The perfect beer bar. It has Heady Topper and every Russian River seasonal on tap. There’s an excellent beer garden out back with a bonfire and lawn darts. Yes, lawn darts.
The bartenders all have PHD’s in hopology management. They’re so smart, that they gauge your mood based on your gait and facial expressions and have the perfect beer waiting for you when you sit down at the bar. Half the time, it’s a new beer you’ve never tried. And they’re hot.
Nobody’s a snob. Well, there’s one dude that’s kind of lame, but he always brings homemade pretzels and fancy mustard his wife crushes by hand for everyone, so you let him slide.
The perfect beer bar goes beyond the traditional beer/food pairings, and offers all sorts of innovative couplings: Imperial stout and bike jousting. Hefeweizens and hot stone massages.
The perfect beer bar texts you first when they get a new seasonal on tap. Before they even update their Facebook page. There’s always a grilled cheese food truck parked out front.
The perfect beer bar is within walking distance of your home and your office. And they have an intern that takes you home in a pedi-cab pulled by a moped.
There’s no dancing in the perfect beer bar—unless it’s break dancing.
The perfect beer bar isn’t really a brewery, but they do brew one small batch beer that’s not on the menu, and only served to their favorite customers. Just you and maybe six other people.
We’re not sure if the perfect beer bar exists, but we know there are some great beer bars out there doing their best, with crazy smart bartenders offering thoughtful, well-curated beer lists in fun, low-stress environments. We’ve pooled the Paste brain trust—reader suggestions, staff recommendations, editorial favorites—and developed our list of the 40 Best Beer Bars in America. They probably don’t have lawn darts, but on second thought, that’s probably for the best.
ALABAMA
Website: http://jclyde.com/
What we’d order on tap: Avondale Vanillaphant Porter
The pour: Alabama’s craft beer scene is blossoming after a change in beer laws, and breweries new and old turn to the J. Clyde Hot Rock Tavern and Alehouse to peddle their brew.
ARIZONA
1702 (Tucson)?
Website: http://www.1702az.com?
What we’d order on tap: Firestone Walker 17th Anniversary
The pour: Ostensibly a pizza joint, this pub near The University of Arizona has 46 taps and draft prices to match a college budget. $5.50 for 16 oz. of Nitro Milk Stout? There might just be money left for a pie.
CALIFORNIA
Toronado (San Francisco)
Website: http://www.toronado.com?
What we’d order on tap: Russian River Pliny the Elder?
The pour: California is blessed with some great breweries, and their beers often occupy more than half of the nearly 50 taps at San Francisco’s Toronado. It’s a dive bar—cash only, not much in the way of food, metal music on the juke box—but the selection of American beer is nearly unmatched. And now, there’s a Toronado in San Diego too.
The Monk’s Kettle (San Francisco)?
Website: http://monkskettle.com?
What we’d order on tap: The 2007 Samichlaus Doppelbock Braurei Schloss, which is cellared to age at the pub.
The pour: As amazing as the beer selection is, The Monk’s Kettle has made a name for itself as a foodie heaven.
The Trappist (Oakland)
Website: http://www.thetrappist.com?
What we’d order on tap: St. Bernardus Christmas ?
The pour:The Trappist is the opposite of a hole-in-the-wall. Inside the 1870s Victorian building is a pub modeled after Belgian and Dutch pubs, just like the many of the American beers they serve. And their new Provisions offers the same practically trademarked sense of upscale beer in a sparse taphouse/bottle shop.
Father’s Office (Santa Monica)
Website: http://www.Fathersoffice.com
What we’d order on tap:The aged 2011 Russian River Sanctification.
The pour:The chef competes on reality TV, because, you know, it’s L.A. The beer is good (36 beers on tap), but it’s the combo of the beer and food that makes this a great beer bar.
COLORADO
Falling Rock Taphouse (Denver)
Website: http://www.fallingrocktaphouse.com?
What we’d order on tap: Avery Old Jubilation
The pour: Falling Rock has been Denver’s favorite craft beer emporium for years. Denver is lousy with hip craft beer bars, but the newcomers haven’t been able to topple Falling Rock for King of the Hill status. Of the 80 taps, you’ll find plenty of Colorado beers to choose from.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Churchkey (Washington, D.C.)?
Website: http://www.churchkeydc.com?
What we’d order on tap: Devils Backbone Swhwartzbier?
The pour: My favorite thing about this Capitol City beer monument is that all of their many draft beers are available in 4 oz. servings, meaning I could sample seven different Mikkeller Single-Hop IPAs for $28. If President Obama is going to learn about good beer, someone needs to drag him here after his 33rd round of golf.
