In Honor Of the World Series…

Let’s talk Giants…and beer! Despite being born and raised in New York I never felt a close relationship to our resident major league baseball teams. Although my mother was in love with pinstripes, Jeter, and the YES channel, I could never really share her enthusiasm. I’ve searched and searched for a team I could get excited about and recently after stumbling upon a random baseball game on TV, I found my team. I have decided to switch coasts and am now a San Francisco Giants enthusiast. For last Saturday’s game against the Phillies, a close friend who is also a Giants fan brought me to a “California-themed” bar to watch the game. This bar was the Pacific Standard.

Despite having to push my way through the crowd of California transplants, Pacific Standard (82 Fourth Ave) is a great place to watch to the game and have a beer. The On-Tap selections are all microbrews, over half of which hail from the Golden State. I should admit that when I was there I wasn’t fully in the California spirit. I got a Founder’s Harvest Ale from MI but next time I’m planning on trying a new addition and rare find, the Bear Republic’s Ryevalry.

The two cozy rooms that make up the bar boast plenty of seating for those who want to stay awhile and indulge on a pint and an Its-Its. They also have something that I think all bars should take feature, a Frequent Drinker Program. For $10 dollars you become a full-fledged member with ID card and benefits. Benefits include Monday-Wednesday all night Happy Hour, book-lending privileges from the bar’s library and VIP status entrance on crowded nights when the bar has a line. You also have the opportunity to earn reward points. Rewards vary from a goldfish to a BAM membership…sign me up please and thank you.

Beers are $5 or $6. Tuesday night’s happy hour prices all pints at a cheerful $3. I’m excited about Pacific Standard. Not only because it satisfies my dreams of one day moving to California but it feels like a vacation from my usual Williamsburg bubble.


*They also currently feature two beers from Long Island REPRESENT.

Images (http://images1.citysearch.net/) (http://www.pacificstandardbrooklyn.com/)

Beer, Booze, Pool, & Dogs

  (image c/o theleveenyc.com)

When my good friend from Texas, Bob, visited me a few months ago, he had a few hours to kill while I was at work. He hadn’t spent much time in Brooklyn so he walked around Williamsburg and eventually was drawn to the familiar neon glow of a “Lone Star Beer” sign in the window of a bar. This bar was called The Levee.

The Levee is located at 212 Berry Street (at N. 3rd) near to where I work. I’d passed The Levee plenty of times and had seen seedy sipping somebodies surveying the street. It looked like a dive bar. Just a regular dive. And- no surprises here- that’s exactly what it is.

The Levee’s jukebox, barring a few albums, has the best selection of random rock,etc I’ve ever seen. The beers and shots are cheap. I finally sampled a Gatorita (brace yourself: tequila and lemon/lime Gatorade)- which is as fantastically bizarre and dangerous as it sounds*. They have a chalkboard whereon one can note that they have bought something in advance for a friend. Best of all, they have veggie hot dogs and free Twizzlers.

There are two rooms. The entrance room has the main part of the bar and some high tables- most importantly the jukebox and the bathrooms. The second room has more of a laid back hang out space with some arcade games (The obligatory Buck Hunter), board games, and a pool table. There’s also a patio with some great(?) graffiti and picnic tables.

The bartenders are apathetic to abrasive- but in the way that they just want to give you your drink and be done with the situation. They’re all business- they have to be, I assume, because I’ve seen some rough characters in the place. But don’t be put off by any of that. One doesn’t go to The Levee to flirt with the bartender (although I did see a “missed connection” on Craigslist about the bespectacled woman bartender). One goes there to drink, play Jenga or pool, eat a Frito pie, and possibly make out with a co-worker for an hour straight in a dark corner.

All in all, I would suggest The Levee as a great last stop on a crawl or a place to sit and misunderstand what your friends are yelling at you over the music and forty other people in the room. It’s a good place to have a secret beer and shot in the early afternoon (I suggest a Texas Two-Step: a bottle of Lonestar and a shot of Tequila OR a Frat Boy: a bottle of Budweiser and a shot of Jager… if you’re ready to go down that syrupy, slippery slope- both for $5). All kinds congregate there- it’s near enough to Bedford to have a hipster population- but far enough away to draw an older and/or more mature crowd.

My only caveat is that it’s not for the weak of constitution- those chili dogs will come back to bite you.

*Like the Pickleback, the Gatorita's odd ingredient (Gatorade, in this case) cancels out some of the effect of the liquor. This renders one sometimes forgetful of just how many one has consumed. Whoops.

Raise High the Jim Beam, Bartender and Excited by Drinking an Introduction

Hello. We are three ladies in the wilds of Brooklyn just lookin' for a good bar and a good drink; this is our blog.

Brooklynites are overwhelmed by the choices of bars around. So many dives! So many wine bars! Where's a good place to get a beer and watch a forgotten Spanish pornographic film from the 1960s on a Friday night? Where can I get a veggie hot dog and a shot of Jim Beam in a cream soda at noon or 3:30am? Where's a bar stool that has the imprint of the buttocks of hundreds of salty sailors? Where can I play indoor bocce ball? Where can I dance and not feel like a total ass or square? Where can I find a good mixologist quality drink and not feel break the bank?

Don't worry! We're going to solve those mysteries and more!

We're excited! We're excited by drinking! We're excited by Excited by Drinking! We want you to be excited by Excited by Drinking!

Drunkenly,

Jessica, Karl, and Shannon