My Top-18 Favorite Beer Bars

Like my top restaurant lists, I'm graduating the places that have been closed into their own sections. My genius way of not having to continually increase the number. Lukcily, in the beer bar case, it's just two places.

Closed:

(Was #8/16 - Falling Rock Tap House,  Denver, CO)

Falling Rock closed down during the pandemic, more due to some odd rental dispute. It is hard to imagine it is gone. The place was an institution in Denver, and had a giant tap list of nearly all Colorado based craft breweries. I went there maybe four or five times and the place was a joy each time. The only thing keeping it from being higher up is the fact that the decor was a bit blah. There was a lot of normal bar trappings (novelty signs, sports jerseys, etc.), but ti was too bright, too much like a Buffalo Willd Wings type layout. Get past that, and the place was about perfect.

(Was #7/16 - Hilaria Gastrobar, Mexico City)

I don't want to overstate how good Mexico City beer may or may not be, but Hilaria probably has the best combination of location, food and beer of any is this list. The place is literally right off the Zocalo, with seating overlooking the main roads leading into CDMX's main square. The food was Mexican, but quite good version of it. The beer was plentiful - mostly can options, but from all over Mexico in one special spot. Honestly, hard to beat this combination of factors.

Best Beer Bars

18.) Magerks  (Horsham, USA - 2018)

It's weird ranking this one but I'd gone there enough during my project in suburban Pennsylvania that it easily makes the list. It was a giant upscale BrickHouse Tavern type place, but with a far more extensive and interesting tap list of about 30-40 beers, all servied in a giant bar in the middle. The kept the wall of windows open which gave a great atmosphere. They showed every type of sport on their TVs that were above the giant rectangular bar. All of this was great. The place it was in? take it or leave it. If this same place was in a major city, it might be Top-5.

17.) The Raleigh Times  (Raleigh, USA - 2019, 2020)

A couple of these are places I went to during various consulting gigs, including The Raleigh Times, built in the ground floor of the old newspaper building. Technically this is a full service bar more than just a beer bar, and often I went there for food when arriving into town on a late flight. But from a drinks perspective they had about 20 local (Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia) beers on tap, with a great variety of styles, ABV levels, etc. The place also had a really relaxed vibe, with music on a rooftop - though this was more reading it than seeing it as generally that was on weekends.

16.) Loyal Legion  (Portland, USA - 2017)

No surprise that a place like Portland that had itself a crazy collection of craft breweries, has a place where they had about 60 beers on tap, at least half being local craft beer. The bar is large, and in theory is a full service bar, but the imposing row of taps make it clear where they make their money. The beer list featured a ton of stouts as well. In the end, the over-abundance of options is somewhat of a drawback. You would think a bit more discretion could be used. 

15.) Gluck  (Santiago, Chile - 2025)

Chile is a burgeoning beer city. There are craft breweries aplenty. But this list isn't about craft breweries. This is about where beer is more varied than one places proclivities. Gluck is in a weird (if still super nice) part of Santiago, that is not on the normal tourist track - but taht might be why everyone there was a local enjoying some local craft Chilean beer. Most of the seating is outdoors - which personally I'm ambivalent on, probably costing it a few points. But the beer was cold, was good, and the vibe, like anything in Santiago really, was great.

14.) NYKS  (Montreal, Canada - many times)

So this one is largely on the vibes side but they do have a solid beer selection, including 2-3 beers of 2-3 local Montreal staples, including generally dark/stout beers. The atmosphere, spitting distance of the Place des Festivals where the Jazz Fest is held. I did go a few times unconnected to the Jazz Fest - including in the dead of winter arriving late into Montreal, it was just a great little refuge in the heart of the city.

13.) HeuHeuHeu  (Gyeongju, Korea - 2024)

Why I love Korea is for places like this. Gyeongju is not a big city. Tucked in a random residential street, sits this beauty of a beer bar. Now, about half of their taps were kicked - so honestly if that was more me comign at a bad time, this place honestly could be higher. The beer was decent - but their Korean Ham boards accompanying the beer was to die for. HeuHeuHeu was just a great place.

