Drew Friedman label for McSorley's beer
My favorite portrait painter Drew Friedman created a label for McSorley's Irish Lager, produced by the oldest (or second oldest) bar in New York City. It's been on East 7th Street since 1854. Drew says, "For this job, I just asked to be paid in beer." 
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If the beer's as good as the label, then that's a wise choice.
semi-related: brooklyn brewery out of, um, brooklyn uses a logo designed by milton glaser (the i-heart-NY guy). according to the brewery's tour, the start-up owners knew they couldn't afford to pay for a guy on the level of glaser. so when they contacted him, they told him he'd get free beer for life. voila! glaser designs there logo.
moral of the story: no one is above getting paid in beer.
I have been trying to remember the name of this establishment. While in the navy I was in New York during Fleet Week in 1986. Ended up there. Had a great time! Their beer (or ale - can't remember which) was very good. Wonder if it will be available down here in redneck land?
I didn't know about the Glaser label. Interesting! It would be neat to have a physical gallery exhibition of the original art that became beer labels. I'm not a big drinker so it's probably not news, but I have recently noticed some amazing artwork on microbrew and also small winery bottles.
light or dark?
Second Oldest Bar in the United States. Oldest in NYC.
My pal Carlo Longino reminded me of the Ralph Steadman label for Flying Dog Ales seen here.
Carlo also likes the Hitachino Nest ones from Japan seen here and here and the Chateau Mouton Rothschild wine labels.
I bought this beer for the first time a few months ago. I was first attracted by the label. Then I questioned the potential quality of the beer because the label was so fetching. Then I drank the beer... just as good as the label!
Dry, stoic yet hearty with depth.
It's a shame that McSorley's is such a tourist trap - it's the White Horse (the bar across town that Dylan Thomas is said to have drank himself to death in. Not true, but entertaining) of the East Village - their status as an historic boozeatorium is a license to print money in NYC and the barstaff know full well that they don't have to be polite to make rent.
Avoid it is my advice. Go a block up to Grassroots instead - just as lively, less pretentious and cheaper. Plus: Fresh popcorn at the bar.
I think there are some old gas lamps on the wall in old photos. I went to look in person and found where the pipes used to be, all these years later. I like that kind of thing.
I haven't gone into McSorleys since my HS graduation (when we drank legally at 18) because it's cramm-packed with tourists and folks from NJ pretty much all the time.
However, just down the street, there's Burp Castle which sells wonderful Belgian beers and has beautiful and hilarious frescos of drunken trappists on the walls. It also won't serve anyone under 25!
I went to McSorleys on my first adult trip to NYC. It was interesting but I didn't see the need to go again.
My bar of choice was the Scrap Bar. I sure do miss it now that it's gone.
The old labels were fine -- they were as minimal as the bar -- but the new ones impart some of the tradition on the back. The ones I have tell the story of the wishbones above the bar and the ban on women until the 1970s. Great bar, great beer, great label.
Good ale, raw onions, and no ladies!
A "famous" e. e. cummings poem begins:
beautifully snowing
From there on it's kind of crappy.
Not exactly. It's produced by Lion Brewery in Wilkes-Barre, PA.
actually the ee cummings poem begins, 'i was sitting in mcsorley's...'
the beer in said bar is amazing; the beer in the bottles is muck.
if you're in town, go on sunday or monday nights. not too crowded.
and I'd noticed how the new label was way classier than I thought it would be...
- brendan
What on earth is "black lager"? And in what sense is it Irish? Confused...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwarzbier
sigh. A glitch on the cummings poem...
Ever since they started fucking with it a couple months ago, this site's got more bugs than a Chicago Fourth of July picnic.
Maybe I can leave my Comments history to my grandchildren; I'll probably never see it again in my lifetime.
@ #16
The bottled sort you can buy in the store is bottled at lion's head. The establishment itself is an ale house; beer is brewed, transfered to keg, tapped, and consumed. Fresh.
I love how ordering one beer results in a beer poured into two glass mugs, because of the ancient co2 system. That and the copy of the New York Times on the wall the day the Titanic sunk.
I didn't find it too tourist trappy, but there were an awful lot of pompous NYU kids there.
Well, it does at least have the distinction of having been in Preacher.
McSorley's is the 4th oldest bar in NYC. To wit:
http://nymag.com/nymetro/nightlife/barbuzz/11924/
Very interesting history, but yes its funny how the bottled stuff is from out of state. I've never had the McSorleys on tap, but I wasn't crazy about it in the bottle.
Great logo though. (I think the guy who did the Brooklyn logo got a better deal though!)
Scott-TheBrewClub
Read the bottom of the 6 pack holder for some history of McSorley's.
The NY Mag link has so many errors - nobody checked anything - revisionist history done in a hurry.
It was Peter Cooper's favorite bar. So it's kind of tradition for Cooper Union students to go drinking there.
The bottled McSorley's is awful compared to the real stuff on tap. And if you don't go on a weekend, it's actually a great place that's not too touristy.