SUNDAY FUNDAY NYC: Craft Beer & Pretzel festival
New York City Sundays in the Spring are the best to be outside in beer gardens and enjoy yourself. This Sunday, we headed over to the final day of the 'Craft Beer & Pretzel' festival hosted by Lorely Beer Garden. Having the VIP exclusive event, hosted by Devour Power , was nothing short of a foodie's dream. Any of our #labelingmen labels that like beer and upscale bar food would kill for an experience like this. Right from the beginning, the group was handed a sampler of four beers. Since their glasses are really fucking big, you should sample to find your beer of the day. While I personally don't drink dark beer, expert beer drinker/blogger Steph of Yeah Food Beer swears by the Pfungstädter Schwarzbier which is their signature German dark beer. The Weihenstephan Hefeweizen, in my humble opinion, was the perfect beer. Tasty, crispy, with banana and citrus notes...yes, I am talking about a beer. The fact that this brewery is the oldest in existence- since 1014- certainly doesn't hurt their reputation for being the experts. If you aren't a fan of beer, get the Schöfferhofer Grapefruit Beer. It tastes delicious- just like Grapefruit fizz with just a little bit of alcohol but, let's be real, it makes for an amazing Instagram picture.
Blacking out at any festival is a no-no so here is the copious amounts of food I ate with to help soak some of the alcohol. Come here with a group, share, and order them all.
Three Soft baked German Pretzels ($11) Oven-fresh. Soft, delicious, crispy and hot with rock salt. Mustard is a great kick to the pretzel.
Giant Bavarian Pretzel ($12) Same as above, only more dough. Looked really cool though. but I prefer the less dough. If you like Chicago Deep Dish Pizza, this is your pretzel.
Beer, Bacon, Cheese Dip ($8) Cheddar, Gouda, Bacon, Onions, and Jalapeños. The ultimate indulgence. Cheesy-gooey with all the bacon flavor you could ask for.
Sausage Platter Smoked Bratwurst, Weisswurst & Wiener. Put me back to 2008 in Berlin, authentic German food. Pairs well with beer.
Red Velvet Waffles ($14) Tasted how Red Velvet should without being overpowering or tasking like a cake. The cream cheese icing was a nice touch, would have killed to have some on the side to dip into as a syrup substitute.
Mini Pancakes ($14) Berries and Whiskey Syrup. Personally, I'm a waffle person, if you're a pancake person though, this is your dish.
Beef Sliders with Parmesan Fries To quote blogger and foodie Emma from Let's Eat Ya'll, you could smell the aroma of this dish from across the room. The fries were flat, crispy, and with cheese- the way a fry should be. I couldn't agree more and probably ate most of the fries myself when nobody else was looking.
Honestly, they brought out even more food but I was at capacity and would rather finish my Weihenstephan Hefeweizen jug.
Indulge in a #SundayFunday yourself and visit Lorely Beer Garden at 7 Rivington Street in the Lower East Side.
