Threes Brewing reinvents the North Slope brew pub paradigm

Story and photos by Hannah Petertil

Before the doors to Threes Brewing were open to the public, neighbors, passersby, and beer enthusiasts were opening its oversized glass doors on Douglass Street in Gowanus—at the time the new business was prepping for a big December opening.

“Is there any spent grain for my chickens,” one local sporting overalls and a knit cap asked after entering.

“Do you have TVs?” two dapper young gentlemen inquired. Finally, a pair of fans keen to be a part of opening day festivities stopped by to get their names on the “friends and family” opening list—for an event where they would get a taste of the farm-house style beers brewed in-house a day before the general public. Greg Doroski, the head brewer, kindly filled up the man’s 5-gallon bucket with spent grains. Nina Woolf and Anna Selver-Kaussell (general manager and assistant manager, respectively) added the fan-boys names to the invite list and then explained that the bar was not yet open, and there were no TVs, aside from a room fitted with a giant projector that would be used for movie screenings and game broadcasts.

Threes Brewing has now been open since just before the holidays, and that excitement has yet to subside and the sense of community continues to grow. This was all part of the vision co-founders and owners Justin Israelson, Joshua Styleman, and Andrew Unterberg had in mind.

The renovated Gowanus space is made for exploring. Woolf describes it as a labyrinth, “…a place where customers can wander and find a little nook to cozy up in.” Aside from the brewery located at the heart of the space—including a full-wall window so patrons can see what Doroski and his two assistants are up to—there is an old-school wooden bar stocked with liquors (including those barrel aged in-house), along with the considerably-sized serving tanks acting as giant kegs for the brewmaster’s creations. The tanks can also act as secondary fermentation vessels, and Doroski has exciting plans for summer (“Think Witbier fermenting with peach purée,” he hinted).

The bar and brewery are the heart of the operation, but there is also an espresso shop—Ninth Street Espresso—located in the front of the space and up a stained flight of stairs. Behind retractable doors is a room with a name of its own: Tiny Montgomy. The vision is that this area will be used for private events, birthday parties, film screenings, and sport watching events, but most importantly as a music venue. Even given these discrete sections, the flow and vitality of the brewery extend all the way to a outdoor area, complete with a bar waiting for fair weather.

Not to be over looked is the fare, to which particular attention has been paid. Recognizing that too many Gowanus bars serve lackluster plates, Israelson, Styleman, and Unterberg were keen to innovate, and both Woolf and Selver-Kaussell became bright eyed as they started dicussing the business’s food incubator program. The small but crisply designed kitchen will work as a test area of sorts where chefs will be able to bring in a team and do custom food for new crowds.

Threes Brewing opened, for example, with real Roberta’s pizzas and its staff straight from Bushwick, but the possibilities of the kitchen are various. Woolf is excited about tacos (especially breakfast), while Selver-Kaussell is starting to envision ways in which oysters could be made in the kitchen, from the state-of-the-art wood burning ovens to the new fryer.

Staffers, while not always from a brewing background, seem passionate about the work. One, an employee by day and master’s student by night, is an example, having dedicated her thesis to the role of women in beermaking.

Woolf declared herself especially proud of the bar she organized, making particular mention of the wine list, a selection of which will even be available on temperature-controlled taps. It is innovations like those, along with an owner-infused insistence upon rethinking a now tired railroad-bar-in-front North Slope/Gowanus brew pub paradigm, that offer real promise here—a way to compartmentalize an entertainment space, literally, with the future in mind.

Threes Brewing
333 Douglass St. / 718.522.2110 / threesbrewing.com