Thanks for the info. I made it to a few places. Was most impressed with Gingerman, on 36th St I think. They have 42 beers on tap and akk reasonably priced at around $7 a pop excl. tip (in tulip pint glasses). Very nice interior with the American style long bar & high ceiling, good helpful humorous staff with no problem offering tastings.
Also Old Town Bar in the East Village was impressive. Not a craft beer bar but had Sierra Nevada Pale Ale & a Brooklyn Golden Ale on tap. Again had the long bar on one side, & felt like it was half way between a barbershop and a bar. Apparently Frank McCourt and a host of other writers & artists drank there. It was listed in Esquire's magazine's top bars in America.
Made it to McSorleys too. Seemed to be full of kids in their early 20s. They offer 2 beers only, light & dark. The dark was good, very smooth & tasted of toffee. Easy to throw back, so easy I kept on drinking it for the night & didn't even try the other one.
The various mainstream places I ate and drank in seemed to have some craft beer offered on tap - Bear Republic, Sierra Nevada etc - which was good to see (having seen the documentary Beerwars). Also Samuel Adams is in windows everywhere and I don't think it's owned by the mega breweries (correct if wrong).
