A GROWLER OF GROWLER (Sixpoint’s Growler at Swift Hibernian Lounge)

My search for the best beer in New York continues….

Swift Hibernian Lounge is one of the stops on Urban Oyster’s Fermented New York: East Village Crawl. Urban Oyster, of course, is the tour company for whom I give both food cart tours and beer tours. I don’t give the Fermented tours and I’ve only been on their Williamsburg Crawl, so I’m not as familiar with Swift as some of the other tour guides in the company. In fact, the only time I had been here was when we scheduled one of our monthly company meetings at the bar. And we had to leave because they had a private party coming in and we needed more space.

So I really never spent any time at Swift until I suggested coming here when one of my good friends came to visit. It was convenient to the area and fit the bill for a bar with good craft beer and ample seating. He originally wanted to go to his old haunt Black and White, but we realized we would have felt like senior citizens in that place since it’s over-run with NYU students.

Swift elicits an almost gothic, haunted house feel in certain spots, with large paintings of ghosts, imbibers, and Jonathan Swift. Their food menu is nothing too exciting, but their craft beer list is quite extensive.

The 22 drafts rotate regularly, of course, but I was a little disappointed to see that the only local beers they offered were the compulsory Brooklyn Lager and something called Sixpoint Growler. Sixpoint is one of the city’s favorite breweries making experimental and solid ales. And growler is a term given to barrels or jugs used for taking beer home with you.

Was this Sixpoint only offered by the growler? No, of course Swift doesn’t offer growler re-fills, but instead they serve this mild ale which is officially called Sixpoint Growler Darrrk. Just in case you didn’t get the double meaning of growler, they added multiple “r”s to get the point across.

The Growler reminded me very much of a porter in flavor. The color was dark ruby with a tight foamy head. It had a very low hop character with some sweet flavors throughout. It finished clean with roasted coffee notes. The predominant malt flavor was a little too sweet for my tastes but I appreciated the lightness.

I’m pleased to say Swift was a total success. I think most people were looking for a place to socialize comfortably rather than anything else, but the great beer selection didn’t hurt. I’m just surprised I didn’t see one of the Urban Oyster tour guides come through with a group. Those guys are everywhere!

Is Sixpoint Craft Ale’s Growler Darrrk the best beer in NY? It tastes like a pretty good porter, but is a little too sweet for my tastes earning it a 7 out of 10.