Tomb

New York is an amazing city, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a travel writer who would tell you otherwise. The list of sights in the Big Apple are endless: its amazing art and history museums, its huge skyscrapers, Radio City Music Hall, Broadway, Times Square and the Statue of Liberty are just the start, but you already knew that.

Generally, travel to New York concentrates on Manhattan, but you and I are going to play “beer hunter” in one of New York’s other boroughs, Brooklyn. In Brooklyn’s neighbourhoods of Williamsburg and Greenpoint lie some hidden gems that make up the best walkable pub crawl this writer has ever been on. With apologies to the Beastie Boys, I had no sleep in Brooklyn — these bars are open till 4 a.m.

First stop: Spuyten Duyvil. The bar has no signage and a nondescript shop-front appearance. Spuyten Duyvil means “spitting devil” in Dutch, but the staff here are much nicer than that. Many a magazine and website have picked this beer oasis as one of the best bars in the world and with good reason. This low-key, quirky suds joint specializes in Belgian and American Belgian-styled beers. It’s the closest thing to the Belgian brown café I have seen this side of the Atlantic. Besides stellar chalices of beer, this place has amazing cheese and pâté plates, just like in Belgium, adding to its authenticity. Unlike the cafes in Belgium, the bars in New York State are smoke-free. A beer garden out back only adds to the enjoyment.

A few blocks from Spuyten Duyvil, Barcade is one of the coolest bars I have ever visited. No bottled beer is served here, and the whole tap selection is focused on top-notch craft beer. The “cade” part of the bar’s name is reference to the host of restored 1980s video games that line its walls, all still priced at a quarter a play. The games range from Asteroids to Ms. Pac-Man to Galaga. Frogger, anyone? High score earns a free pint and your name and score on the blackboard. For food, the bar offers only peanuts and potato chips. However, it does share one thing in common with the great beer gardens of Germany — you can bring your own food. The eclectic selection of the 24 taps is filled with known and obscure beers, many of which are not found elsewhere in New York State.

After getting your video game fix, a walk up Union Avenue and a cut across the Athletic Park takes you to The Gutter. Don’t worry, the name refers to the eight bowling lanes that are part of the pub. Gutter and Barcade share the same owner, Paul Kermizian. His American craft-beer documentary film, American Beer, displays a passion for beer and fun that is embraced in both these pubs. Bowling at The Gutter is relatively inexpensive. This venue features an old-fashioned wooden bar and offers more seating than Barcade. The bar has a different selection of craft beers that differs from its sister establishment but is equally interesting.

It’s getting late, so a short stumble up a couple of streets leads to The Diamond. This chill-out room is a perfect place to end the evening. It features a lean-and-mean beer list. The owner is a former beer importer, who also bartended at Spuyten Duyvil. There are eight taps, which are usually split evenly between session beers (lower than five per cent alcohol) and high-gravity brews. Unlike the previous places mentioned, the vibe is more modern, though the jukebox has cool old music. If you are still not played out, there is a mint-condition shuffleboard table to determine who pays for the cab ride back to the hotel.