Manhattan's First Production Brewery Opens In SoHo With 430 Seats

LOWER MANHATTAN, NY — After a five-month delay, the Torch & Crown Brewing Company is opening its brewery and restaurant in Lower Manhattan on Friday.

The joint at 12 Vandam Street in SoHo will sit inside a 9,000 square-foot space that allows for 430 seats at full capacity. The inside dining room has three 'Brite Tanks' which holds house-brewed beer, an 18-tap blackened steel bar, and fits seating for 250 people on its floor.

There is also an outdoor space with a heated side yard that seats another 180 people.

The Torch & Crown Brewing Company states that it has implemented a number of coronavirus safety protocols to best keep the expansive dining space free of the virus. The restaurant will additionally open at 25 percent capacity, and enforce "rigorous" social distancing and sanitation standards.

The menu has a collection of small plates, vegetables, classics, and sharable dishes, but maybe not one dish stands out more than the "Cannibal Jerky."

There will also be 10 options of tap beer on the restaurants opening menu.

The restaurant will be the first production brewery in Manhattan.

The two founders of the borough's first brewery actually started the idea 15 years ago after getting busted with fake IDs at an East Village Bar. John Dantzler and Joe Correia went home to buy a home-brew kit and made their own.

The passion for making beer eventually led the two men to partner and open a Torch & Crown brewery in the Bronx, and now the Torch & Crown Brewing Company restaurant in Manhattan.

The restaurant will be open from Tuesday to Sunday, noon to 9 p.m.

You can find out more about Manhattan's first brewery and its full menu on its website.