BY ZACH WILLIAMS | One New Jersey businessman believes that Chelsea customers desire music, sports, technology, and a wide variety of brews at their ideal local tavern. Only time will tell if he presents a mix that suits the ever-changing neighborhood.
The World of Beer (WOB) opened a location on Aug. 31 in the middle of a stretch of Eighth Ave., between W. 25th & W. 26th Sts. Tenement buildings remain a few doors down from WOB, where customers can gaze at the towers-in-the-park architecture of Penn South Co-ops through the floor-to-ceiling windows abutting the sidewalk. There is a pizzeria, bodega, 7-Eleven and a hair stylist down the block. But more and more, local businesses are more in line with the luxuries of WOB, where gourmet pretzels arrive on hooks strong enough to dangle fine meat cuts.
Customers can choose from more than 500 beer brands with an iPad available on their table tops to provide the details, before their attention might wander to the flatscreens lining the walls.
A vision of neighborhood residents congregating over microbrews and their favorite local sports team inspired the entrepreneur behind the establishment, which was about two years in the making. The songs of the ’70s were played on the night of Aug. 30 — when an exclusive set of friends, business associates and this reporter assembled for a preview of how it could all work.
“I was just really quickly drawn to the World of Beer experience,” said Will Mingo, owner the Chelsea location. “It doesn’t feel like a franchise. It feels like a neighborhood food and dining experience.”
Connoisseurs of a fine brew need not settle for the relatively few types of beer available elsewhere. Nor must they experience the dazzle of looking at each and every brand available within the half-dozen fridges at WOB. A perusal of the offerings via the iPads precludes viewing the choices in the physical or printed worlds before they arrive on the table.
Mingo said that his staff studied the nuances of beer, including the differences among the more than 32,000 microbrews available nationwide. Two weeks or so of studying the history and variety of beer does not equate with the title of sommelier — but nonetheless, WOB employees told Chelsea Now that their new jobs required a fair amount of academic rigor. Although one of them mistakenly referred to Budweiser as a pale ale on Aug. 30 (it’s a pale lager), the ambience does not lack overall expertise, according to server Zef Balbona.
“You really have to be able to keep up with [customers],” he said based on his experience observing another franchise in Savannah, Ga. this summer. “People just seemed to know what they want and they’re passionate about it.”
Opinions on what constitutes a local bar can be different for Chelsea residents looking for another way to enjoy alcoholic beverages. Offerings at WOB — such as craft brews, gourmet tacos (with romaine rather than iceberg lettuce) and post-modern decor — might not attract neighborhood regulars who prefer the dankness of their favorite dive bar.
Thus far, though, businesses such as WOB have avoided the level of controversy experienced by another example of a local beer awakening: a proposed beer garden at Pier 62, which some locals say would unduly appropriate public space. They have also expressed fears that carousing beer drinkers might degrade the family friendliness of a nearby children’s carousel.
While that controversy plays out, Chelsea will continue to make its mark on the local beer scene, through this franchise business that has over 70 locations across the country.
“The infusion tower sets this bar apart from any other in New York City,” said Petito, owner of Rockland County-based brewer Kuka, of a three-inch diameter tubular vessel where local brews meet new flavors at WOB.
She said that overall competition is fierce within the growing microbrewery market. Survival entails making a living, so that one’s own creation might run — as Kuka does — from the tap of a local bar, she added. There are few opportunities to rest.
“We’re competing to keep our beers in rotation,” Petito said. “You rarely see one beer on tap all the time.”
She noted that WOB supports local brewers through a wide selection of New York brews, even if more generic brands such as Pabst Blue Ribbon are sold as well. A few feet away, one long-term resident conceded that the future was on full display that night.
“For me, of course, it would be nice to stay with mom and pops, but that’s not where New York City is going,” said Heather G., who said she has lived in the area for 15 years. Her husband, Bryce Zachery, said that the numerous sex shops on Eighth Ave. give him hope that a certain character will continue to carry over from the neighborhood’s grittier past.
“As long as that stays, Chelsea is Chelsea,” he said.
