Friday Beer Snob: Pete’s Tavern 1864 House Ale
Pete’s Tavern House Ale
Brewed By: ?
Brewed In: ?
Type: Dark Ale
ABV: ?
What They Say: Nothing — near as I can tell the beer is only available on draft and only available in the tavern itself. They insist the beer is the original recipe used in 1864 when the bar opened. The bar claims the (disputed) title of “oldest bar in Manhattan”. The dispute is based on the fact that there are bars in Manhattan that were opened sooner, Pete’s remained open — albeit disguised as a flower shop — as a Speakeasy through Prohibition. Not surprisingly, it sits in a Manhattan neighborhood (Gramercy) that has known money forever and is one of those spots that I don’t feel like I have enough net worth to even walk through. For reference, the neighborhood is named for Gramercy Park, a small, one-block park in the center of the neighborhood. The park is private. It’s surrounded by iron fences and has locked gates to which only the residents who live on the block surrounding the park have keys.
Website: You’re arguably the oldest tavern in New York City. You make your own beer — the recipe of which hasn’t changed since 1864… you can probably do better than a free Geocities website that you haven’t updated since Geocities was invented. Seriously.
Why I Picked It: Pete’s Tavern is rapidly becoming one of my favorite bars in the city. A decently mixed crowd and supremely reasonable drink prices make it a great place for a group. If you get there early enough to grab the corner near the door it’s quite a good place to spend a night. A decent number of HDTVs on local sports with music that just borders on “shout” level. They have a back-room with no music for folks who want to eat dinner and outdoor space. I really have no idea how a bar maintains a license for outdoor space in a neighborhood with as much money as Gramercy. The number of favors owed to this establishment must be mind-blowing. I had never noticed a tap for the House Ale but spotted it on the menu.
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Presentation (5): Draft only — doesn’t really count. As I also didn’t see the tap, I can’t comment. N/A
Originality (5): As the recipe is supposedly from the mid-1800s, it’s hard to fairly compare its originality to anything in the modern day. Too complicated so I’m not rating it. N/A
Body (10): A prototypical draught dark ale — low carbonation and a medium consistency. Low carbonation is admittedly one of my favorite features of dark ales and this one was no different. 8
Taste (10): The thing I love about dark ales is they rarely tend to be overcarbonated and never really taste watered down. At the same time, the beer was wet enough not to dry your mouth out and an almost total lack of bitterness made this a perfect beer to have with my tasty burger. If I had to compare it to something easily available, it would be a thinner version of Newcastle. 10
Efficiency (10): Tough to say. In fairness, though, I had two with my dinner and felt like I could have had ten more without noticing. The under $5/pint price is a good deal for Manhattan but I’d also expect, at the very least, a tingle off two. No dice. 4
Versatility (10): Considering the fact it’s only available in one bar in the city and only on draft, it’s tough to use it for anything other than “getting drunk at Pete’s Tavern while watching a ballgame.” While that’s an excellent use, it kind of hurts the versatility score. 1
Final Grade: 23 (of 40) (translates to 29/50) - good beer.