No hazies, no pastry stouts: VinePair's Brewery of the Year went all in on lagers

VinePair named Eckhart Beer Co. its Brewery of the Year in the 2026 Next Wave Awards. The brewery sits in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and brewed its first batch in September 2024 after kicking off the project in 2022.

The idea came from Nicholas Meyer, a fine-dining veteran who worked as a sous chef at places like Eleven Madison Park and Blue Hill. Meyer felt he had nothing new to add to hazy IPAs, pastry stouts and fruited sours, and that the industry didn't need more of them anyway. So he went the other way: traditional German and Czech lagers, made slowly and made right.

The core lineup includes a Helles, a German Pilsner, three Czech lagers (pale, dark and amber) and a house IPA. They pour through Czech side-pull faucets, the kind that build a thick, dense head, and once a month they run an all-day Kölsch service. Brewer Adam Wolfe spent about a decade brewing in Sydney and Amsterdam, and says you don't often see breweries focusing on just this style.

What about us? A brewery winning big for nailing the basics says a lot about where tastes are heading. On an island where cold, light beer is the law, a well-made lager never goes out of style. Next time you see a local pilsner or helles on the menu, give it a shot before reaching for the usual IPA.

Source: VinePair