The best spots to sip brews with brats, bockwurst and more.
Culinary center The Brooklyn Kitchen crowds its Williamsburg space with cooking tools, homebrewing supplies, beer classes—and this in-house butchery that slings sausages like green chorizo. Sausage master Ben Turley’s inventive links scream for homemade pale ale, especially his occasionally available, unique creations like the Buffalo Chicken variety: ground chicken and pork mixed with Frank’s Red Hot, celery seed, bleu cheese and red pepper.
Celeb chef Daniel Boulud’s Manhattan brasserie-tavern serves 14 house-made sausages at a time (pictured), ranging from curry-lemongrass pork Thai links to a pig’s head-and-blood-sausage Boudin variety; beer sommelier Hayley Jensen helps guests pair them with Belgians and New York crafts from Captain Lawrence and Davidson Brothers.
Chef Max Bonacci twists a new sustainable sausage each day—some days, it’s a pork-sage-stout link; others, a Gouda-cayenne-garlic Käsekrainer. Pair them with pours from the craft taps or casks, or splurge on a bottle from the stellar reserve list. Bonus: The kitchen also cures its own bacon using local pork, and cuts to order for serious meatheads.
If the inventive sausages (traditional bockwurst, Filipino pork, duck with bacon and jalapeño) and coveted dipping sauces (curry ketchup, walnut-bacon bleu cheese) at this L.A. kitchen don’t steal your heart, the beer list will: More than 40 mostly Belgian and German taps and bottles pour gems like Het Anker Cuvee Van de Keizer Blauw and Spaten Optimator.
[Photo: Bill Milne]
