To Our Friends in the Fourth Avenue Community

We feel it is of utmost importance that you be informed that the Cherry Tree Bar, at 65 Fourth Avenue, was closed by the Department of Health on December 8, 2008, for the following appalling violations of New York City health code:

--“Dust” on the Saran Wrap covering its pizza dough. It may be “extremely likely” that this “dust” was “flour” (hmm...maybe a new word for cocaine? Drug violation!) used in making the dough, but who knows? We cannot have dust anywhere in our spotless New York!

--A lack of paper towels in one of The Cherry Tree’s bathrooms. It may be that the health inspectors used up the last of the paper towels in order to cite The Cherry Tree for this violation, and that it was “audible” to people standing outside the bathroom, but that’s simply “creative generation” of a health violation. Our Health Department has labored for too long under stifling “rules” that force them to cite only what they see, and not the magical violations they can create with just their mind, misplaced authority, and a pen!

--The Cherry Tree’s manager was not present. It may be that Patrick Donagher, the manager of the bar, lives above the bar and is there nearly every waking (and sleeping) hour, and not only that, is “on camera” escorting the Health Department inspectors around, but we have it on good authority that the Health Department inspectors were careful never to look at anything, especially people. How do they know Mr. Donagher was really there and not a disembodied Wizard of Oz-like voice? In short, Mr. Donagher, we demand you remove your Invisibility Cloak and report to Health Inspector Snape at once.

--The Cherry Tree’s cook walking around the bar without gloves on. It may be that cooks are only required to wear gloves when “preparing food,” but how do we know that the cook wasn’t thinking about preparing food at that very moment, which, when you really think about it, is just the first step in preparing food? Because it’s likely the cook didn’t have gloves on in his imagined food preparation, this violation has not only been recorded in the Health Department’s annals, but has been reported to the New York City Department of Thoughtcrime.

In sum, it’s undeniable by any thinking lady or gentleman that any one of these violations is enough to shut down a bar or restaurant, but when taken together, these constitute one of the gravest threats to New York City’s health since brain freeze or pointy things. In fact, after seeing these violations listed, we can’t imagine how anyone could enter The Cherry Tree without contracting a terrible disease or enjoying some good food. Kudos to the intrepid men and women of our city’s Health Department, who fight the demons of Law, Morality, and Visual Evidence in order to shut down sinister neighborhood small businesses like The Cherry Tree.

We fully support the Department of Health in shutting down The Cherry Tree for these egregious crimes.

Signed,


Pacific Standard, and The Cherry Tree’s Fourth Avenue Neighbors.

P.S. Corrupt, you say? More like curr-awesome!

Tap Update, January 8

Beers on Tap

Anchor Christmas Ale (San Francisco, CA; $5/16 oz). 5.3% ABV.
Avery Ellie’s Brown Ale (Boulder, CO; $5/16oz). 5.5% ABV.
Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye (Healdsburg, CA; $5/16 oz). 8.0% ABV.
Captain Lawrence Reserve Imperial IPA (Pleasantville, NY; $5/16 oz). 8.0% ABV.
Chelsea Blizzard (New York, NY; $5/16 oz). 6.8% ABV.
Doc’s Hard Apple Cider (Warwick, NY; $6/16 oz). 4.5% ABV.
Lagunitas Sonoma Farmhouse Ale (Petaluma, CA; $5/16oz) 6.0% ABV.
Middle Ages 12th Anniversary Imperial Porter (Syracuse, NY; $6/12 oz). 9.0% ABV.
Rogue Chipotle Ale (Newport, OR; $5/16 oz). 5.5% ABV.
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale (Chico, CA; $5/16 oz). 6.8% ABV.
Sixpoint Diesel Stout (Brooklyn, NY; $5/16 oz). 6.6% ABV.
Stone Smoked Porter (San Diego, CA; $5/16oz). 5.9% ABV.
Stoudt’s Pils (Adamstown, PA; $5/16 oz). 4.7% ABV.
Victory Donnybrook (Downingtown, PA; $5/16 oz). 3.7% ABV.
Victory Old Horizontal (Downingtown, PA; $6/12 oz). 11.0% ABV.
Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA (Easton, PA; $6/16oz). 9.0% ABV.

