This week I decided to push my comfort zone and not only leave Bushwick for the little traversed (at least by this Bushwickian) neighborhood of the Financial District, but to sample brews imported from Germany, on draft at Bavaria Bier Haus instead of my usual all-Amercian fare.  Bavaria Bier Haus is located in one of my favorite areas of FiDi that I first discovered as a college student on an internship one summer, but never found my way back to again until now: Stone Street.  

In the mid-1600s, when New York was Nieuw Amsterdam and the “mayor” was actually burgomasters — or Dutch magistrates — Stone Street was known as Brewers’ Street and was not the quaint historic block it is today.  At one point locals appealed to their burgomasters, whining that the street was becoming seedy and “unfit for public use.”  The solution: “Pave the said street with round stone on the first favorable opportunity.”  The rest is history, or rather, the street went through various transformations before closing to traffic in the early 00s so that bars could serve food and drinks outside in the summer, one of Bavaria Bier Haus’ biggest draws as spring approaches, though it’s quaint German style makes it a prime destination anytime.

Bavaria Bier Haus serves 13 German beers on tap at any time, by the half liter, full liter, 2 liter, and, yes my friends, the massive, ass-whoopping 3 liter – the equivalent of nearly 8.5 bottles!  They have a special relationship with Erdinger, the world’s largest wheat brewery, founded in 1886 in Erding, a small town in the Bavaria region of Germany.  Even their long wooden bars were built in Erding by a crew who was flow out to the states to complete the project on site.  Bavaria Bier Haus consistently features at least three Erdinger beers in their tap line up.