12.) Hopaholic (Budapest, Hungary - 2024)

If you get past the weird lime green stylings of the place, you can realize just how great it is. They had about 10 beers on tap, a great mix of mostly Central to Eastern European origin, including a healthy does of local Hungary. They also had about 100 different bottle options from all over. Budapest as a whole had a great beer culture, but Hopaholic was the one that best combined that culture and a cool setting, great rock music, and just a really nice place to start or end a night.

11.) Al Brewer's Beer Stand (Takayama, Japan - 2023)

Our first new entrant is one of the most random, exquisite places to find a great regional craft beer bar. AL Brewer's in Takayama is a simple place serving a great collection of beer from all around Japan, including focusing on a few options local to the Hida area. It was IPA heavy, with great tap pours in ice cold glasses. The setting was good too - semi open air, great decor and a truly great crowd of mostly tourists having fun with the local bartenders. Yes, I'm probably giving it a bit of extra credit for just how amazing it was to find it in Takayama, but the quality of the offering lives up to the ranking.

10.) RioTap Beer House  (Rio de Janeiro - 2025)    

On vibes, thsi place is higher up. On beer, it maybe is slightly lower. Brazil is not a beer mad country (yet), but RioTap is about as close you can come to a beer paradise in Rio. Like all places in Rio, it has mostly outdoor seating, an amazing vibe, the coolest bartenders and watiers. It has a list of about 200 beers to pick from, a good 60% from various parts of Brazil. The staff are knowledgeable. If Brazilian beer itself was better, this probably ranks higher up. I rank these 70% beer, 30% vibes - if the ratio was reversed, this is probably #5 or something.

9.) Stand Umineko Koto (Kyoto, Japan - 2023)

If you want to sample as many Japanese craft beers from all over the country, be it 24 taps or at least 100 more can options. They only serve Japanese beer, from all over Japan, and when I was there had about 10 of their taps being from a craft brewery in Osaka area. Overall, the selection was great, a good variety of all types, be it a few IPAs, three stouts and a good amoutn of sours. You can tell there was quite a care taken in what they procured to put on tap. The only thing keeping it from being higher is the "stand" of it all - the place generally requires you to stand at the bar. Good for interacting, not great for just chilling. Anyway, another special place on my Japan trip.

8.) The Wandering Tortouse  (Phoenix, USA - 2021)

This is the first of two Phoenix places, and I have to say Phoenix has got the beer bar concept locked down perfectly. Giant bar in the middle, tons of seating everywhere else. A giant tap list, of mostly local brews, with a brillaitn color coded system on how they write it, with all IPAs in Green, all Stouts/Porters in purple, all ales in white, all lagers in yellow. So simple, so smart, so effective. Why the Wandering Tortoise is a bit lower than its Phoenix companion is its location being a bit outside the city. It was perfectly fine and safe, and the place was great, but not super easy to get to.

7.) El Deposito  (Mexico City, Mexico - 2025)

Nestled at the North end of Polanco, the poshest of posh suburbs with tasting menu restaurants, and world reknownked tasting menu spots and the like, sits El Deposito. Humble building, but amazing beer - including a vast, wide, and well mixed selection of craft Mexican beers from aroudn the country. They serve beer also in the icest cold of glasses. The decor and scene is a bit drab - but this place is, above else, just about the beer. And God bless them for that fact. Especially since my earlier go-to in Mexico City is no more.

6.) Koht  (Tallinn, Estonia - 2024)

Deep inside old town Tallinn, within an alley, lies Koht which is just a gem of a place. Low ceilings, one of which plastered with a bill from every currency known to man, and two bartenders that are super knowledgeable about all things beer. There were 12 on tap, from all over Europe (maybe 2-3 from Estonia) and a fridge full of various can options. The place played perfect rock music, had people coming and going all night long till their closing time at 3am. It was a place to just enjoy what it means to be in Tallinn.

