Brouwerij Lane

Billolick

New York

4.06/5  rDev -1.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Small, extremely cool place. Growler fills o' plenty from the filling station to the right as you enter, bottles kept cold in the mid sized units to the left of the cash register, wood burning stove and small outside space. No food, but you can bring your own in if you want to eat and enjoy a draft selection, or two. Beer savvy and friendly staff. Add it all up and you get a very worthy stop. Feels like a slice of Amsterdam in Brooklyn.
Quality taps expected. New releases and other interesting offerings have been the norm every time I have visited.

07-03-2011 11:26:04 | More by Billolick

BKBassist

New York

4.65/5  rDev +12.9%
vibe: 4.75 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3 | $$

One of my favorite spots in NYC for beer. I love the funky/quirky set up, consistently amazing tap selection, and perhaps my favorite, half pours available on all taps!

A favorite thing to do is go grab a bottle or two to take home, grab a half pour of something unique and enjoy it there. The staff is fun, very Brooklyn, very knowledgeable.

The bottle selection is limited, priced in line for NYC (skewing a bit high sometimes). But they do make the most of the limited selection, stocking some unique bottles that you don't see elsewhere. Also, they often have previous year bottles at reasonable mark ups.

Food is snacks, pretzels, jerky. I do like the jerky and the mustard is excellent, but it's hardly the centerpiece.

Atmosphere is fun and communal. The bartender/cashier is often forced to be right next to you (there is literally no bar, just a small stand with a register on it), and it makes it quite personal, if a bit odd. The tables are set up about as well as the space allows. The outside is cozy but awesome on a hot day.

Overall, an excellent, quirky place where the taps are the showcase. There are better bottle shop options around, but for sampling or seasoning, this is the best in the neighborhood.

05-21-2013 18:08:03 | More by BKBassist

northyorksammy

Ontario (Canada)

3.93/5  rDev -4.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3.75 | selection: 4 | $$$

Another very decent place to have a beer in the area, with some good taps selection. Nice environment near a reinvigorated water area. Worth a stop if you can pull yourself away or not get into Torst. A very good though not yet world class place. Parking can be an issue in the area.

04-12-2013 12:05:04 | More by northyorksammy

bklynj

New York

4.9/5  rDev +18.9%
vibe: 4.75 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.75 | $$

I came through for the Hill Farmstead selections this weekend and enjoyed every aspect of this place; the service, value and atmosphere were all top notch. The bottle selection seems solid enough, but fresh beer will excite pretty frequently. Drinking there can be nice, too. Guys running the place are nice and friendly.

01-20-2013 21:34:00 | More by bklynj

dbrauneis

New Jersey

4.3/5  rDev +4.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

This place is small and has limited seating inside but it has a great enclosed "backyard" seating area outside. The decor is heavy on beer paraphernalia and exposed brick. This place also has the coolest bathroom decor that I have run across in a beer store/bar - storage for about 10 empty kegs, a couple of empty sixtels, and super sweet late 70s Star Wars wallpaper over the sink (it makes me wish I could include a photo of that as a part of the review). Unfortunately, the place does not have AC so I would suggest avoiding it on really hot summer afternoons.

The place pours very nice and super fresh beers in proper glassware.

The service was good with the bartender/shop keeper making sure to get our orders filled in a timely fashion and making sure everything was as expected.

The selection was good and on the most recent visit it was really good as they were having a special selection of sour beers. In addition to serving about 20 beers on tap, they fill growler, and have a good selection of craft bottles.

07-16-2012 17:30:50 | More by dbrauneis

unclejazz

New York

4.66/5  rDev +13.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 5 | $$

This has become one of my favorite places to drink beer and buy beer. They have 20+ taps and 1 cask with selection being some of the best in the city. I have had some great Hill Farmstead, Kelso, Firstone Walker, Jolly Pumpkin, Stillwater, and wonderful tastings. They recently had a Barleywine tasting that included Firestone Walker 15, Bruery Cuir, Our Finest Regards, Avery Hog Heaven, and a Terrapin collaboration barleywine. Simple place with a few table and limited but excellent bottle selection. Bottle prices are a bit high, but bonus for making a six-pack(buy 5 get 1 free) and growler fills are very reasonable and you can get pint or 1/2 pints to enjoy in house. There is a toasty wood burning oven in the back. You can bring food or have it delivered. It has ample bike racks out front. If you leave feeling like you didn't get everything you wanted, Eastern District is just down the block. This place rocks. There should be one of these in every neighborhood.

