NYC Beer Week
Photograph: Dan D'IppolitoNYC Beer Week
Photograph: Dan D'Ippolito

New York's best beer events in 2015

Hey, suds lover! Get ready to map out the year's best beer events in New York City with our handy guide.

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Wondering where you can sip your favorite craft beers while listening to live music or chowing down on delicious bar food? Feast your eyes on this hops-happy events calendar for beer enthusiasts, which includes tap takeover events in the city as well as boozy festivities upstate.

RECOMMENDED: This year’s guide to the best beer in NYC

February

Bacon & Bourbon 2015
Bacon & Bourbon 2015

At this swine-and-spirits bonanza, score salty strips of pork courtesy of Tender Belly and D'Artagnan and bacon-bourbon ice cream sandwiches from Melt Bakery as you sip your way through more than 40 all-American slugs (Elijah Craig, Knob Creek) for two and a half hours. VIP ticketholders will gain access to an exclusive seminar on barrel aging, and a tasting complete with charcuterie pairings.

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Find 100 rare, one-night-only brews at bars, restaurants and taprooms scattered across the city, including KelSo's dry-hopped Industrial IPA, Gun Hill's barrel-aged Void of Light and Transmitter's Brett Farmhouse Ale.

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During this "people's choice" competition, 17 breweries (Rockaway, Flagship, Gun Hill) vie for the title of best brewery of Beer Week by hosting a series of events highlighting rare and limited-edition suds releases and meet-the-brewer events. Vote for your favorite among them throughout the week using ballots for $5 each, which goes toward NYC City Harvest. The victor will be announced at the closing-party brunch on Mar 1.

March

NYC Beer Week 2015 Closing Party Brunch
NYC Beer Week 2015 Closing Party Brunch

Cap off the beer-soaked celebration with a boozy brunch featuring live music performances, breakfast bites from local vendors and, of course, NYC brewers' beer.

  • Beer bars
NYC Craft Beer Festival
NYC Craft Beer Festival

This suds shindig returns for its tenth year with unlimited two-ounce pours of more than 150 brews from 75 breweries across the country, such as Abita, Long Trail and Dogfish Head. Hops-heads can also attend expert-led seminars that highlight home-brewing techniques and introduce up-and-coming microbrewers from New England and the Mid-Atlantic, then sop up the booze with snacks like Tater-Tot nachos and gouda-bacon sandwiches.

April

  • Breweries
Bacon and Beer Classic
Bacon and Beer Classic

Breweries (Coney Island, Harlem Brewing) and restaurants (Bareburger, Swine) from all five boroughs come together for this patty fest, where you can sip more than 120 suds and nosh on unlimited bacon bites like chocolate-and-bacon-covered pretzels and beer pancakes with maple-sriracha syrup. Work off your gluttony with rounds of whiffle ball, inflatable bungee run and life-size Jenga on the stadium concourse, or learn home-brewing basics and butchering techniques at complementary demonstrations.

May

  • Beer bars

This all-you-can-drink tasting includes more than 100 event-exclusive small-batch beers by 33 New York area breweries such as Gun Hill Brewing Co., Finback Brewery and Grimm Artisanal Ales, plus a performance by rock band Stolen Rhodes. Sip unlimited 2-ounce pours and pick the brains of craft brewers, then choose your favorite suds from the home-brew contest and take home a commemorative tasting glass.

June

New York Super Craft Beer Festival
New York Super Craft Beer Festival

The NYC craft beer renaissance continues its sudsy, chaliced, sniff-before-you-sip domination with this waterfront festival under the Brooklyn Bridge. More than 75 state and city brews will be available, with unlimited pours from Staten Island's Flagship Brewing Co., Hudson Valley's Naked Flock hard cider and Ommegang from Cooperstown, NY.

July

Good Beer 2015
Good Beer 2015

Raise a glass to local beermaking at this seventh annual snacks-and-suds–filled festival showcasing more than 20 craft breweries, including Ommegang, Greath South Bay and Sixpoint. Mix and match limitless ice-cold brews with pairable summer bites from the likes of Gramercy Tavern, Jimmy’s No. 43 and the recently opened Bill Baker’s. The best part? For the first time, you can purchase bottles and cans to take home.

August

3rd Annual Tap+Cork Brooklyn Beer & Wine Fest
3rd Annual Tap+Cork Brooklyn Beer & Wine Fest

The third annual booze bash will pour more than 40 craft beers and artisanal wines. You’ll get 15 drink tickets for sampling suds from the likes of Brooklyn Brewery and Dyckman Beers, plus vino from Breukelen Cellars and Olivino Wines. Brew-sopping bites come courtesy of local eateries including Bed-Stuy pizzeria Daddy Green’s and tapas bar Brooklyn Beso.

September

NYC Brewers Guild Blocktoberfest
NYC Brewers Guild Blocktoberfest

Join New York's band of local brewers for this second annual beer block party, which raises funds for even more pints-guzzling at Beer Week in February. Get your first taste of new releases from guild members including Long Island City’s Big Alice Brewing, Ridgewood’s Finback and Kelso Beer Company in Prospect Heights, as well as a selection of hard-to-come-by bottles like Gun Hill’s award-winning Void of Light stout. Five full-size craft pours are yours for an additional two Hamiltons, or you can pay as you go. Beyond brews, test your luck with raffles and your skills in a beanbag-toss tournament while noshing on bar snacks from Randolph Beer and Crescent & Vine.

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From 19th-century Munich comes the booze-drenched fall tradition of Oktoberfest, and from Washington, D.C., comes the first-ever NYC edition of the popular District Oktoberfest pub crawl. From noon to 10pm, your pass grants you access to a 12-ounce cold one and discounted grub at eight watering holes. Start your trek on the Lower East Side at German beer bar Paulaner, where you’ll munch on a gratis soft pretzel, then down limited-time festival pours, like the Pennsylvania-sourced Victory Festbier at Dempsey’s and the Spaten Oktoberfest at the Copper Still. After the suds soak in, get down to the sounds of live Bavarian polka.

October

  • Beer bars
NYC Craft Beer Festival 2015
NYC Craft Beer Festival 2015

Bottoms up at this weekend-long brew fest, pouring unlimited tastings from nearly 75 breweries nationwide, including Dyckman Beer Co.’s Café con Leche Milk Stout, a chai-spiced cider from B. Nektar and Irish Yankee Beer’s Sunbird Red Ale. Then soak up all that booze with baked empanadas (mac and cheese, beef) from Dos Toros Taqueria.

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