Friday 15th of February 2008 10:37:39 AM

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Opening in the fall of 2005 this Irish-style beer bar made an instant impression on the Long Island craft beer scene. Drew Dvorkin, owner of George Keely's and the Dead Poet Pub, wanted to put a real craft beer bar on Long Island with "no crap on tap." The first few months T.J. Finley's offered a diverse number of American craft beers and imports, but not even the famed Dale's Pale Ale would sell despite it's having been ranked the number one Pale Ale by Eric Azimov in The New York Times only months before. But T.J. Finley's didn't give up. They tried different beers and began an aggressive campaign of educating yellow beer drinkers about true craft beer.

Today, when you walk into TJ Finley's you'll find sixteen taps and a cask with a beer engine. They offer around 80 beers in the bottle including some super-premium items like Malheur Brut [see "Belgian Brewers in America" by Bernie Killkelly, ASN Vol. 15, No. 3 (June - July 2006, Pg. 39)]. T.J. Finley's has a beer club with more than 900 members.

T.J. Finley's is a beer bar and that's where the emphasis is, but they do have a great kitchen. You can get tasty sandwiches and wraps. In the near future they will be doing beer dinners with guest chefs from local brew pubs, like the Southampton Publick House.