(Joshua Bright for The New York Times)

The New York Times recently covered the very noticeable rise of beer gardens across New York City.

There is no drinking forum more compatible with summer than the beer garden. Until recently, New Yorkers wanting to raise a stein in dappled sunshine had one choice: Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden in Astoria, Queens, which turns 100 this year.

But in the last year or so, beer gardens have sprouted across the city. This wave coincided roughly with the outbreak of modern speakeasies. Both of them appeal to a populace seeking authentic, backward-glancing drinking traditions. Otherwise the two trends couldn’t be more different. Speakeasies, small, dark coves hidden behind nameless doors, tell of exclusivity, while beer gardens are proudly populist bastions of communal seating. And with wallets being battered daily, ease of entry and easily met tabs give beer gardens the edge among the thirsty.

Washington, DC also saw its first beer garden open this summer with Biergarten Haus.  It’s an interesting phenomenon: as American craft beer gets more and more popular for its continual innovations and reinventions, that same curiosity is driving the newly ambitious beer drinking public toward older, but maybe less familiar beer.

As Magic Hat, Stone, or Dogfish rises, so do European breweries that are hundreds of years old.  Well-refined Belgian and Bavarian beers are just as new to many beer drinkers as experimental beers coming from startup breweries.

It may prove that the craft beer revolution we’re seeing isn’t based so much on new styles of beer as it is on new availability.

DC Brau

Washington, DC upstart brewery DC Brau took a big step this week, as its two founding brewers quit their day jobs and started working full time for the new brewery.  The local blog We Love DC had a write-up on the pair this week, but more interesting than that post is the idea that we’re able to follow the brewery this early in the process.  On their site, they list a few milestones, culminating with the January 2011 opening.

“We’re quitting our jobs, next week,” Brandon Skall tells me. I look over at his business partner, Jeff, who smiles wryly. “From here on out, it’s all DC Brau.” Maybe it’s a crazy thing to do. Starting a business in the best of times is tough, but in this economy it’s especially risky. Still, Brandon and Jeff don’t seem worried, which inspires a certain confidence.

They’re also running a blog, which will hopefully be updated with the daily minutia of getting a brewery up and running.

We’re a few days late with the news, but Iron Chef Mario Batali is teaming up with brewers from Dogfish in what seems to be a high-end take on the classic brewpub.

The rooftop bar and restaurant will house a copper-clad brewing system. The idea is to create an artisanal, old world Italian craft brewery that just happens to be located on a rooftop in Manhattan, says Dogfish Heads Sam Calagione. The four brewers are working together on recipes for Eatalys house beers. Those beers will feature Italian and American ingredients. The beers will be unpasteurized, unfiltered, naturally carbonated, and hand-pulled through traditional beer engines for the most authentic and pure presentation. The four individual brewers will also occasionally brew beers under their own names on site. The rooftop restaurant project will pair artisanal rustic, homemade beers with the artisanal, rustic cooking of Chef Mario Batali. Additional Italian and American regional craft beers will be served both at the rooftop bar and within the downstairs restaurants.

The concept sounds brilliant.  One common complaint of brewpubs is that both the food and beer can end up very average, and the idea that a high-profile New York restaurant would take the concept and try to perfect it could be exactly the model future brewpub owners emulate.  Dogfish already owns a restaurant in Delaware, and there’s what looks to be the beginnings of Dogfish Head a brewpub chain developing around Washington, DC.

If the Batali/Dogfish concept works, it would be a welcome change to the standard, predictable brewpub menu — a few burgers, maybe some chicken wings, a steak, so on.  There’s nothing wrong with any of those things, but brewpubs too often fit a boring mold with uninventive food and average, but usually not bad, beer.  Raising the bar on the idea of what a brewpub is and can be is commendable.