5.) Clark Street Ale House  (Chicago, USA - 2022, 2023)

It was a bit surprising to find a tremendous beer bar in the heart (and I mean heart) of Chicago that (1) wasn't super crowded, (2) had a great tap list, both local and far away. Even better, the crowd was great, they played sports all over the palce, and had free popcorn (something of a Chicago staple, to be fair) available at all times. This was a golden place for someone who has had to Chicago more often recently for work reasons.

4.) Hop Scholar Ale House  (Spring, USA - 2018, 2019, 2020)

Most of my picks are in cities. Hop Scholar is very much not. It was in the Houston suburb that I both had a project in, and where I have a cousin that lives in. If anything there's a back road from my cousin's neighborhood that leaves directly to Hop Scholar. Anyway, as a place, it is everything. They have about 20 beers on tap. A very healthy amount of interesting stouts. It doesn't limit itself to Texas, but features enough local options to make it interesting. They also had a good food selection, with elevated pub fries and hot dogs. It was a refuge of a place on a project where I was alone for a long stretch. I don't think anyone should go out of their way to visit here, but if you ever find yourself in The Woodlands, hop on down to Hop Scholar.

3.) Toronado  (San Diego & San Francisco, USA - 2014, 2017)

I believe these two are if not owned by the same people, at least linked. The San Diego location has closed, which is a shame as to me it was slightly better than the San Francisco location. In both cases the place had a weird collection of people (headbangers, goths, everything else) along with about 25 beers on tap. Much like Wandering Tortoise I believe there's some color coding done in the way they show their beer, but I couldn't discern it. Toronado takes full advantage of the wealth of craft beer options in both cities, and were easily my favorite night options in either city.

2.) BarHop Brewco  (Toronto, Canada - 2017, 2019, 2020)

Situated in a dark, dive type bar, with a wall with a projector showing either sports or some old weird movies, and a tap list of about 30 beers, high majority being Canadian, BarHop Brewco was a fascinating place to visit. Half of the brews were sold at $5 CAD on Monday's, which is often the place I went. They had a good mix of bar and table seating. And they had great food - especially a PBJ burger that I had way too much. Everything about BarHop was great, including the crowds whether weekday or weekend. Best part was it was right in the heart of the city, but a block or so off the main drag. BarHop was close to perfect.

1.) The Theodore  (Phoenix, USA - 2021)

As perfect as BarHop was - it wasn't The Theodore perfect. I went there my first night traveling post covid, and it was great. I went there three times that trip and then went months later when I went to Phoenix for my friends wedding. I dragged our mutual friend that was also there to it late on a Friday, him being skeptical, and even he agreed it was fantastic. Giant bar, huge tap list, with that everpresent color coding that I love so much. No food, but food trucks aplently all around. Truly right in the heart of the city, serving as excellent place to either end the night or start one. The Theodore is about as perfect a place as I can picture when someone says to me what a great Beer Bar is.

 

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10.) Tresind  (Dubai  -  2025)

The best Indian restaurant I've been to is still to come, but while that one starts with Indian flavors and goes all fusiony with it at tiems (in the best way), Tresind starts with Indian flavors and just elevates and executes the shit out of them - from incredible takes on pani pure, to fish, to lamb curry, to everything else, Tresind executes in perfection - similar to any 3 star Michelin place. Not that it doesn't take risks, but there is such a focus on exacting preparations, visuals where there are a few dishes that look slightly better on the plate than they taste - in that they look like a 10/10 but taste like a 9/10. Those are the minority of dishes across their 15 course menu. Tresind is at the end of the day probably the best pure Indian restaurant in teh world - it could maybe just stand to take a few more risks.

