaster and tour host, took us all over the brewery, showed us his malt room, his fermentors, his bottling and storage sites. He also drew a sample from one of his fermentors for people to sample. Shane explained his brewing philosophy, the types of malts and hops that he used to make his beers (he ven passed samples around to taste or sniff), and his hopes and dreams for the brewery. It was quite clear to me that Shane is very passionate about craft beer and cares about making a quality product. Afterwards, Shane took us back to the Liberty Heights Tap Room (our point of entry to the brewery), introduced us to Steve, the owner of the pub, and gave us all free pints of Sixpoint brew! I enjoyed their Bengali Tiger IPA, SMP porter, Sweet Action, and Rebellious ale with a large pizza. Shane even popped opened a bomber bottle of his nearly finished new offering, the Bolshoi stout, for everyone to sample. A visit to the Sixpoint Craft ale brewery and a chance to try out its brews and meet its maker is a must for any beer enthusiast living or passing through NYC. UPDATE 01.14.06, I’m pleased to note that Sixpoint will be releasing their Bolshoi stout on January 19, 2006.

10/22/2005 10:33:19 PM, saturday, october 22, 2005
Tours are now given every Saturday at 1pm - Make sure you visit the Liberty Heights Tap Room, which exclusively serves Sixpoint’s beer; you might as well call it their official pub - the tour is worth the trip to this out-of-the-way neighborhood - Andrew, the co-founder of the brewery, conducted our tour, and, unlike a lot of other brewery tours, we actually got a glimpse of the whole operation - we saw their office, tasted the malts in their storage room, and even tasted some beer-in-progress straight from their finishing tanks and fermenters (including a soon to be released, 12% imperial stout, which should be amazing once it’s finally finished) - Andrew was very personable and down to earth, and you could really tell that he cared a great deal for the art of brewing - when asked if he would ever contract brew, his answer was an abrupt and emphatic "no" (they have actually already been approached with offers, which, of course, they have refused) - these guys are truly beer nerd’s brewers - of course, the fact that the brewery is so young may contribute to the highly personable and laid-back atmosphere permeating the place, but one gets the feeling that that will never entirely go away - most certainly worth the trip, no matter where you are coming from - great people making great beer, what more could you want?

10/11/2005 10:58:43 PM, tuesday, october 11, 2005
This is really a rating of the Liberty Heights Tap House, which is attached to Sixpoint -- that’s not altogether clear from the web. Let me make this clear, Liberty Heights Tap House is a TREK from Manhattan, especially the Finance District, which is where I was coming from, but it’s worth the trip for the beer afficianado. I hit the pub on a slow night, there were only a handful of folks in the place. Struck up a conversation with the bartender, and he hauled out Shane, the brewmaster. We talked for a long time. He’s like the Kwai Chang Caine of beer - very intense on the zen of the craft. The Sixpoint beers were very, very good and very different from the standard brewpub fare. He let me sample some of the stuff that he had stowed away in the back, and offered me a take-home bottle of a one-off batch that they had. Very fun beer nerd stuff. Make the trip!