Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- There's actually a paper for folks like me, beer drinkers extraordinaire: The Ale Street News.

It keeps us up to date on the beer bars of America, establishments that may or may not serve other types of alcohol but are mainly focused on micro-brewed beers -- those made in small batches.

In New York, these bars are sprouting like wheat, and I recently visited three of them in different parts of town.

I started off at the Ginger Man, which has a long wooden bar, high ceilings and beer taps as far as the eye can see. I sat down with a pint of Captain Lawrence Double IPA (India Pale Ale) brewed in Pleasantville, New York.

IPAs were first brewed by the British in the early 1700s as an answer to a difficult problem: spoilage. The Brits had no refrigeration and discovered that if you added more hops and alcohol to the mix, the beer kept longer.

A cheese platter materialized featuring Irish blue cheese, English cheddar and French camembert, followed by a bratwurst platter -- great food for hearty ales.

The concept of pairing food with beer is becoming a popular trend. The menu suggested matching Stone IPA, Rodenbach or Wolaver's organic pale ale with the cheese platter and Spaten Lager and Franziskaner Weisse with the brats. The once lonely lager and ale now have a healthy relationship with food.

Cheddar and Stout

The Blind Tiger, a popular Greenwich Village hangout, serves beer and wine but no hard liquor. It's a corner bar built with beams and floors from a 19th-century farmhouse, with wooden benches and fireplace that give the room a ski-lodge feeling. The counter is not huge but shaped like the letter Z, which makes it very easy to talk to your fellow beer buffs.

The kitchen offers cheese pairings like Point Reyes blue with Sierra Nevada Porter, Irish cheddar with Sly Fox O'Reilly's Stout, or Tomme De Berger with Sierra Strickland Triple Ale. The Wednesday happy-hour special usually includes a large platter from Murray's cheese shop across the street.

Bartender Kate Deedy explained the Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA via Randall meant the beer is poured over a ``Randall' strainer full of hops in the bar's back room, which adds more flavor to the already hop-drenched beverage.

Louise's Bloody Beer is the chef's take on a Bloody Mary, featuring strong ale, tomato juice and ``secret' spices garnished with celery, pickles, chili peppers and fruit, with not a drop of vodka. The food menu also features the Bloody Beast: roast beef, red onion, horseradish and cheddar on a roll with a Bloody Mary dipping sauce, and one of the best grilled cheese sandwiches this reporter has had in New York City.

Vintage Beers

For a splurge, the Blind Tiger, like the Ginger Man, also offers ``vintage' bottled beers, aged on their sides like fine wines and not refrigerated. Fonteinen Kriek, brewed with cherries and aged in an oak cask for 18 months, costs about $60 for a bottle just over a pint.

CB Six is a homey basement bar with an impressive beer selection, including Snapper Head IPA, Mother's Milk Stout and Shipyard Pumpkin Ale, that I hadn't seen at the other venues. The food menu is not as creative as the two other establishments, but I enjoyed the nachos, wings and calamari.

The bar has only been open since January, but they do have plans to add cask ales (poured from a non-carbonated cask) to the menu. This month, they celebrate Oktoberfest featuring German and seasonal beers such Hacker-Pschorr and Southampton Pumpkin Ale.

The Ginger Man is at 11 E. 36th St. Information: +1-212- 532-3740; http://www.gingerman-ny.com/ . The Blind Tiger is at 281 Bleecker St. Information: +1-212-462-4682; http://blindtigeralehouse.com/ . CB Six is at 251 E. 51st St. Information: +1-212-888-2453.

(Nick Ciavatta is a writer for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this story: Nick Ciavatta in New York at nciavatta@bloomberg.net .