Emily Richard and JP Houchens, the couple behind Simple Brewing, long had a definitive idea of what they wanted to do and how they wanted to be different from other breweries, large or small.

Jimmy speaks with JP Houchens and Emily Richard of Simple Brewing Company in NYC. Both are worker/owners but Emily handles lead sales and the taproom while JP does lead brewing and production. The entrepreneurs share how they utilize “old world brewing techniques”, using almost all raw materials from New York State, moving all their equipment from Long Island to Brooklyn, the process of creating their first beer- Zen Mower, and so much more!

Simple Brewing Company: New for 2025, this is a tiny, very edgy cafe inside a community centre that pours 3-4 of their own beers, brewed elsewhere but done to a high standard. It is pricey, even by Manhattan standards, but there is a local essence that makes it hard to resist.

“While I hesitate to call anything truly dead in the world of craft beer, I’d like to make the case for brut IPA, the short-lived, Champagne-like IPA that was rendered bone dry with the use of amylase enzymes to ferment out almost all the residual sugars. It was typically very light in color, often containing some adjuncts, and highly carbonated but low in bitterness. This was a style that was actually near to my heart, as I prefer hop forward beers to be crisp and (mostly) clear. It seemed to burst on to the scene around 2017, if I recall correctly, and was all but gone by 2020. I think there’s consensus that some of this was marketing. No one really knew how to ‘sell’ the style, so to speak. But also, as bruts were coming into being, a certain New England style of beer was truly exploding everywhere, and that seemed to capture the public drinkers’ fancy. However, I believe certain aspects of brut IPA do live on in what we now call cold IPA and West Coast pils (the three styles share crispness and high hop aroma with varying degrees of pine citrus and tropical notes, but the brut is noticeably lower in bittering units), but those latter two have had more time to evolve and flourish.” —JP Houchens, owner-worker and brewer, Simple Brewing Company, New York City

Slow, smooth beers are on draft at the Simple Brewing Company, a tap room in Hell’s Kitchen that’s the product of a decade-long journey undertaken by partners who fell in love over the perfect pint.

Simple Brewing has a Taproom

You may have seen Simple Brewing Company’s beers around town over the past couple months, but last week they celebrated the grand opening of a taproom of their very own in Manhattan. Simple’s Taproom at Cafe 424 is open for business (with some exceptions for private events) on West 54th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues. The Hell’s Kitchen spot is a shared space in the Prime Produce Apprentice Cooperative, but it’s an appropriate place for the social cooperative brewery to call home in the city.

“Niteglow is an awesome little spot. Jonny Ifergan — the owner, founder, and brewer — serves everything off of Lukr taps. I think that kind of pouring can really enhance a lot of different styles of beer. Jonny also has the New York State Farm Brewer’s license, like us. He’s very passionate about how beer should be about a setting and a place, and it should taste like that setting and that place. He’s done an excellent job with his brewery taproom. It’s just a really cool spot pouring really nice beers, and apparently their coffee is badass, too.” —JP Houchens, Simple Brewing Company, New York City