Black Star Co-Op

Socialism's great in theory, but what happens when everyone's ability and needs are "drinking beer"? Accommodating human nature's most enduring trait, Black Star Co-Op, soft-open now.

Black Star is a not-for-profit neighborhood brew-pub and eatery entirely owned and run by its members, with power-to-the-people policies like one-member/one-vote on all decisions, end-of-year profit redistribution, and a living wage for all, making it unnecessary to tip, an act they see as a "double tax" right in their front yard, all the way, a double tax, almost a triple tax... what does it all mean? Currently on tap: a staggering array of locals from breweries like 512 (Wit, Two Dipa), Live Oak (Big Bark, Hefe, Liberation, Oaktoberfest, Pilz), Real Ale (Lost Gold IPA), and Thirsty Planet (Buckethead IPA, Thirsty Goat), as well as prized bottles like Brooklyn Local 1, Lindeman's Gueuze Cuvee Rene, and La Fin Du Monde by Unibroue, the (label) peeling of which doesn't imply sexual frustration, but rather basic grooming. Satiation comes via gourmet snack plates (local sopressata, sweet peppers, St. Andre Brie...), Niman Ranch beef burgers ground in-house, traditional pub fare like beer-battered redfish, and larger plates like beer-braised short ribs in a smoked porter glaze, as opposed to a Cole Porter glaze, which actually gets under the skin.

Upon the official grand opening, Black Star plans a starting line-up of eight house brews divided into two categories: "Rational" (including Vulcan Rye Ale, Recalcitrant Dockhard roasted malt) and, counting the fresh-peach abetted Waterloo amongst its ranks, "Irrational" -- or, what you considered Socialism, before you got needy and realized it was more than a bunch of Bolshevik.