The Williamsburg Starbucks made news this week by starting to offer beer along with their soy-frappe-cappuccino-whip-drinks. Count us among the unimpressed. Starbucks may be good at cake-pops and pumping out a Pumpkin Spiced Latte in under fourteen seconds, but the borough is filled to the brim with local spots that serve up the coffee/beer combo without sending most of your money back to Seattle. Whether you’re craving a post coffee stout in Park Slope or an IPA with your espresso in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn coffee shops offer you many (better) options than beer from Starbucks.
The Greene Grape Annex
753 Fulton Street, Fort Greene
Greene Grape Annex is a wonderful cafe offering food, Blue Bottle and Oslo Coffee and beer. On any given day you can waltz in and choose one – or several – of their 10 tap selections. Right now, the rotation includes Secret Engine Double Diamond Saison, Millstone Hopvine Cider, Other Half Boogie Board Stuntz, and Left Hand Milk Stout. These names kill me, in a good way.
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Bedford Hill 343 Franklin Avenue, Bed-Stuy This coffee joint at the border of Clinton Hill and Bed-Stuy offers a rotating tap selection of craft beer, alonside Amodyne Coffee. Right now they’ve got a Warflag Pale Ale, Arcadia Sky High Rye and a Braven White IPA.
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Outpost
1014 Fulton Street, Clinton Hill
Grab your laptop, a book, or a friend and head to this laid-back watering hole for all things good regarding organic fair trade coffee and beer. At the moment, they’re serving up brews like Narragansett, Sixpoint Rye, Allagash White and Founders All Day IPA.
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Red Lantern Bicycles
345 Myrtle Avenue, Fort Greene
What do you get when you combine a bike shop, Gillies Coffee, a full-service cafe and beer? You get Red Lantern Bicycles. Red Lantern keeps beer selections local with New York breweries such as Singlecut, Coney Island Brewing, Sixpoint, and Brooklyn Brewery.
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The West
379 Union Avenue, Williamsburg
One night, after a long shift at work I happened to stumble upon this amazing little corner cafe/late night bar. I ordered a drink with mezcal and a peanut butter cookie and nearly lost my mind. Every day you can enjoy a cup of Forty Weight Roasters coffee or one of their 12 rotating tap beers, made up of a mix of local and domestic brews like Boulder Cold Brew, Founders Red Rye, Founders Pale Ale, Bushwick Pilsner, and Harpoon IPA.
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South 4th Bar
90 S 4th St, Williamsburg
This Williamsburg cafe-meets-bar gives Brooklynites their daily dose of Irving Farms coffee and plenty of beer options. Abita Jockimo IPA, Sly Fox O’Riley Stout and Angry Orchard are just a few of their many tap selections. Want something in the bottle? Sure! Grab something like a Pacifico or Crabbies Ginger Beer. Happy hour gives you $4 drafts from 4pm-8pm Monday through Friday.
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Central Cafe Brooklyn
108 Central Avenue, Bushwick
Get yourself a pastry, a bagel, cup of Colombe java or a beer! This Bushwick cafe serves Founders, Brooklyn Lager and King Fisher beers in cans or bottles. For those of you looking to drink like a high schooler they also have Miller Lite!
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Ange Noir Cafe
247 Varet Street, Bushwick
Hop into this Bushwick cafe for lite bites, specialty Colombe coffee drinks and – what else – beer! Get yourself some cans of Harpoon IPA, All Day Founders and Mexicali.
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Daily Press Coffee
505 Franklin Avenue, Bed-Stuy
Daily Press Coffee impressively brews their own coffee in house and, even more importantly, has a pretty nice selection of beer! Serving up Dogfish Head IPA, Sixpoint Sweet Action, Dales Pale Ale and Guinness. All in cans, keeping it classy.
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Cafe Dada
57 7th Avenue, Park Slope
This Park Slope cafe serves Mocha Java for their cold brew and Brooklyn Roasting Coffee for everything else. Their craft beers include Sixpoint, Grolsch, Ommegang and Captain Lawrence. Yes, please!
And so, thirsty Brooklynites, the upshot is this: save the Starbucks for when you really need a coffee mug, or the Taylor Swift Christmas album, or a bathroom. If you’re looking for coffee and beer, just walk around your neighborhood.
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