The 25 Best Beer Bars in America

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Beer is important. Thus it is important that you find a bar that takes beer even more seriously than you do. You want the staff to be knowledgable, you want the lines to be clean, the tap list to be hella deep—no, you need all of these things. Don't misunderstand us—there is a time and a place for Bud bottles, the good cheap shit. But just as there's a time for goofing off, there's a time to take things to church. Which is exactly what a great beer bar is: a church, a temple.

These spots are all holy. If you love beer, or want to put yourself on the path to booze enlightenment, you need to take a pilgrimage to one of these joints. These are the 25 Best Beer Bars in America.

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25. Ashley's

City: Ann Arbor, Mich.
Address: 338 Sout State St.
Website: ashleys.com

If you've been to Ann Arbor before, you've probably already been to Ashley's. You might have even planned a second trip and then had an emergency stop (for dog's hair) on the way to the airport. The multi-tap, multi-level dynasty sits practically on campus, and is probably the best bar to be stuck in on game day. Ashley's is also a great spot for the uninitiated. They have a useful rating scale that measures flavor, hops, and body, and thorough descriptions of everything they pour.

24. The Sugar Maple

City: Milwaukee
Address: 441 East Lincoln Ave.
Website: mysugarmaple.com

A cavernous wood-laden bar (maple, we're guessing), the Sugar Maple boasts 60 taps that do an impressive job of representing micros from all around the Midwest. A former bartender from Chicago's famous Hopleaf bought the former Sikh temple and has used his experienced pouring hand to turn it into a chill beer haven, the best in Wisconsin.

23. Falling Rock Tap House

City: Denver
Address: 1919 Blake St.
Website: fallingrocktaphouse.com

With an amazing (but sometimes incredibly packed) location across the street from Coors Field, this would be a perfect start to a long ballpark day. But even though Beer and Baseball are good friends, you can certainly have the former without the latter. Seventy-five taps and the bottles break the century mark easily, this is a must stop in Denver, even if you're just stopping over.

22. O'Brien's Pub

City: San Diego, Calif.
Address: 4646 Convoy St.
Website: obrienspub.net

O'Briens has a pretty good tap list, but the bottle-list is where they really shine. O'Briens has kept track of every beer they have ever poured and keep this available on their website. It's a very impressive tome, and quite the to-do list if you'd want a more experienced (read: damaged) liver. Which we do. It's all we've ever wanted.

21. Freakin' Frog

City: Las Vegas
Address: 4700 South Maryland Pkwy.
Website: freakinfrog.com

Freakin' Frog is part bar, part warehouse, part wonderland. It keeps expanding, seemingly every year, in an attempt to eventually drown adjoining UNLV and all of the Strip in craft beer (not the worst way to go). The space has been pumped up to about 4,500-square-feet now, with a cooler featuring 1,000 different beers, one of the biggest in the world, and for the hell of it, the biggest whiskey bar in America as well. One thing it lacks is a little bit of character, opting instead to add a stage, a dance floor, and an interactive TV room, but it's Las Vegas—everyone's gotta show off.

20. Brouwer's Cafe

City: Seattle
Address: 400 North 35th St.
Website: brouwerscafe.com

Though many lovingly refer to it as "Bowsers Castle," we'd say the circular balcony will make you feel less like finding the princess and more like an ambassador at the United Nations of Beer. Though their representation favors the West Coast, their 64 taps should have you hearing the opinions of some of the nation's and world's (read:Belgium's) best beers, and this is one instance in which all of them are somehow right.

19. Spuyten Duyvil

City: Brooklyn
Address: 359 Metropolitan Ave.
Website: spuytenduyvilnyc.com

This guy is tucked away in Williamsburg behind the red gate and down a ways, but once you find it, you'll have a hard time leaving (a product of both desire and inebriation). The bar itself is capivating and the beer list is like fine literature, featuring some amazing and rare beers (some especialy nice and rare Lambics). Grab some pours and stake out a seat in the beer garden. Order some cheese or charcuterie, or sneak through the back door of the adjoining (and garden sharing) St. Anselm for some serious hot dogs. Be sure to bring your wallet, as a nothing green can stay, drinking these cloudy rarities.

18. The Thirsty Monk

City: Asheville, N.C.
Address: 92 Patton Ave.
Website: monkpub.com

Ashville's growing scene is well-represented by this North Carolina hallmark. With 62 rotating taps, you'll be able to get a nice taste of what's being poured across the country, while downstairs in the auxillary bar you can see what the Belgians are up to these days. Music and beer specials based by region really round off the Monk into a Southern gem.

17. Horse Brass Pub

City: Portland, Ore.
Address: 4534 Southeast Belmont St.
Website: horsebrass.com

Like with so many things in Portland, Horse Brass Pub is all about the craft. Their 50 taps come in Scooners or the high walls of the imperial pint's 20 ounces. They have done well to copy the British pub in its every detail, and then some. Their food is slow and right, with locally sourced ingredients going into those beautifully heavy meat pies and fish and chips. Of course, they have a sampling of some of the Northwests finest and a hip atmosphere that keeps the rafters packed.

16. The Draught House

City: Austin, Texas
Address: 4112 Medical Pkwy. #100
Website: draughthouse.com

Austin's humble offering to this list is not showy by any means, but its charms will grow on you like a second skin (much like the city itself). This faux-Bavarian wood-lined bar boasts 70 taps and a handfull of well-balanced palated and cheap house beers. Flirt with the funny Austrian bartender, bring your dog, sit outside (it's not uncommon to drink your beers sitting on the trunk or truck bed in the parking lot on busy nights) and hang the hell out.

15. The Royal Mile

City: Des Moines, Iowa
Address: 210 4th St.
Website: royalmilebar.com

You won't see any real competition for The Royal Mile in Des Moines, unless, of course, you go upstairs to the Red Monk. That's right, English style pub downstairs, Belgians and other ethereals upstairs, a patio out back, and a little computer for you to research all the beers and even order with. A true find in Des Moines, sometimes referred to as the city's living room.

14. The Happy Gnome

City: St. Paul, Minn.
Address: 498 Selby Ave.
Website: thehappygnome.com

A good bar to take home to meet the parents, The Happy Gnome is the cleanest place you could ever imagine drinking way too much in (the patio is an especially nice place to never want to leave, weather permitting). A great advocate for more sophisticated readings of the craft (tastings, meet your brewer events, dinner pairings, and Firkin Fest every March). The food menu is not your typical bar fare; instead it's an actual fully realized restaurant, but the 70 taps and 400+ bottles will make the food taste even drunker.

13. The Publick House

City: Brookline, Mass.
Address: 1648 Beacon St.
Website: eatgoodfooddrinkbetterbeer.com

Just like Monk's in Philadelphia, this place is always packed, and for good reason reason. A challenger to the best of the Belgian bars, Publick House certainly has some range to their choices (like, St. Louis Gueuze Fond Tradition). The beer list is deep, with ample character, the food is a substantial offering on its own, and it's a place that's proud and unapologetic, something exemplified by their "I didn't really like that beer policy."

12. The Avenue Pub

City: New Orleans
Address: 1732 Saint Charles Ave.
Website: avenuepub.com

Louisiana may not be the first state you think of when you think of beer (sure, they've got Abita), but when you change state to city and beer to drunk, it's no wonder that New Orleans has one of the best beer spots in the country. