Skip to content

Top Navigation

Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure
  • Trip Inspiration
  • Plan Your Trip
  • World's Best
  • Destination of the Year
  • A-List Travel Advisors
  • Cruises
  • Travel Tips
  • News
  • Food + Drink
  • Travel Accessories
  • Check-In

Profile Menu

Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Help
  • Logout
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Travel + Leisure

Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure
  • Explore

    Explore

    • World's Best

      The greatest islands, cities, hotels, cruise lines, airports, and more — as voted by you. Read More Next
    • The 50 Best Places to Travel in 2020

      Whether you're traveling solo or planning a family vacation, here are the 50 best places to visit in 2020. Read More Next
    • Let's Go Together Podcast

      Start listening to T+L's brand new podcast, Let's Go Together! Hosted by Kellee Edwards. Read More Next
  • Trip Inspiration

    Trip Inspiration

    • Trip Ideas
    • Weekend Getaways
    • Spring Travel
    • Summer Travel
    • Fall Travel
    • Winter Travel
    • Solo Travel
    • Romantic Getaways
    • Luxury Travel
    • Beach Vacations
    • Adventure Travel
    • Road Trips
    • Family Travel
    • National Parks
    • Holiday Travel
    • Travel Photography
    • Photo of the Day
    • Culture and Design
  • Plan Your Trip

    Plan Your Trip

    • Travel Guides
    • Flight Deals
    • Travel Deals
    • Ways to Save
    • Hotels + Resorts
    • Attractions
    • Amusement Parks
    • Disney Vacations
    • Festivals + Events
    • Airlines + Airports
    • Buses + Trains
    • Ground Transportation
  • World's Best

    World's Best

    • Top Hotels
    • Top Cities
    • Top Islands
    • Domestic Airlines
    • International Airlines
    • Tours
    • Safaris
    • All World's Best
  • Destination of the Year
  • A-List Travel Advisors
  • Cruises

    Cruises

    • Find A Cruise
    • Caribbean Cruises
    • River Cruises
    • European Cruises
    • All-Inclusive Cruises
    • Family Cruises
    • Alaskan Cruises
    • Disney Cruises
    • See All Cruise Vacations
  • Travel Tips

    Travel Tips

    • Travel Trends
    • Packing Tips
    • Points + Miles
    • Budgeting + Currency
    • Customs + Immigration
    • Responsible Travel
    • Travel Etiquette
    • Travel Warnings
    • Weather
    • Mobile Apps
    • See All Travel Tips
  • News

    News

    • Wellness
    • Celebrity Travel
    • Animals
    • Jobs
    • Offbeat
    • See All News
  • Food + Drink

    Food + Drink

    • Restaurants
    • Wine
    • Beer
    • Cocktails + Spirits
    • Bars + Clubs
    • Celebrity Chefs
    • Cooking + Entertaining
    • Food Fairs + Festivals
    • World's Best Restaurants
    • See All Food + Drink
  • Travel Accessories

    Travel Accessories

    • Travel Bags
    • Shoes
    • Travel Tech
    • Shopping
    • Style
    • Gift Guides
    • See All Travel Accessories
  • Check-In

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Help
  • Logout
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home
  2. Food and Drink
  3. Beer
  4. America's Best Beer Bars

America's Best Beer Bars

By Jimmy Im
March 24, 2014
Skip gallery slides
Save Pin
Credit: Johnny Lopez
Twentieth-century poet of the people Charles Bukowski once wrote, “Stay with beer. Beer is continuous blood. A continuous lover.” No need to tell that twice to the members of the Mug Club at his namesake Boston dive, one of America’s best beer bars.

Across the nation, craft beer is having a moment: BrewersAssociation.org reports that a whopping 700 breweries opened in 2013. “The consumer has demanded a higher-quality product,” says beer pioneer Dale Katechis, owner of Oskar Blues, the nation’s largest, privately owned craft beer producer. “We were tired of being force-fed case beer. Life is too short.”

But along with seriously tasty suds, where are the standout places to drink them?

When choosing America’s best beer bars we focused not only on the number of taps and uniqueness of the kegs (plus extras like beer-focused menus and on-point design), but also made sure there were knowledgeable bartenders to help you sort out your saisons from your stouts.

In rural Maine, Ebenezer’s rare Belgian pours and makeshift “beer museum” pull in pilgrims from around the world, while spots like Craft Pride in Austin, TX, and Tony’s Darts Away in Burbank, CA, showcase instead their own state’s regional brews. In NYC, Top Hops bridges the gap between beer store and bar with 20 drafts to sample and almost 700 bottles to take home or cap in the store—a godsend to those new to the brew.

“Craft beer bars are growing with a vengeance,” beams Katechis. (Cheers to that!) Be it a cult icon or newly opened standout, here’s where to get your beer geek on from coast to coast.
Start Slideshow

1 of 15

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Tørst, Brooklyn, NY

Credit: Signe Birck

In a little over a year, Danish brewer Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø of cult favorite Evil Twin and Momofuku alum Daniel Burns have turned NYC’s beer bar scene on its head. Their slick, modern space in Polish Greenpoint—intricately patterned reclaimed wood, communal tables, modernist chairs, killer soundtrack, and 21 wood-handled taps arranged darkest to lightest behind a commanding marble bar—is as stylish as Tørst’s craft beer selections are serious. All get poured through a Flux Capacitor temperature/carbonation regulating system into delicate stemware. True fiends should opt for the Scandinavian-inspired, beer-paired tasting menu in backroom restaurant Luksus (book ahead). torstnyc.com

1 of 15

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 15

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Palm Tavern, Milwaukee

Credit: Jenny Bohr Photography

On a random residential street in suburban Bay View, a gentrifying Polish enclave south of downtown, Palm Tavern is the kind of unassuming hole-in-the-wall for which Milwaukee is justly famous—albeit here the requisite Miller draft is traded for the region’s best craft beer list (25 taps, 200-plus bottles, all collected in a 16-page binder). Trust the friendly, smart staff for under-the-radar Belgians like Struise IPAs and rare American riffs, or if you crave something harder, 100-odd whiskeys. The vibe is dimly lit rec room with pressed-tin ceilings, artwork hung on deep red- and mint-painted walls, and serious hop hounds filling the cozy bench seating. Twitter: @palmtavern

2 of 15

3 of 15

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

The Toronado Pub, San Francisco

An essential stop on any California bar crawl, the fun and funky Toronado in Lower Haight could be written off as a simple dive—semi-surly staff, vintage signs and antlers, a heavily graffitied unisex bathroom—were it not for its quarter-century commitment to superb craft beer. (An equally popular, if more glossy, San Diego outpost opened in 2008.) Unbuttoned beer geeks cram the narrow space nightly for pints of Pliny the Elder, an annual barley wine festival, and up to 60 taps including four cask lines. It’s also dog friendly, should your pooch have a nose for great suds, too. toronado.com

3 of 15

Advertisement

4 of 15

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

The Pine Box, Seattle

Credit: Rawi Nanakul

Since opening in mid-2012 in pub-heavy lower Capitol Hill, the Pine Box has quickly become one of Seattle’s most popular bastions of beer for its expert attention to craft brews and unique atmosphere (inside the 1923 Butterworth Funeral Home, all high ceilings, dark woods, and stained-glass windows). A direct draw draft system (short, cleaner lines) dispenses 33 rotating options including at least one cask ale, plus the world’s only built-in Randall, variously filled with local hops or spices like chiles, cilantro, and lime. The kegs for their second-anniversary brew, a Sour Apple Berlinerweiss, are sure to dry up fast. pineboxbar.com

4 of 15

5 of 15

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Tony’s Darts Away, Burbank, CA

Credit: Courtesy of Tony's Darts Away

At this unassuming suburban dive, a wild mix of entertainment-industry folk and professional beer drinkers dance to the flute of hop heroes Ryan Sweeney (of the Surly Goat and Little Bear) and owner Tony Yanow (cofounder of Golden Road Brewing, one of L.A.’s only local breweries). The bar feels more like a friend’s basement—with ceiling fans, bookshelves, and pool table—and has an eco-friendly bent, meaning locally sourced vegan sausages and no bottled beer. It’s all California drafts from 38 taps, best sipped in the sun on the tiny front patio. tonysda.com

5 of 15

6 of 15

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Ebenezer’s, Lovell, ME

Credit: Jim Flynn photography

When Chris Lively and wife Jen opened Ebenezer’s Pub in 2004, they never expected their 150-year-old farmhouse to become a pilgrimage point for international beer geeks—but with 35 taps and a cellar of thousands of bottles of some of the oldest beers in the world (like Ratcliff Ale from 1859 and King’s Ale from 1902), it was as sure a thing as a tripel doling out a wicked buzz. Hard-to-find Belgians and a superb list of local Maine brews draw connoisseurs 90 minutes northwest of Portland year-round, but the outdoor beer garden is especially hoppin’ in summer. ebenezerspub.net

6 of 15

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 15

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Craft Pride, Austin, TX

Credit: Reagan Hackleman

Jostling the ranks of Austin’s popular beer bar haunts like Easy Tiger and Hops and Grain, Craft Pride is the city’s first Texas-only craft beer bar, serving up a rotating assortment of 54 regional taps plus two casks. Patrons dig the four dedicated nitro taps that offer experiments in the amped-up, creamy mouth feel of stouts and porters with beers not usually seen “on nitro,” like IPAs. The regional suds are perfect for washing down piping-hot pizza from Via 313, the bar’s resident food truck parked in an expansive tree-shaded backyard. craftpride.com

7 of 15

8 of 15

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Euclid Hall, Denver

Credit: Courtesy of Euclid Hall

“Beer Bitches” Jessica Cann and Jules Bouchard’s expert sourcing have made this brick-walled 1863 landmark building one of the best beer halls in all of Colorado—and according to Food & Wine, one of America’s best gastropubs in one of America’s best cities for foodies. Locals belly up for 12 taps, beer cocktails, and an extensive menu of bottles and cans quirkily ranked by mathematical difficulty (“Arithmetic” session beers to strong, complex dubbel bad boys under “Quantum Mechanics”). Bestsellers like Boulevard’s Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale and Avery IPA get paired with way-above-average bar bites by James Beard–nominated Top Chef Masters star Jorel Pierce. euclidhall.com

8 of 15

9 of 15

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Mikkeller Bar, San Francisco

Credit: Courtesy of Mikkeller Bar SF

At the first international outpost of gypsy brewery Mikkeller (a second bar opened in Bangkok in January), cult icons Mikkel Borg Bjergsø and Kristian Klarup bring hard-charging and experimental styles of suds to grateful Bay Area beer junkies. The swank space—seafoam-colored flooring, antique street-light fixtures from Denmark, original exposed brickwork, and shipyard steel beams—is a perfect pairing for 40 taps and two casks pouring an expertly curated selection of rare, international brews through an “on the fly” Flux Capacitor system, where beer temperature and carbonation level/pressure can be precisely controlled for each individual keg. mikkellerbar.com

9 of 15

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 15

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Avenue Pub, New Orleans

Credit: Donovan Fannon

While tourists get liquor happy on French Quarter sugar bombs, discerning locals—from older-generation beer geeks to local chefs to grad students—make a beeline for the family-run Avenue Pub. Located in a historic house on St. Charles Avenue in the Lower Garden District (prime Mardi Gras parade viewing from the second-story balcony), the bar specializes in high-end American and European craft beer from 54 daily-changing taps, with a strong concentration on sours including Zwanze, a once-a-year beer brewed by Cantillon (only 35 bars in the world are privileged to get a keg). Best part: it’s always open, 24 hours a day, every day. theavenuepub.com

10 of 15

11 of 15

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Thirsty Monk, Asheville, NC

Credit: Courtesy of Thirsty Monk

Before Asheville lured two of the largest craft breweries to town (Sierra Nevada and New Belgium), downtown’s Thirsty Monk put North Carolina on the beer bar map when it opened in a purple-painted brick building in 2008. A total of 36 taps plus 140-odd bottles are spread over a convivial ground floor (all-American craft beers) and a more mellow basement level (Belgians)—each pint or pour accompanied by thorough tasting notes and historical factoids to truly get into the boozy spirit. A recently opened top floor offers classic cocktails to go with striking sunset views of the Great Smoky Mountains. monkpub.com

11 of 15

12 of 15

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

ChurchKey, D.C.