Beers on Cask

Chelsea Pier 59 Pale Ale (New York, NY; $6/16 oz). 5.0% ABV.
Sixpoint Righteous Ale (Brooklyn, NY; $6/16 oz). 6.5% ABV.

Coming Up: Southampton Double White, Mendocino Red Tail, Bear Republic Red Rocket, Woodchuck Granny Smith, North Coast Red Seal, North Coast Old Rasputin, Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, Sixpoint Scotch Ale, Chelsea Winter Wheat (cask).

A brief desultory response to some comments made on Gothamist.

It's generally useless to attempt to reply to web chatter--people who actually spend their time to snarkily respond to a blog post are kind of a self-selecting group of people who aren't worth responding to--but some of the comments to a Gothamist article about our Frequent Drinker Program (comments you can find here) contain errors or misconceptions that are too egregious for me to let stand:

--Our Frequent Drinker Program doesn't mean we don't give buybacks! We have any number of "real bartenders" who do give buybacks, we assure you, and would be instulted at being slighted by people who probably haven't even met them.

--This isn't a "gimmick" and I don't know what a "yupster" is. This is an honest attempt to reward our friends and present and future regulars. If that's "trying too hard", then yes, we do try too hard. In fact, fuck it, we pride ourselves on trying too hard--if you've met me and Jon Stan, you know that we are very genuine dudes who loathe self-conscious trendiness of all types, and are trying really hard to create a bar that we and our patrons can love. It's sad that an honest attempt to do something interesting and fun is met with criticism like that. Do these people like anything except cigarettes, black coffee, and dive bars?

--You do not have to spend, say, $1500 at Pacific Standard for a $75 value reward (which, even if you did, by the way, is far more remunerative than credit card rewards programs). If you think that, you missed the fact that double points are being awarded almost half the time, triple points quite often, and random points giveaways are happening occasionally.

In summary, I encourage those of you who have actually been to Pacific Standard to respond to the comments made on Gothamist. I want people to get a realer view of our bar, our owners, and what we're up to. Thanks, and see you around.

John Rauschenberg

Frequent Drinker Program

So we've set an official launch date for our Frequent Drinker Program--it's Wednesday, February 6. On that date, you'll start being able to earn points, and of course we'll be having a big party to kick everything off. It promises to be a stately affair, with triple yards (points) available for all in order to get your frequent drinker accounts off to a good start.

For about 30 hours this last weekend, our friend Josh Storch was working on an equaly stately web interface for the program, through which you will be able to access your Frequent Drinker account and see your points and the awards you might redeem them for.

Until the launch, you should familiarize yourself with the Membership Guide at:

www.pacificstandardbrooklyn.com/drinker.html

and get your picture taken and order your card, if you haven't already.

Cherry Tree/Pacific Standard Dart Nights

Beginning tomorrow and extending into the distant and mysterious future, Pacific Standard and the Cherry Tree will be hosting a darts night on Monday evenings. We'll be alternating between the two bars, with all comers welcome to play. The exact format and prizes will be determined soon.

BCS National Championship Game and Super Bowl

Are you ready for a momentous announcement, lovers of large quantities of beer served in a willing and stout receptacle? For these two championship events only, Pacific Standard will sell beer in pitchers for the first time ever, at very reasonable prices. Check our daily specials board out front for details. Big-screen, big-time football with big drinking vessels: yay.

Frequent Drinker Program Update

Many of you have asked about our frequent drinker program (the one we debuted a beta version of the card for oh-so-long-ago). Rest assured that it is coming, and sooner than you think. Here's a link to the completed frequent drinker membership guide:

www.pacificstandardbrooklyn.com/drinker.html

Questions/comments are welcome.

The only thing that remains is some programming, so that you, dear drinkers, can keep track of your Frequent Drinker Yards (FDYs) on the line. I'll let you know as soon as that's up and running, following which we'll have a glorious program launch party.