10 Great Places To Drink Craft Beer In Philadelphia
While cities like San Francisco, Denver and Portland squabble over the "best beer city in America" crown, Philadelphians sit back with a pint, or six, and chuckle. Superlatives are sweet and all, but anyone who's spent a night drinking around the city — ideally with a high-tolerance tour guide — can speak to the city's distinct craft-beer prowess. It's not just the region's wealth of nationally recognized local breweries, or capstone events like Philly Beer Week, the annual brew-lovers' bacchanal coming up in June of this year. It's the bars themselves. The personalities behind them and what they're pouring — deep publican relationships with breweries, both in the states and outside them, means the city gets kegs no one else gets. (Check out Philly Tap Finder, an invaluable tool for those looking to maximize their glass-draining.) Here are just 10 of the dozens of Philly beer bars worth a long session.
Grey Lodge Pub
The collection of neighborhoods a quick zip up 95 from Center City Philly offers many things in abundance: loony traffic patterns, ethnic groceries, Russian supper clubs, Irish pubs. But the Great Northeast underperforms in the craft beer category, with the crown-jewel exception of the Grey Lodge. Located on the same Tacony block as a Catholic school girl uniform outlet, it's an oasis for N'East beer geeks, a wood-paneled, sporadically mosiac'd bi-level bar staffed by spunky pint pourers who aren't afraid to toss you a little salt with your saison. Local breweries, like Yards, Sly Fox and Weyerbacher, are always repped among the dozen taps, but there's room for out-of-town picks, too — high-ABV hitters like Allagash Four and Unibroue La Terrible appeared recently. Superstitious drinkers should plan a pilgrimage around any Friday the 13th of the calendar year. On those days, dubbed "Friday the Firkinteenth," owner Mike "Scoats" Scotese hammers open a battery of ultra-rare cask ales he hoards in the cellar like pirate treasure. The next one's in June. 6235 Frankford Avenue, 215-856-3591, greylodge.com
Tired Hands Brewing Company
A conceptual outlier in the moneyed Philly suburb of Ardmore, Tired Hands has built a reputation on eccentricity — in the past few months alone, they've brewed an ale with pizza toppings and named a beer after a phrase from a negative Yelp review. But cerebral brewer Jean Broillet's approach is defined by much more than novelty. His thoughtfully appointed bi-level brewpub, which looks like it's housed several generations of the Baggins clan, distinguishes itself with an ever-rotating roster of eight drafts, tending toward complex saisons and hophead-friendly IPAs. Broillet's mitts will soon become even more enervated, thanks to a fast-approaching production facility that'll dramatically up his currently maxed-out capacity. 16 Ardmore Avenue, 610-896-7621, tiredhands.com
Alla Spina
To illustrate the contrast between chef Marc Vetri's famous fine-dining restaurant and his hoppy, hopping Italianate beer bar, consider the illustrations. On the outside of Vetri: a pastoral Tuscan mural, complete with a Vetri-like figure toting a pot of polenta. On the corrugated metal walls of Alla Spina ("from the tap"): lively, and legal, graffiti from local writers. The North Philly destination's youthful vim extends to its playful, pork-centric menu, too, but the beer selection is all business in the best way. Bottles and cans touch on beer scenes ranging from Scandinavia to Lombardy; the tap list accommodates both hyper-local drinkers (Dogfish Head Aprihop) and Italophiles (Ducato's Kiss Me Lipsia, a blended sour ale with Himalayan pink salt). 1410 Mount Vernon Street, 215-600-0017, allaspinaphilly.com
Monk's Cafe
Painted up and down with the Belgian tricolor, complete with an eye-catching "BEER EMPORIUM" neon that turns the Center City sidewalks Chimay red, Monk's is not subtle about its strengths. Hard to be, when you're working with 20 drafts, 300-plus bottles and a national rep as a Euro beer pioneer. Opened since 1997, Monk's is the bar many beer scenesters credit with decoding the idiosyncrasies of Belgian beer for an American audience. Fans, who can often be found lining up out front Apple Store-style on special release days, look to the quick-witted staff and "Beer Bible" menu for guidance. The best place to hunker down: the dimly lit back bar, its walls festooned with cathedral mirrors and Medieval tapestries meant to coax out your inner Walloon. 264 South 16th Street, 215-545-7005, monkscafe.com
12 Steps Down
To paraphrase Cedric the Entertainer, you must now exit earth's atmosphere if you wish to smoke a cigarette. That, or you could trip it down to the Italian Market, locate the green sign next to the green awning and descend a dozen steps into Ninth Street's hazy, heavenly shot-beer-and-butt club. Those sensitive to smoke should stay far away, but anyone looking to pair their P-Funk Light with a pint will discover a subterranean haven brimming with their kind. All the macro brews are available, but 12 Steps' craft selection is sneaky-formidable, with recent draft picks like Ballast Point Sculpin IPA and Bell's Two-Hearted and a big-ass international bottle/can list that can be smartly broken down by style. 831 Christian Street, 215-238-0379, 12stepsdown.com
Dock Street Brewing Co.
