Of Course Other Half Is Every Bit As Good As You'd Expect

Getting some beers fresh from the source makes it even better.

When we were in the van in San Diego at the beginning of 2021, we'd get a can of Other Half Brewing here and there at the local bottle shop, and it was always tasty. The downside was that sometimes they'd be getting a little on the old side, so getting to stop in at their Brooklyn spot to get the freshest of the fresh was high on our list when we got to New York.

A prelude to the deliciousness...

When we stopped in Chicago, we got to have the first sip of some Other Half goodness with the collab they did with Phase Three (you can read all about that one over here) and it was everything you'd been told they were - a super soft, round NEIPA that overflows with tropical fruit flavors while still being super hop forward and not overly sweet. In other words, damn near the perfect version of this style.

Need 10-12 amazing IPAs in Williamsburg? Other Half has you covered!

Instead of even thinking of bringing our van into the city, we stashed it and stayed at this cool hotel in WIlliamsburg called The Pod. Can't recommend this place enough! It has a cool rooftop bar with great views of the city, the rooms are cozy and kinda felt like an Ikea built it all. Not only is it a cool hotel, it's near so many amazing spots - check out our food and beer map for more - but one of the places we were most excited about was Other Half! And it was just a quick 10 min walk down to the water and this cool area called Domino Park that was an old factory turned into a big open space along the East River with food, playgrounds, and cool views of the Lower Eastside of NYC. But obviously, the star of Diamond Park is the packed draft and packaged lineup available in the OH taproom.

IPAs for days

You already know we went wild with IPAs when we got here. We actually just picked one column on the menu board and grabbed all five of them (even a rice lager to change things up a little and help reset our palates). Seriously, there wasn't a letdown in the whole bunch. The only thing we didn't think about was that aside from the lager, the entire lineup we chose to taste were all 8% or more...so it was a pretty intense start to the day but we were up for the challenge.

Go big or go home!

Let's just get this outta the way, these beers were all great. Start to finish, all killer beers. And the space? Gorgeous. Next to the bar was a small brew system that was centered in the taproom mixing the industrial with the wooden tables and natural light coming in through massive windows all along the front of the building. Back to the beers - starting with the rice lager, Poetry Snaps. Like any good lager, it was light, crisp, clean, and refreshing - perfect for the warm day and to sip on between these big IPAs. Starting with the triple IPA, More Laced In Space was a Citra and Galaxy hopped mother of soft, round juiciness with all the passionfruit, mango, and peach you'd expect from that combo, this style, and this brewery. Followed that up with a beer we liked even a lit bit more with the Mortalis Brewing collab No Escape From Western New York - Strata, Motueka, and Riwaka?!? I mean come on! That's pretty close to a dream line up right there. That juicy, creaminess like before with a dank, earthiness in the tropical fruit flavor mix of passion fruit, lime, apricot. How could it get better? How about a collab between Other Half/The Veil/WeldWerks/Side Project?!? Holy collab! Extra Extra Shipper Shipper was all Strata and Nelson with flaked oat and wheat, it was another amazing mix of smooth, creamy mouthfeel with over the top hop flavors of white wine, dank/diesel, and passion fruit. We didn't realize it, but we ended up saving the best for last - Burrito Violation - a collab with LA's Highland Park Brewery. Look, if you combine Citra and Mosaic, you've already got my interest up, add in Nelson...I'm so down it's stupid. It was like it pulled all the flavors of the beers we drank into one massive mix of them all. Passion fruit, pineapple, white grape, peach, berries, and dankness mixed with the enveloping, soft mouthfeel that pulls it all together. Like Tree House, Other Half lived up to its rep so hard and we couldn't have been more stoked to drink so many good beers. But that wasn't even the end of our NY beer tour. More to come!

Where should we stay?

We didn't even try, after Boston, we weren't even going to attempt NYC, but we did come up with a slight hack for storing the van while stayed in a hotel in Brooklyn...

Stash your rig at JFK Airport long-term parking for like $12/day and take the train into the city. We had ZERO issues with this and honestly, we were surprised it took us this long to think up the idea. You could probably take the train back every day and stay in your van (it's about an hour ride) but you have to pay to pass through from the parking lot to the subway station. You might be able to walk around and skip that, but we didn't see the way. #craftbeer #brooklyn #otherhalfbrewing #nyc #newyorkcity #newyork