02-02-2012 21:17:43 | More by unclejazz

joefuzz

New York

4.5/5  rDev +9.2%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | $$

I was just heading to a show at coco 66 a few doors down and this made me stop dead in my tracks. You walk into a 6 door bottle cooler and a wall of taps. A pretty good selection of domestic craft beer as well as on tap some awesome imports as well. Got a goblet of allagash victor for 6 dollars and my girlfriend got a green flash imperial ipa goblet for 5 so the pricing seems very reasonable. The bottle prices are slightly above what you would pay at a bottle shop but its a nice relaxed place to sit and enjoy your beers. The staff knows their beer quite well. I'm pretty glad to have found this place I would have never sought it out but very happy I passed it.

06-30-2011 01:51:12 | More by joefuzz

ikats

New Jersey

4.2/5  rDev +1.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Have stopped by this place last week, and even though usually I try to visit a local place a few times before posting, I found this spot so pleasant that I don't mind coming to the conclusion earlier.

Brouwerij Lane is somewhat of a hybrid between store and bar - the idea that I like very much. You can enjoy a beer while browsing. And here you're much closer to it too.

As you enter, the tap area is to the right. They pour half-pints (although they seemed like 200ml to me), pints, half- (32 oz) and full (64 oz) growlers. They will pour you a taste too. They have about 16 taps - a few German, a few more Belgian and majority American craft beers. They also have a gravity keg (during my visit it was Pretty Things EIP). Some beers are easy to find, but there were a few that I've never heard of (I've had an excellent Hopfenstark saison). I think the selection is very good with quite a few session beers. Draft prices seemed reasonable.

Further in there are several coolers. The bottles seemed ineteresting, but I didn't pay them much attention. There are a couple of high tables and a very small garden in the back. There is a bike rack upfront, which I appreciated.

Service was good. Not very chatty, but friendly and able to answer all questions.

I've spent abour an hour in the place enjoying a few beers (half pints are great for tasting beers), and I found experience absolutely enjoyable. I liked being close to the beer without a bar separating the space. Since the space is open, I found it a bit weird getting a beer and then walking to the cashier to pay, but that's more because I was thinking of the place as a bar instead of a store.

06-02-2011 21:31:48 | More by ikats

washburnkid

New York

4.03/5  rDev -2.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Been here a couple of times now.

The space is small, or "intimate", as some may say. There are a few bar stools, a couple of refrigerator cases, and a line of taps off to the right. The place smells like beer and it's always clean.

The quality and selection are fantastic. Taps rotate frequently, and relevant information on the beers are written up on a chalkboard above the taps. Nice array of glasses, too. I've had everything from Goose Island to Belgian goodies, and more. Tons of great bottles to choose from if you'd rather grab a bottle to take home and enjoy quietly.

Haven't had much to say about the service. Each time I've gone, the person pouring hasn't seemed too interested in sharing any information on the beers, but that's ok.

A perfect weekend afternoon would include some brews here, then a walk over to Brooklyn Brewery, then back again. I'll be coming here as often as possible as long as I live out here.

03-13-2011 15:50:49 | More by washburnkid

nickd717

California

3.5/5  rDev -15%
quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$$$

A great little place close to the home of some family friends in the Polish neighborhood of Greenpoint. Built in an old garage, this is a bar, beer store, and growler fill station all in one. The tap selection is great - I had a couple Hill Farmstead beers as well as some other interesting stuff. The guy there, Eric, is very knowledgeable about beer, which is always a good thing. The seating is austere but befitting of the setting. The kegs of the Hill Farmstead beers seemed a bit off. They poured out looking like grapefruit juice, cloudy and pink. Weirded me out. Bottle prices are a bit high, even for NYC, for which I need to knock down the score a little bit. Captain Lawrence Smoke from the Oak pack for EIGHTY BUCKS??? Come on, man! Overall a solid place though that I wish I lived two blocks from like my friends do.

01-07-2011 23:59:12 | More by nickd717