Credit: Courtesy of Neighborhood Restaurant Group

Beer director Greg Engert—once named Sommelier of the Year by Food & Wine—is such a beer geek that his bar’s menu of five cask ales, 50 drafts, and 500 handpicked bottles is smartly divided according to his own flavor profiles: crisp, hop, roast, malt, fruit & spice, and tart & funky. Staff receives extensive training in all beers and can intuit the perfect pour based on your taste preferences. It’s no wonder this swank multilevel space in Logan Circle is packed with a diverse mix of patrons, from suits to sneakers, especially on weekends. churchkeydc.com

12 of 15

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

13 of 15

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Top Hops, New York City

Credit: Christina Cahill

This bright, no-nonsense neighborhood institution—part tasting room, part retail shop, and all beer geekery—has been a welcome alternative to the ubiquitous hipster joints and dive bars of Manhattan’s Lower East Side since it opened in 2012. Owner Ted Kenny's impressive knowledge of the 600-plus bottles in his fridges (as well as 20 tap lines that constantly change) is apparent in the enthusiastic and easygoing conversations that flow between him and customers. Sidle up to the bar, and order up a flight of four-ounce tasters from a detailed chalkboard menu, or buy a six-pack and growler to go. tophops.com

13 of 15

14 of 15

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Monk’s Cafe, Philadelphia

Credit: Courtesy of Monk's Cafe

Reminiscent of an old European tavern with a warren of warm, bustling rooms, Monk’s Café in Rittenhouse Square is Belgian beer central in Philly (and perhaps even the Eastern seaboard). In fact, the proprietors take beer so seriously they give a tutorial on their website on how to properly enjoy it. Two bars serve a horde of bottles and 20 rotating drafts, including their private-label Monk’s Cafe Flemish Sour Ale, which was brewed in Ghent, Belgium. Eight types of mussels (all made with beer) and heartier pub fare (duck-salad sandwich) make the perfect pairings. monkscafe.com

14 of 15

15 of 15

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Bukowski Tavern, Boston

Credit: Johnny Lopez

This narrow, no-frills Back Bay dive (it basically hangs over the Mass Pike) has a Cheers sort of vibe thanks to its devoted cadre of outspoken locals, from blue-collar workers to aspiring artists and writers. Many of them are part of the “Mug Club,” having drunk all 150 or so beers—20 drafts, about 130 bottles—in six months. That equal-opportunity ethos sums up Bukowski’s charm: they may carry rare craft beers nobody else in Boston does, but the personable bartenders can wax just as poetic on a bottle of High Life. Their pulp-hero namesake would toast to that. bukowskitavern.net

15 of 15

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Jimmy Im

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 15 Tørst, Brooklyn, NY
2 of 15 Palm Tavern, Milwaukee
3 of 15 The Toronado Pub, San Francisco
4 of 15 The Pine Box, Seattle
5 of 15 Tony’s Darts Away, Burbank, CA
6 of 15 Ebenezer’s, Lovell, ME
7 of 15 Craft Pride, Austin, TX
8 of 15 Euclid Hall, Denver
9 of 15 Mikkeller Bar, San Francisco
10 of 15 Avenue Pub, New Orleans
11 of 15 Thirsty Monk, Asheville, NC
12 of 15 ChurchKey, D.C.
13 of 15 Top Hops, New York City
14 of 15 Monk’s Cafe, Philadelphia
15 of 15 Bukowski Tavern, Boston

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Sitemap
  • Travel Guide Sitemap

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletters
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
Travel + Leisure is part of the Travel + Leisure Group. Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. Travel + Leisure is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation Travel + Leisure Group All Rights Reserved, registered in the United States and other countries. Travel + Leisure may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.travelandleisure.com

View image

America's Best Beer Bars
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.