Uncouth in the City

brewyork:

Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden is a real beer garden, but many of its imitators are not.

Yet another media source in New York has fallen victim to a mistaken definition of “beer garden.” As we’ve noted before, just because you can drink beer outside doesn’t make a place a beer garden. In addition, just because a bar has a German theme and serves German beer doesn’t make it a beer garden. In an article yesterday, the New York Times either didn’t bother researching the definition of a beer garden, or ignored the definition to write a phony “trend piece.”

By definition, a beer garden (taken from the German “biergarten”) is a ground-level, open-air space where beer and food are served. The concept actually originated as Bavarian breweries planted gardens above cellars to keep their lagers cool enough to ferment underground. More entrepreneurial breweries turned these spaces into outdoor spaces with communal seating that serve beer and traditional food.

Based on that definition, here are the fifteen places that the Times mentioned in their article, and which ones are actually beer gardens.

Read More