9.) Salon  (Cape Town - 2024)

One of my only real regrets through all my trips to Cape Town is taht I never made it to The Test Kitchen, which for years was the premier single restaurant in Cape Town. Bookings were frighteningly tough. Then Luke Dale Roberts closed it during Covid, but I guess got the itch back to open a fine dining spot. It was incredible, a culinary tour through all the spots the Chef Roberts has worked or taken inspiration from. Brilliant South African dishes to be sure, but also a foie gras take on black forest cake, a brilliant "tamale" dish featuring the most Mexican of flavor profiles, to a brilliant play on Duck l'Orange, to authentic Korean to end it. It was all brilliant. In isolation, maybe you would worry about how successfully a place could pull off all these different cuisines, but apparently Mr. Luke Dale Roberts is a talented, worldly man - and after going to Salon, if anything I rue not having gone to The Test Kitchen even more.

8.) Mingles  (Seoul - 2022)

Mingles is Seoul's top ranked restaurant, and after going I can see why. It was a classic tasting menu shop, with sharp clarity on its menu, its decor, its everything. It also had a really nice 'Korean Liquor' pairing along with the wine pairing, something I took that got me to taste various different Korean localized liquors. The meal itself was great, with some of the best, most interesting dishes I've had, such as a great king-crab two ways dish, a brilliant take on surf & turf (pork & squid stuffed oyster, along with a braised beef cube), to an incredible lamb three ways dish as the primary main. The vegetable dishes were also spectacular, such as a corn soup dish that opened my eyes to just how sweet corn can be. Mingles was a special restaurant showcasing the best of modern Korean cuisine.\

7.) I Pupi  (Sicily - 2019)

This was the second tasting course meal we had in our trip to Italy in 2019, and while the first one - Imago in Rome - was a big disappointment, the seafood-forward I Pupi in Bagheria, Sicily (about 30 min away from Palermo) was incredible. Their first course of a random assortment of small bites was inspired, each being seafood forward. The second plate which was a platter with six nigiri on it with six different salts to add on top was divine, and while not 'Italian' in any way was just an insane dish. The rest of the meal got more Italian, but still small, focused, refine, seafood plates, from a zuchinni noodle wrapped fish, to an incredible soup, to lamb chops (the only meat). Each dish was so well put together, alternating from amazing small bites to dishes that approached the size of a normal restaurant starter, to everything in between. This was just a fabulous meal and such a nice comeback after being disappointed with Imago earlier in that trip.

6.) Borago  (Santiago - 2024)

Central gets all the notoriety from showcasing native food and different altitudes and all that stuff. Deservedly so - it is still to come. But the Chilean version, to some degree, is nearly as good. Rodolfo Guzman's restaurant was the highlight of my trip to Santiago, with some staggering dishes. From a paper scallop with a bright blue algae sauce, to a staggering monkfish and lobster cooked in seaweed. There were incredible small bites to start, like a little makeshift bumblebee of honey and a Chilean corn. And of course that final dish, that Patagonian lamb - just a piece of lamb, roasted over a fire for 24 hours. Much like say it takes balls for Enrique Olvera to serve mole as the main dish at Pujol, so too is it here serving a piece of lamb with no sauce, no sides. Nothing - and it was truly perfect. As was Borago more or less as a whole.

5.) Maido  (Lima - 2016, 2022)

Maido will always have a soft spot for me as it was the first tasting menu spot I went to, at a time where I didn't really know just how well reputed it was. We went for lunch, unable to get a dinner reservation but the menu is the same either way. It is a japanese-peruvian kaiseke meal that is just perfectly designed, executed, presented and crafted. 13 courses, all seafood based, all incredible, from various nigiris, to incredible takes on ceviche, to a choripan of fish & octopus sausage, to a very complicated but inredible soup decanted in front of you. Even the deserts of sea urchin and what they call the 'reef' which is a giant edible reef rock, are wild. I'm sure there are places in Japan that are just as good and more 'authentic', but this is my favorite take on Japanese cuisine ever. Just now I remember being mesmerized at each dish, on how it looked when it was brought out, on the complexity of the way it is described and of course on how it tasted. This, and to be fair the two above it, are peerless for me in the sense that I have zero idea how to recreate any of these dishes. They are simple while being complex, each ingredient, each little piece just so perfect. I hope to go Lima's other world reknowned restaurant Central at some point (maybe even this year, to which I will have to likely re-write this list to add it in), but if we could only go to one premier spot last time, Maido was a perfect pick.

