124 Rabbit Club, West Village, Underground, Cash-Only Beer-Lover's Speakeasy on 124 MacDougal Street

[RWBooneJr]

124 Rabbit Club

124 MacDougal St.

New York, NY10012

The tiniest little dive in the Village is actually a great craft beer bar (which basically only has craft beer, though there are some ciders). It has just three taps, but features a well thought out, Belgian-heavy bottle list. A true dive, it's in a brick-walled basement, "decorated" with coasters, candles made from broken beer bottles (some jagged), and, of course, rabbit-themed art. The German beers were particularly interesting to me, so, after a draft Stoudt's Pilsner (an outstanding Pennsylvania beer I've never before had on tap), I tried the Einbecker Schwarzbier - an excellent version of this style, which makes Kostrizer seem just ordinary. Keeping with that theme, my next beer was a Monschoff Schwarzbier, a very different, dryer version of the style with much darker malts for a smokier, almost grilled bread-like quality. To close out a rather long visit, I went with a Schlenkerla Marzen, a rauchbier, which is about as close to liquid bacon as you can come, without being actual, liquid bacon. If you find yourself in the Village and are at all into beer, this is a great place to know about. But also know, it only takes cash.