PIZZA WITH YOUR BEER

What to do on a Sunday afternoon?  I’m tired of going to the movies, I’m never up early enough for brunch, and there’s only so long I can sit at home and write blog entries.

So last weekend, I ventured into Williamsburg for a different sort of Sunday afternoon. Instead of doing any of the usual activities, I decided to take a walking tour.  I know it makes you think of tourists from the mid West, but there are lots of specialized tours out there that can really teach you something unknown and unusual about the city we love.

Sure, I’m interested in New York history and East Village haunted buildings, but what I like even more is beer.

I met Cindy, one of the founders of Urban Oyster last year at the new Beer Garden in Astoria during the NYC Craft Beer Week.  We were there for a screening of Beer Quest, a TV pilot about one guy’s search for great beer all over the country.  It was sort of like Anthony Bourdain meets Animal House.  We got to talking and she told me about her company, which offers a tour called Brewed in Brooklyn,  a three hour tour of both the historic and new breweries in Brooklyn.

The name Urban Oyster relates to the history of oysters in New York Harbor.  Oysters in New York were at one time plentiful and supplied half the world’s oyster population.  Could you imagine instead of shooting down a Blue Point or a Fanny Bay, you were paying $3 for an Ellis Island or a Hudson River?

Due to pollution (it’s killing everything!!), the oysters became difficult to cultivate and New York’s rich oyster history was coming to an end.  Urban Oyster was inspired by this bit of distinct New York history and in order to prevent future “oyster-like” downfalls, they wanted to teach New Yorkers and visitors alike about the rich, historic neighborhoods of  New York while supporting local and unique businesses. Sounds like a pretty worthwhile and interesting mission statement to me.

On Sunday, I met David (Cindy’s partner) who would be our tour guide for our day of beer and history and beer history.  The tour starts at the Brooklyn Brewery, which ignited the revival of craft breweries in Brooklyn.  You get to hear their story, see their facility, and taste their beers.  Not a bad way to start a Sunday afternoon.

Then you get transported to Meserole Street, right on the Bushwick border.  Back in the day (the late 19th century, to be exact), this street was the home to Brewer’s Row.  This is where mostly German immigrants settled to create the beer supply for much of the city (and the country), thanks to the natural water supply.

Just in time to soak up all the booze from the beer tasting, we stopped at Danny’s Pizzeria, which has been around since the 1920’s.  It’s an obvious choice for an Urban Oyster lunch because on the wall are pictures of the neighborhood before the word hipster was in our vocabulary.

The pizza wasn’t the greatest, but David ordered us a wide range of options and explained the history behind most of them: margherita, grandma slice, and Sicilian. The tomato sauce was a little bland for me and the cheese wasn’t the freshest.  But you know me, I’m a pizza snob, and everybody else on the tour seemed very happy with their lunch.  We did manage to finish almost all the order.

David allowed us to burn off some of those calories by pushing on down Meserole.  We stopped at a beutiful old church (where many of the old German brewers would worship), an untouched landmarked house from the 1880’s, and a few other abandoned breweries from that time.

The afternoon ended at the less historic Huckleberry Bar (it opened in 2007).  We were lucky enough to sit out in the garden (this might have been the first day of the season it was opened).  There we enjoyed four more beer samples, while David explained the different between each.  It really was like a wine tasting, only with beer and thankfully, nobody spit anything.  We also got some delicious little bites to pair with the brews.

It was a great day to sit in the sun, soaking up rays, history, and alcohol.  David was incredibly knowledgeable, funny, and more than eager to hold a discussion about beer.  It ended up being a really fun and educational afternoon.  I also had quite a buzz going and unfortunately, had to go to work.  But I will tell you (even though I don’t recommend this at home), it sure made work more fun.

Urban Oyster also gives a tour of the Brooklyn Navy Yards and is developing future tours to excite, entice, and explore New York neighborhoods.  Now if only they offered beer on all their excursions.