Meridian Pint (Washington, D.C.)
Website: http://www.meridianpint.com
What we’d order on tap: Troegs Dreamweaver
The pour: Meridian only serves American craft beers, all part of their low carbon foot print mission. There’s also some composting, and most of the staff walks to work, but more importantly, the 24 taps are user friendly and the 100+ bottle list is really well curated.
FLORIDA
Red Light Red Light (Orlando)
?Website: http://www.redlightredlightbeerparlour.com
What we’d order on tap: Cigar City Invasion
?The pour: No offense, Floridians, but it’s refreshing to find a place with this much soul in Orlando. This isn’t EPCOT Belgium; it’s an internationally acclaimed beer bar with a love for farmhouse ales and Flemish sours and 20 well-chosen taps. Just what you need after a trip to Disney World.
GEORGIA
Brick Store Pub (Decatur, Ga.)?
Website: http://www.brickstorepub.com?
What we’d order on tap: Evil Twin Hop Flood
The pour: The unofficial pub of Paste magazine, Decatur’s Brick Store introduced our editor-in-chief to the world of good beer, even before the restrictions on high gravity beer loosened in Georgia. The pub is the very beating heart of Decatur, on the downtown square, and you’re likely to see city officials, pastors, artists and businessmen all coming together on a Tuesday afternoon or a Saturday night. There are no TVs except during the World Cup, when three HD screens materialize in the Belgian Bar upstairs.
Trappeze (Athens, Ga.)?
Website: http://trappezepub.com?
What we’d order on tap: Duchesse de Bourgogne
The pour: Athens, Ga., supposedly has the highest per-capita number of bars of any town in the country. But you won’t find $1 Jaeger shots at Trappeze—just a bar full of beer geeks there to discover and enjoy. With nearly three dozen taps, there’s usually more than a couple extra special entries, like a pair of Mikkeller single hop beers from Denmark.
The Porter Beer Bar (Atlanta)?
Website: http://www.theporterbeerbar.com?
What we’d order on tap: Brouwerij Bavik Petrus Pale Ale
?The pour: Some of the best pub food in Atlanta pairs with more than 300 beers, including a carefully curated draft list in the heart of Little Five Points. But then, what beer doesn’t pair well with house-made brats and Belgian fries?
ILLINOIS
Hopleaf (Chicago)?
Website: http://hopleaf.com?
What we’d order on tap: Founders Sweet Repute
?The pour: Chicago’s Hopleaf boasts a wonderful restaurant in the back, but I’ve never found reason to travel past the bar in the front room, where the draft list is full of surprises and the bottles include “aged” beers. Just be careful with that vintage Dogfish Head Worldwide Stout.
The Map Room (Chicago)?
Website: http://www.maproom.com?
What we’d order on tap: Three Floyds Permanent Funeral Imperial IPA
The pour: Burning the candle at both ends, The Map Room begins each morning as a coffee shop and transitions into “a traveler’s tavern” at 11 a.m. With a monthly beer school, 26 taps and a rotation of cask-conditioned ales on hand-pump, we think that transition is pretty smooth.
INDIANA
Twenty Tap (Indianapolis)
Website:http://www.twentytap.com
What we’d order on tap: Bloomington Krampus
The pour: Okay, don’t let the name fool you, there are almost 40 taps to choose from (heavy on the Midwest), most of which are under $5, and you can get halfsies for even cheaper. Think, craft beer house meets dive bar. And they serve fried cheese curds.
KENTUCKY
Holy Grale (Louisville)
Website: holygralelouisville.com
What we’d order on tap: Stillwater Stateside Saison
The pour: The beer bar took over a turn of the century church in 2011, and turned it into a place of beer worship. Go for rare finds, the brewer’s brunch on Sundays, and beer geek events like Saint Sours Day. Then stay in the bar’s new bed and breakfast, the Gralehaus.
MASSACHUSETTS
Bukowski Tavern (Cambridge)
?Website:http://www.facebook.com/bukowskicambridge ?
What we’d order on tap: Lagunitas Brewing Hairy Eyeball
The pour: Right on Inman Square, Bukowski Tavern is a paean to writers like Gertrude Stein, Anais Nin and ol’ Charles B. himself, with an atmosphere to match. And, of course, the pub hosts a “Pint and Pen” essay contest each March.
The Moan and Dove (Amherst)
Website: http://www.moananddove.com?
