The wiedergeburt (rebirth) of New York’s biergartens

The dirndl-printed t-shirts and grey skirts of the wait staff at the Standard Hotel’s Biergarten in Manhattan’s Meat Packing District is a cheeky nod to their classic roots. The wait staff is adept at keeping cool while pouring amber Ayinger Weisse and dark Köstritzer Schwarzbier for the masses waving yellow tickets for more. The fresh, doughy hubcap-sized Bavarian pretzels alone are worth waiting in the line that forms on weekends. Add to that its prime location, under the southern end of the new High Line park, and Biergarten ranks as my third favourite, with the added chance to beer garden hop.

Under the north end of the High Line lies the Lot on Tap, the offspring of another celebrity chef. Tom Colicchio has assembled a makeshift space of picnic tables, good beer (including a slightly sweet Highline Elevated Wheat by Brooklyn Brewery) and popular food trucks, like Rickshaw Dumplings.

For the most part, the outer boroughs beat their Manhattan counterparts when it comes to city beirgartens. Midtown’s Hofbrau Bierhaus gets authenticity points for dirndl-clad waitresses, Dunkel on tap and juicy bratwurst, but loses all those points for the sports-dominated flat-screen TVs and having a skylight and small patio instead of a garden. Flatiron’s BeerParc has gotten a lot of attention since it opened this summer but it barely passes the sip test for what is a beer garden. Little more than a few food carts and tables and chairs between two buildings, it is a notch just above a lunchtime food court. It gets two points for having delicious and refreshing Radeberger pilsner on tap, but loses one of them for serving it in a plastic cup. Its “authentic Bavarian pretzel” is a smaller, pricier version of the hard, dry, hot dog-stand pretzel you can buy around the corner on Sixth Avenue.

It may be a further stretch of the definition of biergarten, but the best beer bar in the city, Spuyten Duyvil in Williamsburg, does have a lovely, shaded backyard with trees and old metal lawn furniture. Rely on the friendly volks behind the bar to guide you through the intimidating and complex beer menu to something you will love. I was enthralled with a Weisen Edel-Weisse, a Mahr’s Brau lager and a third bottle of something (the name lost in the haze induced by the first two) that the bartender described as “the baby the first two beers would have, if they could mate”. Mission Dolores, at the bottom of Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighbourhood, is a converted auto garage with its roof cut off and a lovingly selected daily draught beer selection. It feels more San Francisco than Munich, but it makes for a fun outdoor drinking outing nonetheless.

Whatever route you make to drink through these and the 40 other options, try to end at Berry Park in Williamsburg. The beer menu includes the usual suspects of Haufbrau and Radeberger, and the food pairing of Bavarian pretzel and gooey macaroni and cheese are worth saving room for. But it is the space that makes Berry Park a winner. Downstairs is a large candlelit Valhalla, like something out of an old Bavarian castle, and the roof has a small bar and big views of the Manhattan skyline across the East River.

As we head toward summer’s finish line — Labor Day weekend (3 to 5 September) — when pools shut down and outdoor movies and concerts end, remember this: outdoor biergartens will still be open. Unlike summer’s other seasonal offerings, they serve well into autumn, for a little holiday you might have heard of, called Oktoberfest.