From bankers to hipsters, anything Philly can do New York can do better, right? Some serious New York beer connoisseurs could not bear the fact that the City of Brotherly Love hosts an annual Craft Beer Festival while the city that never sleeps had nothing of the kind. To remedy the situation, for the first time ever New York City will be hosting its own Craft Beer Week across the city from September 12th–21st. Take that, Philly!
The week actually kicks off with a separate but affiliated beer event, the third annual New York Brewfest on the South Street Seaport's Piers 16 and 17. A beer sampler's paradise, the Brewfest boasts over 300 styles of handcrafted beers for drinkers to sip while they listen to four different bands (September 12, 5–10 PM; $50 per person). Then the week of beer-pairing dinners (Good Fork, Heartland Brewery, Paloma, etc.) and bar crawls all over Manhattan and Brooklyn get underway. Ranging in cost from $13–$22 per person, each crawl includes a beer at every bar and a complimentary Craft Beer Week mug.
Closing out the week is the second annual Cask Ale Festival at the Chelsea Brewing Co. from September 19th–21st, where visitors will be able to partake in eight- or 16-oz. glasses of over 45 different cask ales from breweries around the nation. There is no entry fee, and it's promised that prices will be "reasonable." (Click here for a full PDF guide to Craft Beer Week.)