Beer Vendor Top Hops Shuts Brick & Mortar Location Today After 6 Years In The (New) Essex Market, 13 On The Lower East Side
No reason was stated on social media.
Top Hops, the famed tasting bar and retail beer vendor located at the heart of Essex Market, is closing.
I found the below eulogy from Chris O’Leary’s “Brew York and Beyond” Substack article published a couple days ago covering Top Hops’ closing. Please visit his Substack and Instagram to read more!
“Opened in 2012 by former AB/InBev vet Ted Kenny, Top Hops first opened in a storefront on Orchard Street as a beer bar/bottle shop hybrid, much like other craft beer spots in that era. They adopted the slogan “Merchants and Advocates of Great Beer,” pouring 20 beers on tap, featuring the likes of then-stalwarts like Bear Republic, Stone, and Ommegang when they opened and evolving with the trends of the times, from Heady Topper hype to local brewery launches. With his AB/InBev ties, Kenny wasn’t afraid to throw in more corporate brands like Leffe and Budweiser to please the masses. That also helped him land the annual Black Friday release of Goose Island’s Bourbon County Brand Stout, which became a tradition for uber beer nerds in New York City.
Top Hops branched out beyond that Orchard Street location, opening its first satellite shop as “Top Hops To-Go” in 2016 in the old Essex Street Market. Its first satellite bar opened at the former Urbanspace Lexington Market in Midtown East in 2018, followed by its current space in the new Essex Street Market in 2019, Urbanspace Pearl (now The Hungry Pearl) in 2022, and the former Urbanspace Union Square (soon to be Time Out Market) in 2023. The original space at 94 Orchard closed in 2021.”
That original space is now taken by Moscot Eyewear Shop (pictured).
Thanks for following LES local news! And thanks again to Brew York and Beyond.
