About Us

 

BACKGROUND

We were established as NYC Brewing Company, LLC in 2015 and updated our moniker to NYC IPA, LLC in 2016 to reflect our decidedly IPA-focus - which remains a staple of our beverage portfolio today though we have broadened our horizons a bit.

 

CURRENT PORTFOLIO

We offer 8 different IPAs including a bold-profile NA IPA (NA is short-hand for Non-Alcoholic IPA, less than .5% ABV). 

We shifted all of our quality, all-natural ingredients to exclusively organic labeling in 2023.

We brew for private-label clients only at this time.

For all of our IPAs and other beverage offerings, we calibrate the pH (between 7.2 and 8.0) as well as mineral content (including magnesium and calcium) for the water that we utilize for each batch to mirror that of NYC tap water (based on our lab-tested internal baseline readings from samples drawn in the winter months from the borough of Manhattan) - this provides our beverage lines distinct and, most importantly, consistent flavor-profiles.

Our water-based processes, including Reverse-Osmosis (RO) among other filtration techniques we utilize, also rid the respective base water source of pesky, pervasive contaminants such as microplastics, PFAS and other unseen, unseemly pollutants.

We perform these extra-steps of fine-tuning the water we utilize as a byproduct of by simply trying to replicate the same accomplished brewmaster-honed IPA recipes from production facility to production facility - as our team found that even if the ingredients were as identical, in the same proportions with the same brewing processes under the same conditions, the final output/production results could vary - widely.

Given our specified water-composition requirements and quest for uniformed production consistency - independent of physical geographic location, NYC IPA™ has evolved over the years from gypsy-brewer into a tech-forward brewery advisory firm that provides boots on the ground Quality Control implementation in cooperation with select partner brewers. 

Our focus on uniformity of production output has driven us to develop, unmatched, production assurance systems that document our processes to assure uniformed flavor fidelity.

Along the way, we have crafted a proprietary playbook with corresponding technology to help brewing partners - wherever they may be located in the world - attain the same levels of consistency, batch-to-batch, year-to-year, for their own offerings that we strive for in ours. 

The result of our tech-first brewing approach is that we can brew our signature GREATER NYC IPA™ and other offerings with the exact same molecular and flavor profile - not just across the Tri-State region but across the country and even on different continents. 

From a logistics perspective, in a practical sense, our brewing precision enables expanding brewing production to other regions of the country which reduces transportation time/costs and, accordingly, assures freshness and improves shelf-life for our craft beer portfolio for our private-label clients.

Our refined recipes along with our molecular-level brewing quality-control and an emphasis on utilizing only premium, all-natural, organic ingredients provide our private-label clients across the country (and, most importantly, their customers) reliable taste/flavor-profile consistency and timely delivery of fresh beer as well as our other beverage offerings. 

 

BEYOND BREWS

We initially established our private-label service-category for Hotel, Dining and Event Venue clients that were looking for the quality and elevated taste-profiles of our IPAs and reliable, consistent production/delivery.

Our private-label beverage portfolio has evolved over the years to reflect enhanced variety that our private-label clients are looking for. We now also have available one or two Seasonals among our available beer selections including some stand-out offerings from IPA Sours, German Lagers and Wits in the Summer to whiskey barrel-aged Porters in the Winter with Farmhouse, Irish Reds and other novel styles in between.

To further meet our private-label clients' evolving requests, we also introduced canned spirits-based Ready-To-Drink (RTD) selections (customized for each client), Better-For-You and Non-Alcohol/Alcohol-free options in 2022 in an effort to help our clients provide their customers selected beer alternatives. 

Notably, the production and brewing processes for each of these new beverage categories also utilize our processes for the treatment of the water utilized for each batch to mirror that of NYC tap water (our water profile blueprints are based on lab-tested Manhattan Winter and Summer results compiled by our team) - our technology enable us to guarantee quality and a consistent flavor-profile batch-to-batch, year-to-year.

Today, we are a one-stop custom private-label beverage service provider for Hotel, Dining establishment and Event Venue clients seeking their own branded, quality refreshment. 

Our team and our service providers enable each of our clients the convenience of being able to rely on a single supplier to simplify multiple aspects of their beverage procurement and customization efforts so that they can keep pace with evolving market trends and seamlessly provide the selections that their customers looking for. 

 

BRAND EXTENSIONS & REACH

The NYC IPA™ brand, one that has always endeavored to try to embody a bit of the energy of the city, now includes pursuit of some eclectic food collaborations starting with our NYC IPA™ Signature Chimichurri, Red Mole and Peppercorn sauces, - with each crafted to pair perfectly with various of our IPAs and enhance most any food category from steaks and veal/lamb/pork chops to seafood and even salads.

We have also added hospitality-centric concepts - spanning themed-venues to special events and curated NYC tours - to further augment the brand portfolio and provide a platform for unique, vibrant experiential elements that hotel owners and even condominium developers can opt to include as an added amenity for their guests/tenants - from historic-decor and authentic city-centric artifacts/memorabilia to an on-site brewery featuring quality brews and beverages as well as bespoke light-fare selections.

