A Bar That Introduced New Yorkers to Craft Beer Has Run its Course & people’s moods often track with the weather In Lake Tahoe

 

“No bar in the city pays more loving and thorough homage to beer.” That’s how New York Magazine once described Spuyten Duyvil, and that's what made me go to New York a few years ago for just a day and a beer, but after two decades, the craft beer bar is shutting down. “Craft beer’s current ubiquity combined with rising rents have made operating Spuyten Duyvil unsustainable,” said owners, Joe and Kim Carroll, who also run nearby restaurants Fette Sau and St. Anselm. When Spuyten Duyvil opened in Williamsburg in 2003, it stood out for its selection of imported European beers — “the beer you couldn’t find anywhere else,” says Joe Carroll. “Now you’d be hard pressed to find any place without it.” The last day at 359 Metropolitan Avenue, near Havemeyer Street, is April 21.

In Lake Tahoe, people’s moods often track with the weather. Just ask the bartenders who work the afternoon shift when the lifts close down and skiers and snowboarders head to the bar, stomping snow off their boots before sliding onto a stool. Celebrating a day of skiing at the bar is a time-honored tradition in ski towns the world over, also known as après ski. “You can definitely tell whether it snowed or not by how people’s moods are,” says Rylan Cordova, the general manager at Alibi Ale Works’s Truckee Public House.

When it’s snowing, the vibe in Lake Tahoe is euphoric and bartenders are busy, pouring rounds and rounds of celebratory drinks for people high on endorphins after skiing their hearts out. The beer is cheap and light. The booze sometimes comes in a “shotski,” a ski with four or five shot glasses affixed so a group of friends can sling them back all at once. Bystanders are almost certainly going to feel the spilled whiskey. “After a pow day, the energy really changes,” Cordova says. “People are really excited and positive and fun and telling stories.”

When it’s not snowing, Tahoe gets a bit cranky — and, still, bartenders are busy. Just now they’re pouring a stiff drink and commiserating with folks about the mediocre winter and low-tide conditions when rocks lurk like shark fins in the icy crust.

Located in downtown Truckee, Alibi is an après spot for those returning to town after a day’s adventure in the mountains. Cordova has 20 years of après ski experience in Lake Tahoe, on both sides of the bar. Before he became a general manager, he was a bartender in Tahoe City, skiing all day long before clocking in for his shift just as the skiers started coming in for après.