4.) Gaggan Anand  (Bangkok - 2022)

Because of many reasons, I'm going to rank my 2nd trip to a Gaggan Anand restaurant separately from the first one. One reason is it technically is a different restaurant, in a different space. Another is the experience was different - this is a restaurant where he serves just at a chef's table to a group of 14 people. And the biggest difference was Gaggan Anand himself was present, was there to talk to the patrons, the entire thing being equally an experience along with the food. The food was still great, with some of the most inventive dishes I've ever had with insane preparations that he explained so well. It still had all the measure of excitement, like random things that tasted like tom yum soup, or charcoal chicken balls or a dried paper lightly filled that tasted just like hummus. It was classic Gaggan, classic modern cooking, and the only restaurant on this list whre the Chef was there to personally chat with and serve to the customers. The old restaurant is higher up the lsit because at the end I think the food was even better, but my second trip to a Gaggan was about as good as I could have imagined.

3.) Azurmendi  (Bilbao - 2021)

Azurmendi came as close as any meal I've had to unseating what might be a lifetime pick at #1. The basque restaurant certainly met it for downright creativity and presentation. From the picnic basket of small bites, to the greenhouse where they were literally picking up roses from a garden bed before you realized it was sorbet, to of course each incredible bite at the table. All in all they technically had 27 dishes, almost all of which were excellent in their design, freshness, preparation and ultimately taste. My favorites of the small bites were the cod fish brioche and the truffle meringue, just incredible little bites. The daiquiri rose was incredible, from presentation to taste. The asparagurus three ways and play on fish taco were divine. The tempura oyster was maybe the best bite I've ever had, and the ending dishes of cod tart and iberico pork were just sublime. They have a rich tapestry to which to create from local produce and Iberian meats and fishes, but Eneko Atxa's brilliant mind puts it to incredible use.

2.) Central  (Lima - 2022)

Very likely next year Central will be named the best restaurant in the wrold by San Pellegrino in their World's Best 50 list. It is well deserved (the restaurant ranked above it for me has reached similar heights on the same list). The dishes are both uniformly incredibly tasty, and ridiculously inventive. As shown on his turn on Chef's Table, what chef Virgilio Martinez and his team create are art pieces, they're stunning, they're beautiful, they look as good as any dishes I've had, and they were all very good. From dishes made out of random amazonian vegetables, to amazonian fish, to incredibly weird lattice things, to some of the most inventive desserts I've had, including a panoply of peruvian chocolate as the final dish. The best part of the restaurant is how focused the theme is, with showcasing hte beauty of Peru across elevations and its various weird ingredients. It may not have been as many courses as it was in its height pre-covid (I believe 18, now down to 14) but I can only imagine what the four extra would have been.

1.) Gaggan  (Bangkok - 2019)

I don't know if any restaurant will ever top Gaggan, which had so much hype entering in, having seen it on Chef's Table, see it rise up the world rankings, and it being Indian focused. I was expecting a lot, and it somehow overdelivrered. The 25 course menu was just perfect from the start of audacious versions of famous Indian street food (still unsure how my little bit of what looked like a cracker with foam and curry leaf tasted like idli sambar), to the mains of prawn balchao, decronstructed curries, a perfect lamb leg, and multiple Japanese dishes during Gaggan's Japanese phase. The setting, sitting at the chef's table watching his sous chef's go to work, with Gaggan's noted love of Heavy Metal ringing through the speakers, was a delight. IT was so well paced, 25 dishes of 3:30, never once making you feel like you're being rushed through each delectable dish. It is astounding to think this is what is possible with Indian food, that this is how good a menu can be even if you limit yourself to just five meat courses in the 25, and how great an atmosphere, a perspective, a cuisine and a legendary chef can concoct together.