 

RETROSPECTIVE

We rambled on into the craft brewing sector in 2013. As gypsy brewers living in the city seeking to create a hop-forward, all-natural, essential nutrient-infused IPA formulation for the active-lifestyle demographic, we tapped into the insight of ingredient specialists and accomplished brewmasters - the collaboration, with our first brewing partner in Connecticut, was released by the following year. While not exactly a garage startup in the literal sense, the spirit of putting in long-hours months on end along with some on-the-fly ingenuity (debatable) took hold - it wasn't uncommon to utilize snow-covered city rooftops as our makeshift cold rooms, stockpiling glass growlers during the winter months to test-out numerous iterations of our freshly brewed product creations.

We continued to refine various formulations - from hogshead barrel-aged limited-editions to special occasion/one-off brews to portfolio/lineup staples in subsequent years - resulting in the well-rounded stable of 8 IPAs we have today - we liked then, and still like now, how the brewing-style lends itself to experimentation with existing as well as emerging hop varieties, a myriad of all-natural ingredient infusion combinations and sees to always serve up flavor-packed, complexity seemingly no matter the particular IPA-style that is brewed.

Throughout our first decade of trials and tribulations, the educational curve was steep having navigated a variety of brewing sector-specific ebbs and flows including unforeseen cost increases, ingredient/input shortages, tank delays, reliable production issues, canning-related matters, direct/third-party distribution curve balls and more coupled with some management, personnel and ownership changes along with multiple macro-economic headwinds, all of which added to a never-ending string of challenging yet fun hurdles to try and traverse on the path of trying to simply craft refreshment.

There is no doubt we have gained considerable experience along the way and have a heightened appreciation for all those who have helped us to remain optimistic in the face of some steep hills.

Layer in trying to manage through the first pandemic in 100+ years at the outset of and into the early 2020s and trouble-shooting the numerous other sector headwinds and challenges in the days between e.g. rounds of steel/aluminum can price and MOQ increases, increased lead times for production due to CO2 shortages, new equipment/replacement part delays related to various supply chain issues, logistics/shipping complications, fuel pricing increases/surcharges that impact delivery and more, etc. - it seems every year - make that every quarter - there has been/continue to be new challenges to contend with independent of trying to focus on high-quality ingredient procurement, further refining time-honed recipes and, importantly, scalable replicatable formulations while developing processes that drive out[put consistency - which was and remains our primary aim.

To that end, since we first introduced our original/flagship NYC IPA™ in 2017, we have been fortunate that all of our partner brewers, with our resounding endorsement, have consistently provided us with guidance that has taken our recipe development to the next level while always utilizing only real, all-natural, premium ingredients (versus utilizing any artificial-flavor adjuncts/enhancers or other shortcuts of any kind). 

Subsequent to our 2017 release, we brought in experienced executives from the brewing sector to provide operational perspective and, based on their recommendations, decided to shift from a retail-focus to private-label offerings by 2018 (including the initial exploration of some NA/Alcohol-Free options for our clients). 

As part of this shift, we started modeling-out how to make fresh beer available to private-label clients nationwide by brewing regionally yet requiring that the water utilized for each batch to undergo a process that results in it approximating the pH (7.2 to 8.0) and mineral composition (including magnesium and calcium) of renowned NYC tap water (based on our lab-tested baseline readings with initial samples pulled from Winter months from the borough of Manhattan when the chlorine content tends to register lower as well as also taking into account minerals and other trace elements, not attributable to the source water, and likely picked up in transport via aging pipes from the Delaware basin, Catskills and Croton system on its way to the borough from upstate).

Once this aspect of brewing was modeled, we then encountered a variety of other significant influences on production and then explored tech-advancements to help us attain the exacting consistency batch-to-batch our team was striving for - the result after years of toiling and R&D was and a blueprint for consistency and quality that extends beyond our dialed-in Winter and Summer water blueprints and time-honed recipes/formulations for our family of IPAs and other recently-added selections.

 

FUTURE INITIATIVES

We became a wholly owned subsidiary of Craft Beer Fund, LLC, in 2018, which provided us access to a variety of top-tier brewers and other service providers in the beverage segment as well as a host of technology advancements. 

Beyond our beverage-focus, over the years we have started to attempt to embark on some new frontiers including city-centric Travel/Events/Tours and Hospitality/Real Estate Concepts, and, in turn, we have added some advisors with hospitality and real estate backgrounds along the way to help us navigate the ever-changing landscape of NYC. 

Our experiential themed-concepts, derivative from our NYC IPA™ brand portfolio, include NYC IPA™ Pub & Club, a standalone restaurant venue, as well as NYC IPA™ Hotel/Residences which feature an in-house brewery to add a differentiating element to legacy/ground-up new construction hotel/condominium properties within NYC (and beyond) providing a lively, vibrant environment along with ancillary on-site as well as off-site revenues.

More than a dozen years after our team's first gypsy-brewed IPA debuted in 2013, we continue to fine-tune our IPA recipes utilizing only the highest-quality, all-natural, organic (as of 2023) ingredients and incorporate the same philosophy - now hardened guarantee, to the parts per million-level - of the highest-quality across our entire private-label beverage portfolio. 

Most importantly, we certainly have valued the insight/perspective of all of those that have been part of our journey of endeavoring to deliver premium refreshment (at its essence, it is that simple) - especially, the many good times (and hurdles scaled) along the way that ultimately have evolved and continue to evolve into nostalgic times, and to that we raise our pints.