Nice place to sample beers in NYC. The beer menu seems to follow (or predate) Rattle’n’Hum which is also a nice drinking hole. The barmaids are well informed about the beer they serve. The place is very large, almost like a train terminal. Good music, good food. Totally enjoyed it there.

80 taps and you won’t find anything to drink. Terrible ambiance. One and done. For tickers only.

This place rocks. For all you who have to take a bus to get out of town stop here first!

Huge place a few blocks southwest of Times Square. 50+ taps and very slow and quiet on an early Saturday evening. Selection was good, had the Founders Porter and a few decent beers from Widmer Brothers. Not the cozier place in NYC, but definitely a place worth visiting. Setback though that service was a bit poor.

Massive space on the corner of 8th Ave and 40th. Small downstairs bar for a quick pop-in (and a reduced draft list). The main level is a massive space with a long bar dominating the back of the room and a bunch of tables arranged throughout the rest of the room. Can’t say it offers great ambiance, but you get a nice people watching vantage point. There is apparently an upstairs deck but it was almost 95 degrees the day we were there and the thought of drinking in that kind of heat was fairly unappealing. Nice draft list with well-selected examples of a bunch of styles. Food was decent as well (my burger was actually delicious). Prices are okay for midtown. It’s a nice addition to an area that I often find myself in without many better beery options.

After expecting this bar to be open for my Feb/March trip to NYC I finally entered it’s doors on the evening of 28/05/12. Small bar at street level, large 2nd floor area with lots of dining style seating as opposed to a more pub like set up and a roof garden level that had yet to be completed. Solid enough tap list of 50+ but probably not as good as R’N’H or the Ginger Man. I was a little disappointed as this had been billed as 80 or so taps! Yes - you can only drink so many beers but still! From my perspective, coming from the UK, it was also a let down in that of the 50 or so on tap I’d already had about 35 or more and those I hadn’t were largely styles that didn’t interest me, so could do better in terms of more interesting beers. Service was fine although it was pretty quiet. I’d head back but if I only had time for 3 bars on a visit to Manhattan this certainly wouldn’t be one of them! Seemed a little pricey even for Manhattan!

Only a block away from my hotel, figured they’d at least have Corona, but no. Ended up having a firestone union jack, stone 16th, and a BR Tartare. 60 some other beers on tap. Probably room for about 30 people at most on the first floor, 200 on the second. 50 more or so on the roof. No real view to speak of on the roof and I’m not huge into breathing in the bus fumes if I don’t have to, so we sat on the second floor, which was loaded with TV’s playing sports. Crappy music playing (did I really need to hear Hotel California again...ever?) Waitress was nice but stopped back very infrequently for the place only having 30 or so people on all 3 floors. Beer was $8 for most of the good things, usually in a 12 or 14oz glass. 10 or so drafts picked out for happy hour, which lasted an absurd amount of time, $5 for those I think. Growler to go I grabbed of union jack was $32 for the glass and pour, waitress said $20 of that was for glass. Hopefully when I refill it tomorrow that is the case. Perogis were ok, $10 for those. $12 for a small martini for the girlfriend. Overall, decent place for being so close to times square. I’ve had better places in the area though, just need to walk a few more blocks or grab the subway.

I stopped by a few times because it was a few blocks from my hotel. Defiintely a yuppie/business type clientele. The beers and food are a bit higher than the other beer bars in the city, but worth checking out. I was able to get a Hair of the Dog Adam. Sadly, one of the bartenders severly over quoted the price of it on my first visit, and at the same time charged me for beers I did not order. Worth checking out if you get past the suits and mediocre service, because they may have some gems that are overlooked by their clientele.

Stick with rattle & hum unless you’re in the area. Big, giant, expensively built out space, fairly corporate/sanitized. Pretty loud. Decent selection but probably not quite as good as R&H. One of the ’tenders castigated me for not drinking quickly enough while seated at the bar. Really buddy? Yeah I guess I’ll start chugging this barley wine because it’s really meant to be housed like that. Annoying.

Stopped in here prior to heading to Paul’s for the first of two days worth of tastings at Paul and Andy’s places. Initially walked in and headed to the bar on the first floor. I was told by the fiesty bartender that was a cash bar, which didn’t seem to be a problem. Then she told me that there were only about 10 beers on at that bar and everything else was upstairs. So I sadly left her and went upstairs. While the serving staff was neither as attractive or fiery as the girl working the first floor, the taplist was at least complete. Service upstairs was quick and competent and beers were served in good condition. The tap list was decent enough. Reminded me of a slightly watered down Rattle n Hum list, or maybe RnH on a down day. Where the taplist seemed a bit below RnH, the space itself far exceeds it. Big and open with a good amount of natural light. Prices were about what they are at Rattle, though the beer is a percentile or two less rare, thus there are fewer 8oz pours at $8. After a couple of pints I decided to check out the rooftop and it was certainly a nice area. Lots of light wood and an area that seemed very opened in spite of being a bit confined. Overall not the best list in the city, and honestly that’s generally what I’m looking for when I take a trip down to NYC. If you’re within a few blocks it’s worth a stop, but I’d probably rather walk a couple blocks over and go to Pony.