Beer Tasting from NY Breweries

New York is home to a number of micro-breweries that make some great, but lesser known, beers.

We love to try local brews (and support local breweries) whenever we can so we decided to check out one of our favorite bars,  The Pony Bar and try out a nice rotation of New York state craft micro brews.

First up is the Ommegang Hennepin from Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, NY.  This remains one of our favorite NY beers.  We love the Belgian Saison ales with a slight farmhouse (barnyard) funk.  The Hennepin is so easy drinking but not boring at 7.7% ABV.  This is our go-to beer, and we often order the Hennepin with dinner at nice restaurants that have it on tap.

Another great beer from Brewery Ommegang is the Three Philosphers, a 9.8% ABV Belgian-quad style beer that is blended with a Belgian Kriek. We like the rich, dark fruit, cherry and caramel sweetness in this big beer. It's hard to find on tap in NYC, but is a great beer - especially to try with different cheeses.

Next is the Southern Tier Mokah (11% ABV for 8oz): This is from Southern Tier's Blackwater Series.  It's a blend of the Jahva and Choklat to create a rich, chocolate imperial stout. This beer definite creates a warming feeling, definitely a beer to enjoy at home when it's cold outside. At 11%, the 8oz glass was the right amount. We drank it over an extended period. It really is a dessert in itself.

Blue Point Oktoberfest:  A (close to) Marzen-style beer from Long Island's Blue Point Brewing coming in at 5.5% ABV. Overall, an okay Oktoberfest, kind of middle the road in flavor - but it was fresh on tap.  It wasn't our first choice for an Oktoberfest beer, but we'd still drink it.

We also had the Chelsea Hop Angel and the Lake Placid Ubu Ale.  They were both easy drinking beers that are good choices on tap.  All in all, we enjoyed this great cross-section of NY craft beers.