November 21, 2018
The Big Pond #06: Suds and Stories

Oktoberfest at “Zum Schneider”
Courtesy “Zum Schneider”

Germany’s beer influence has spread around the world, and one of the epicenters of this trend is New York City. There are now more than two dozen beer gardens and halls in the city. And every year, Oktoberfest celebrations are held in all of the five boroughs, lasting several weeks. 

The venues extend from lower Manhattan, including one thrown by “Zum Schneider”, a favorite of German expats and New Yorkers alike. There are now also dozens of breweries in the city, as craft beer continues to explode in popularity. One of them is “Three’s Brewing” in Gowanus, Brooklyn which has created beers as exotic as an IPA that tastes like Mountain Dew and Airheads candy. 

For The Big Pond, New York based producer Wendy Gillette talks to Sylvester Schneider, one of the owners of “Zum Schneider”, whose Oktoberfest has grown from just inside the bar to 8,000 people attending over eight days; and also to “Three’s Brewing” cofounder Joshua Stylman, who describes the difficulties that breweries in New York City are facing today. 

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