Slaking thirsts from a photogenic firehouse that serves as the centerpiece of diverse Cedar Park, Dock Street was a way-early entry — like 1985 early — on the American craft beer timeline. This location, open since 2007, combines ambitious on-site brewing with wood-burning pizzas to produce a catch-all gathering place for this kinda-crunchy, always-cool section of West Philly. Brewmaster Justin Low dedicates ample tank space to draft flagships, like the Czech-style Royal Bohemian Pilsner and the robust Rye IPA. But there's room to run deep left field, too — on March 30, in honor of The Walking Dead season finale, they'll tap Walker, a pale stout brewed with organic cranberries and and smoked goat brains. 701 South 50th Street, 215-726-2337, dockstreetbeer.com
Fountain Porter
It's difficult to pinpoint exactly what makes Fountain Porter, open for less than two years, seem like it's been around for two decades. It could be the 20-tap tavern's ketchup-and-mustard-hued neon signs, beckoning drinkers to this nondescript South Philly corner. It could be the all-vinyl playlist, snap-crackle-popping in a way sterilized Internet radio never could. But it's probably the people — friendly neighbors who gather along the picnic benches or hug the window rail up front, draining glasses of Jolly Pumpkin Fuego and Gavroche Red and decimating five-buck burgers. It's the best-realized neighborhood bar in a neighborhood filled with them. 1601 South 10th Street, 267-324-3910, fountainporter.com
Brauhaus Schmitz
For the cranked-to-11 Brauhaus Schmitz experience, drop by the stalwart South Street beer bar on a Bayern Munich or Borussia Dortmund gameday, pick a side and prepare to freak out every time any ball smacks the back of any net. On slower evenings, however, there's more time and more room to fully appreciate what might be the broadest, and best, Teutonic tap selection in the States. Nearly all of Brauhaus' 30 lines, split between two bars, are Germanic in origin, their passports stamped thanks to owners and staffers with deep connections in Alemania. Just recently, they threw on fresh kegs of grapefruity Schöfferhofer Weizen, a ubiquitous wheat beer synonymous with spring. Yes, they offer pilsner-filled boots, and no, you don't have to crush one to have a good time. 718 South Street, 267-909-8814, brauhausschmitz.com
Kraftwork
Over the past decade, the working-class neighborhood of Fishtown has transmogrified into one of Philly's most commercially progressive ZIP codes, eliciting delight from some and abject horror from others. Looks-wise, no one nails the area's delicate mix quite like Kraftwork, with its painstakingly chiseled details and work-a-day motif coaxing in a new era of Philly blue-collardom. Two dozen taps, laid out on stylized paper draft lists that wouldn't seem out of place on a construction site, hit all the right liquid notes — local (Fegley's and Doylestown Brewing, from PA), national (Breckenridge 471 Small Batch IPA; Two Brothers Prairie Path) and international (Belgians, like Timmermans Pumpkin Lambicus and Struise Pannepot Reserva). 541 East Girard Avenue, 215-739-1700, kraftworkbar.com
Garage
Located in the Whiz-drenched heart of what locals call "Cheesesteak Vegas" — please don't ever, ever mention or perform the godforsaken "Cheesesteak Shuffle" in the presence of a Philadelphian — Garage has endeared itself to no-bullshit locals despite its tourist-overriden neighbors. And what's not to like? The former auto-body shop has been converted into a sort of adult funhouse, with billiards, Skee-Ball, a stationary food cart featuring a rotating cast of chefs and a cleverly curated lineup of more than 150 craft beers in cans — Modelo and Natty Boh enjoy fridge space with critical-darling American picks (Uinta, out of Utah; Brewer's Art, out of Baltimore) and a range of interesting imports. Play cold-case look-and-point with the bartenders or ask for a printed menu, dressed up to look like '80s automobile owner's manuals. 1231 East Passyunk Avenue, 215-278-2429, garagephilly.com
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