Top Hops - Ted Kenny's Beer Bar and Store on Orchard and Delancey Street in Lower East Side

[Tweaked]

This storefront beer emporium is your favorite beer tasting room meets your favorite beer store. 
 
The front of Top Hops is sort of general store wood decor with a curved bar and maybe 15 beers on tap.  A chalkboard behind the bar tells you beer style, ABV, when the keg was tapped, when the beer lines were cleaned etc.  The back of the store is all standing cases stocked with more than 600 bottles.  If you live, dream and love to talk about beer, this is your kind of place.

They seemed to have a good selection of N.E. American beers that you don't see much in these parts.  I enjoyed a Boris the Spider Russian Imperial Stout (10% ABV) from Spider Bite Beer Company in Long Island.

[southdenverhoo]

I like this place too, practically around the corner from my stepdaughter's L.E.S./Chinatown digs. No food though, right? Or very limited, like charcuterie and cheese?

Another beer-centric place we enjoyed close by was Spitzer's Corner, I want to say one block east and one or two north, of Top Hops (or thereabouts) good if not great food and a shorter but still excellent list of beers including a number of locals--if you want a little more substantial nosh with your beer & people-watching through the huge (open when we were there) floor to ceiling windows. I guess I entertained about 8-10 of her late 20's friends for around $400 w tax & tip, and everybody ate something more substantial than appetizers, (mine was a very nice pork belly benedict, for example) and had a few craft beers...so: reasonable IMO, very reasonable for NYC.

just checked: 101 Rivington, so, yes, a block north of Delancey and a block east of Orchard, nice to see my memory is intact after what was for me a pretty liquid lunch in an unfamiliar town...

But yeah, Top Hops is a far more serious craft beer bar. Also like 6-8 glass door/shelves of refrigerated bottles to go. (do you know if they are all priced for on-premise consumption, or are they at common retail prices and maybe they charge the beer equivalent of "corkage" if you want to enjoy one on-premise? we stuck with what was on tap so never asked)

And growler fills of everything on tap, something we don't get in Colorado. Top Hops rules.

[weinoo]

They also have a nice cider selection.

To buy something and open it in the store is an extra $2.

When you're hungry afterwards, walk a block south to Cafe Katja.  Great German/Austrian beers on tap, each seved properly in its glass. Also, a fine, reasonably priced selection of Austrian/German/Hungarian wines by the glass. And great sausages, etc.

[dcs]

We have had several enjoyable beer drinking sessions at this place over the years.  Messages on their website and social media indicate that they are vacating the premises and looking for a new home.  I wish them luck.

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WE ARE ON THE MOVE!

Top Hops is excited to announce that we’re embarking on a search for a new location for our brick and mortar flagship shop, ideally in the same neighborhood that we’ve grown to love so much.  94 Orchard Street, which we opened in 2012, has been a home to us for nearly a decade and while change is never easy, it’s the right move at the right time. When we find a new space, you’ll be the first to know.  Please follow our social media for all the updates.

Our 94 Orchard doors will close on Sunday, April 18th.  We’d love to see you for a last pint before we leave.  We will be open on St. Patrick’s Day and, effective for the next month, we will be open for 50% indoor and outdoor service, weather permitting,  Thursday through Saturday and on that final Sunday, the 18th.  Thursday & Friday:  3pm to 11pm.  Saturday:  1pm to 11pm.  

Meanwhile, there are plenty of ways to get your Top Hops fix. Our nearby Essex Market location remains open (per COVID-19 protocols) and our Urbanspace 570 Lex is scheduled to open on May 1st.  Our online delivery, takeout and UPS shipment service (to 25+ states!) continue uninterrupted, observant of all coronavirus protocols.  Ditto for our popular Virtual Tasting Classes.