So, with yet another article about German beer halls and beer gardens in the US, is it now officially a trend... as if there was an Office of Trends to declare such things:

...finding a Manhattan space large enough for an authentic beer garden is a big challenge, as Jon Bloostein, owner of Heartland Brewery, knows all too well. He has been looking for such a space for years and may open a garden in Washington, D.C., where he found a spot. “Empty lots in New York that are big enough for a garden have air rights that are very expensive,” said Mr. Bloostein, who has ruled out the boroughs outside of Manhattan. Tom Ryan also faced a problem finding a large location for his indoor beer hall, so he opted for a smaller second-floor space. He and his two business partners, who own five other bars in the city, opened Bierhaus last month at 712 Third Ave. Bierhaus is a no-frills space with communal tables arranged under a large skylight. It serves only German beer and traditional cuisine. The partners expected it to “crawl in the beginning.” Instead, Mr. Ryan had to hire 10 additional servers—mostly women wearing dirndls—and three additional managers.

There is an interesting angle on this. If German beer consumption is truly going down for demographic reasons, why not create new markets elsewhere? And this seems a little different from the trendy trend in Los Angeles. New York could be (maybe) continuing its own a lasting legacy from the 1800s and (definitely) folks have thought about German beer halls in New York in recent years. That Manhattan Hofbräuhaus seems to have opened last month. So, maybe its a combination. German breweries needing more clients and New Yorkers needing to explore their liquid German-ness.