If you're a beer lover, but have grown tired of run-of-the-mill bottled beers at your local grocery story, it's time you took a sip of something unique to the East Village. The Smith has always offered locally brewed beers on draft, but never one of its own — until now.
Owner Jeffrey Lefcourt, along with several managers and Sixpoint Brewery, came up with The Smith's own signature beer — then brewed it right in Brooklyn. They wanted something that would go well with their food, taste delicious year-round and provide a totally unique experience for the restaurant's guests.
"We decided it wouldn't be too heavy or too light, and it would go well with all seasons and with the food we're serving," Lefcourt said.
Some of the menu's staple draft beers ($6.50 each) include Sixpoint Pilsner (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Bluepoint Toasted Lager (Patchogue, N.Y.) and Keegan's Mother's Milk Stout (New York, N.Y.). The newest addition is called "The Smith East Village Ale."
The Smith offers a wide menu and its own featured dish each day of the week: On Tuesdays it's fish and chips ($21); Wednesdays it's fried chicken and potato waffles ($19); and on Sundays a burger and a beer ($15). And New York City's seasons can be extreme — winters are bitter while the summers are oppressively hot. So how did the restaurant's team find something to fit both the menu and the changing seasons? The process took about a year and involved extensive negotiations between various breweries before settling with the brewers at Sixpoint, who were enthusiastic about the partnership.
"We started tasting a bunch of different styles, and we loved Belgian Cezanne, a farmhouse beer," Lefcourt said. "[T]hey traditionally were these fresh beers made for farmers while they were harvesting crops, and what we liked was that it had a really unique quality to it. It had something more interesting than a pilsner or IPA."
The search for a "unique quality" paid off — The Smith East Village Ale is light and medium-bodied, unfiltered and uses Belgian yeast. It is tinged with hints of spice and florals. Lefcourt said that in the past two weeks that it's been on draft, it has become the restaurant's best-selling beer.
But The Smith isn't planning on developing other new beers to add to its menu.
"There are so many great beers out there," Lefcourt said. "For us I don't want to do something that you can find everywhere; I didn't find a need to make another pilsner. I always wanted to have one signature beer."
The Smith East Village Ale is served both at The Smith (55 Third Ave.) and Lefcourt's other restaurant, Jane (100 W. Houston St.). If you're a beer enthusiast and over 21, go check out this original local brew — in Prague, they told us a beer a day is good for you.
