Outdoor bars in NYC

Beer gardens

New beer gardens: Astoria's Studio Square (pictured) is making a solid bid to be possibly the largest outdoor bar in the five boroughs—it's got room for more than 1,000 drinkers to down pitchers of German brew while enjoying the fresh air, plus a cavernous interior for rainy days. Also a summer-of-'09 newcomer, Berry Park is now offering Wililamsburg drinkers a sharp-looking and extra-pleasant 3,000-square-foot rooftop garden for alfresco boozing (plus an indoor space with a second bar and a stage, in case of ceaseless, horrible, insanity-causing rain). Set to open any day now in Fort Greene is Der Schwarze Koelner, an open-air beer garden that'll serve German beers and grub (cured meats, cheeses, pretzels), plus sausages and schnitzel from the grill. 

Old beer garden favorites: First on anyone's list would have to be the Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden, in Astoria, perfectly sating New Yorkers' thirst for Franziskaner and hunger for fire-grilled kielbasa in its vast and tree-shaded courtyard. Another beer-and-sausage behemoth, this one evoking an old-school Teutonic pleasure lodge (that has a retractable roof), Radegast Hall & Biergarten has quickly become a go-to for Williamsburgers looking to drown an afternoon in Weihenstephaner Dunkel Weisse. For a tighter, more minimalist biergarten, there's the classic Loreley, serving giant beers and weiner schnitzel in the heart of the Lower East Side. And it's not much of a biergarten at all, technically, but Zum Schneider, in the East Village, has a handful of lovely picnic benches, and their selection of German brews is second to none.

Photo by Ryan Muir