What we’d order on tap: Allagash Big Little Brother
The pour: Amherst may be off the beaten path, but that doesn’t mean the town doesn’t deserve a world-class beer bar. From the knowledgeable staff to the selection that includes a short list of “Nostalgia Series” beer for the less adventurous (PBR, Schlitz), they’ve got it.
MICHIGAN
Mitten Bar (Ludington)
Website: http://ww.mittenbar.com
What we’d order on tap: Harbor Brewing Hop Town Brown
The pour: All Michigan, all the time, Mitten Bar is an homage to beers produced within the Great Lakes State (aka, the mitten state).
If you’re local, become a mug member for $2 off on Wednesdays.
Hopcat (Grand Rapids)
?Website: http://www.hopcatgr.com?
What we’d order on tap: New Holland Monkey King
The pour: The interior of this upscale Grand Rapids pub is gorgeous, decked out with comfy chairs in the “living room” corner. And the draft list is ridiculous—from “the lawnmower” PBR to J.W. Lees’ Vintage Harvest Ale ’10.
MINNESOTA
Republic (Minneapolis)
Website: http://www.republicmn.com
What we’d order on tap: Fulton Sweet Child of Vine IPA
The pour:You’ve got two Republics to choose from (Seven Corners and Calhoun Square), but both have 56 taps, no TV’s, a rotating art program, and the Better Beer Society University, where you can get a legit beer education. It’ high class, without the snobbery.
NEW YORK
Barcade (Brooklyn)?
Website:http://www.barcadebrooklyn.com
What we’d order on tap: Brooklyn Fire and Ice (on cask)?
The pour: The idea of a beer pub with retro video games struck me as an amusing novelty, but Barcade takes its beer seriously. Plus it runs fully on windpower and specializes in handcrafted small-batch liquors. And who knew craft beers paired so well with games from our childhood, like Asteroids?
Blind Tiger (New York)
Website: http://www.blindtigeralehouse.com?
What we’d order on tap: Blue Mountain Blitzen?
The pour: A “blind tiger” was a term for any fake attraction that customers would pay to see in order to get their complimentary beverage when blue laws ruled the land. But craft beer is the main attraction at the Blind Tiger on Bleeker Street. And while the brewers may all look familiar, the offerings tend to the obscure, making it easy to order something you’ve never had before.
Burp Castle (New York)?
Website: http://burpcastlenyc.wordpress.com?
What we’d order on tap: Southern Tier 2X Stout?
The pour: “Quiet please,” says the sign on the door of the East Village’s Burp Castle. “Beer Worship in progress.” If you love beer, but don’t like big, noisy places, this is your Temple of Beer. As a Burp Castle bartender says, “Yelling would make your throat sore, and then the beer wouldn’t taste its best.”
Spuyten Duyvil (Brooklyn)?
Website: Facebook
What we’d order on tap: Freigeist Geisterzug Gose
The pour: I can’t think about the Spuyten Duyvil (pronounced Schpite & Dye’-vul, according to my friends in Brooklyn) without remembering the amazing plate of meats I had with my beverages. But the beer list lives up to the “rare and obscure” boasting with more beers from the Netherlands than the U.S. of A.
The Stag’s Head (New York)
Website: http://thestagsheadnyc.com?
What we’d order on tap: Keegan’s Mothers Milk
The pour: I wasn’t aware of The Stag’s Head—or, frankly, the far east side of Midtown—until the pub contacted us about a party celebrating Paste’s 25 Best American Breweries. Impressively they had the vast majority on tap for the celebration, which was only mildly dampened by the blizzard that hit New York. Since then, the lodge-style bar has reached near permanent status on the perennial best beer bar lists that magazines are prone to create, and deservedly so.
NORTH CAROLINA
Brewmasters Bar and Grill (Raleigh)
Website: http://brewmastersbarandgrill.com
What we’d order on tap: Foothills Jade IPA
The pour: First, your hit by a map of North Carolina all “starred up” with brewery locations across the state, then you see the 66 taps which feature a shocking number of those starred breweries. Brewmasters also hosts fun homebrewer “slams,” where basement jockeys compete for top honors. Plus, they put fried eggs on their hamburgers, and we like fried eggs on our hamburgers.
The Thirsty Monk (Asheville)?
Website: http://www.monkpub.com?
What we’d order on tap: Tripel Karmeliet
The pour: Asheville is the hidden gem of the South, and The Thirsty Monk’s upstairs pinthouse is the hidden gem of Asheville. But the Belgian beer bar in the basement is the hidden gem of The Thirsty Monk. We’ll leave it to you to discover the treasures of the basement’s 14 extra taps, but our money is on the Italians. Oh, and now there’s a rooftop cocktail bar where Old Fashioned’s are reasonably priced and come with bacon snacks.
OKLAHOMA
James E. McNellie’s Public House (Tulsa)?
Website: http://www.mcnellies.com?
What we’d order on tap: The “Oklahoma” flight of five local beers?
The pour: There are admittedly some terrible beers found at McNellies in Tulsa, but you don’t have drink all 350. Skip the Stella Artois on the Belgian list and enjoy the ambiance of a true public house. Plus we hear the sweet potato fries are amazing.
OREGON
Horse Brass Pub (Portland)
Website: http://www.horsebrass.com?
What we’d order on tap: Rogue Younger’s Special Bitter
The pour: This English pub keeps its taps mostly local. Fortunately, there are some great breweries nearby. But with soccer on the telly and a choice selection of imports, it could make a nice home away from home for any limey soul.
PENNSYLVANIA
Monk’s Café (Philadelphia)
?Website: http://www.monkscafe.com?
What we’d order on tap: Allagash PNC Broken Elevator (aged in wood barrels since 2010)
The pour: Monk’s Cafe prides itself on being “The soul of Belgium in the heart of Philadelphia.” And between its front and back bars, it has most of Belgium on tap. You can also order mussels cooked in a half dozen different Belgian ales.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Closed for Business (Charleston)
Website:http://www.closed4business.com
What we’d order on tap: Brooklyn Cuvee La Boite
The pour: On Charleston’s happening Upper King, Closed has probably the best beer selection in South Carolina, and for some reason, a really good selection of schnapps. And you can order your beer by the liter, if you want.
TENNESSEE
The Pharmacy Burger Parlor and Beer Garden (Nashville)
Website:http://www.thepharmacynashville.com
What we’d order on tap: Leipzeig Gose
The pour: The Pharmacy cures what ales you (get it?!) with a beer list that leans heavy on the Germans. Since opening in 2012, the pub has won the town over with its burgers, which are inventive to say the least. We like the house made sodas and sprawling beer gardens. And the beer.
TEXAS
Hay Merchant (Houston)
Website: http://www.haymerchant.com
What we’d order on tap: Bear Republic Racer 5
The pour: The Hay Merchant pays as much attention to the glass they give you as the beer that’s in it, and that attention to detail makes this bar shine like a diamond in the rough. You can get growlers to go, partake in the “Mud Turtle” beer education program, or just sidle up for a pint of something from their well-curated tap list.
The Gingerman (Houston)
Website: http://houston.gingermanpub.com?
What we’d order on tap: Rahr Winter Warmer
The pour: With additional bars in Dallas, Austin and New York, Houston’s Gingerman proves that sometimes a franchise can seem like a series of originals. Opened in 1985 near the Rice University campus, The Gingerman was a beer connoisseur’s dream before there was a culture of beer.
Banger’s (Austin)
Website: http://www.bangersaustin.com
What we’d order on tap: Real Ale Sisyphus Barleywine on cask
The pour: More than 100 beers on tap, and almost as many options for sausage. Yeah. It’s a sausage fest. Bangers has an impressive selection of Belgians and gluten-free beers, showing they don’t discriminate for better or worse. Keep an eye out for the occasional cornhole tournament.
Easy Tiger (Austin)
Website: http://www.easytigeraustin.com
What we’d order on tap: Green Flash 30th St. Pale Ale
The pour: It’s a bakery, it’s a beer garden. It’s a beer garden, it’s a bakery. Visit, and you’ll wonder why all beer gardens aren’t bakeries and vice versa. Outdoor ping pong, pop up restaurants, tap takeovers…Easy Tiger is so hip, it could only be in Austin. After making your way through the beer list, take a gander at the whiskies.
VIRGINIA
Mekong Restaurant (Richmond)
Website: http://www.mekongisforbeerlovers.com
What we’d order on tap: Maine Beer Company’s Lunch IPA
The pour: We’re willing to go out on a limb and say Mekong has the best selection of craft beer at any Vietnamese restaurant in the country. We’re gonna put that out there and see what happens. Someone prove us wrong. The food is killer, the beer is more killer.
WASHINGTON
Über Tavern (Seattle)?
Website: http://www.uberbier.com?
What we’d order on tap: Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza
?The pour: I get a little jealous of anyone who lives in a state where growlers are legal. I get a lot jealous when they also live near Über Tavern, where you can fill up your growler with Affligem Noël, Stone Ruination or Gordon’s Gubna. You can even special order kegs of more than 100 different beers for your own events.