Each year at Edible Manhattan we help curate the list of bars that will earn the Good Beer Seal during July’s citywide Good Beer Month. So we’re well aware that while it’s plenty easy to get a good brew in a neighborhood like the East Village or Williamsburg, craft beer fans in other nabes often have to head far to find a bar serving their favorite suds. That’s why anybody living, working, shopping or walking near the West 50s will be happy to learn that Whole Foods Market at Columbus Circle mall has opened up its own beer room, and one even better than than the one on the Bowery–because beyond stocking growlers-to-go, this one’s actually a bar.
It’s called On Tap, and it’s a 900-square foot pub with 10 beers and eight wines on tap, more than 100 international bottles in stock, and–like the Bowery and Tribeca beer rooms–there’s a focus on local concoctions on draught. And while we hate to make the old what-to-do-while-the-significant-other-is-shopping for the holidays joke, we just want to mention it has a full menu (nuts, olives and cheese, brisket platters and pulled pork sandwiches, for starters), is open from 11 to 11 each day, and sports big-screen TVs.
However, it won’t be eligible for a Good Beer Seal until 2013: All bars, to win em, must be open for at least a year.
