Queens Beer Book Explores Booming Craft Beer Scene

Rockaway tumblers

Is Queens becoming the best borough for beer drinkers?

“While the indie beer scene is booming up and down New York State, Queens is leading the way in new microbreweries,” said Cat Wolinski, a New York City-based beer writer who curated the new Queens Beer Book, a bar guide and passport offering 30 beers at 30 bars for $30.

“Between 2012 and 2015, six new breweries opened operating businesses in Queens — SingleCut, Rockaway, Finback, Transmitter, Big Alice, and the LIC Beer Project, which opened just this spring,” Wolinski said. “And more are on the way, with Bridge and Tunnel Brewery and Queens Brewery both opening locations in Ridgewood later this year.”

Bridge and Tunnel, which currently brews in Maspeth, will have a bar at its Ridgewood spot, while Queens Brewery is moving downstate from Saratoga and incorporating a beer garden into its new space at 15-39 Covert St. Read all the details here.

Snowdonia beers on tap

“The new breweries are having a ripple effect on local beer culture,” Wolinski said. “Bars and restaurants are stepping up their game with better beer selections of local and independent domestic craft beer options.”

Wolinski recruited several of the breweries — Rockaway Brewing Company, SingleCut Beersmiths, Finback Brewery, and the LIC Beer Project — for the Queens Beer Book, which is designed to entice beer lovers to visit new venues by offering them one free beer per venue.

RARBar | Queens Eats via Instagram 

Also featured are beer lovers’ staples like Alewife, Sunswick 35/35, and Crescent & Vine, along with newer craft beer-centric establishments like Judy & Punch, the Sandwich Bar, and Station House. The book is primarily focused on Astoria and Long Island City but also includes more subtly emerging beer communities in neighborhoods such as Ridgewood, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, Glendale and the bar-filled Bayside.

“We put this book together because the expansion of Queens bars, breweries, and beer-focused eateries has really turned the borough into a beer lover’s destination,” Wolinski said, “regardless of whether you’re a craft-beer obsessive or a casual weekend bar goer.”

The $30 Queens Beer Book is available for sale online and at Lockwood Shop in Astoria.