Zip City Brewing Co. brought to the East Coast something the West Coast already had: the sophisticated brewpub. Because the brewery is located in one of America’s gastronomic centers, founder Kirby Shyer was not content to offer his patrons simple pub fare, so he brought in a two-star chef and let him loose in the kitchen. As a result, the brewpub serves eclectic fare (yellow-fin chili and Pilsner-steamed clams) and pours a wide range of German-style specialty beers from its gleaming Austrian brew kettles.
Shyer got the notion of starting a brewpub at a 1987 conference sponsored by the Association of Brewers. He had toyed with the idea of starting a contract brewing business, but after the conference he knew that he wanted to do more than just market a beer — he wanted to brew it.
He was soon flying to California to take a brewing course at the University of California at Davis and touring microbreweries around the country, absorbing arcane information on brewhouse construction and yeast propagation. In his travels, Shyer narrowed his vision down to a brewpub and began taking restaurant management courses.
In addition to brewing quality beers, Zip City offers patrons a wide variety of gourmet fare.
The lager cellar at Zip City Brewing Co.
He also found a place to locate his pub — a building on a rising block on West 18th Street. The building did come with some unusual karmic baggage, however, having once served as the headquarters of the National Temperance Society.
The brewery name is a literary reference from the Sinclair Lewis novel Babbitt. In the novel, the main character refers to his name-less metropolis as “Zip City” because of the ever-accelerating pace of modern urban life.
Zip City focuses on German-style lagers, with four main styles: Pilsner, helles, Märzen, and dunkel. The helles is a light, quaffable, firm-bodied lager with a slight chill haze. The Pilsner is smooth yet assertive, with a relatively high hopping rate that gives the taste buds a jolt. It has a palate-cleansing finish and is remarkably clear for an unfiltered product. Zip City also produces a changing list of seasonal beers, including a warming Eisbock.
See ALE, BREWPUB, and LAGER ALE.
See BELGIAN BROWN AND RED ALES.
A stainless steel sample valve designed for taking samples in enclosed containers possibly under pressure. Also known as a trycock. Carbon dioxide-testing units, in particular, are designed to attach to the valve and allow for sampling of carbonated beer without losing carbonation or getting over-foaming. The zwickel cock is built with a highly sanitary design and is generally found on bright beer tanks and univessels.
Fermentation.
The science or study of fermentation. The word zymurgy is derived from zymase (a yeast enzyme). Also, zymurgy is the title of a magazine, published by the American Homebrewers Association.
The Greek name for barley wine, from the Egyptian word zythum.
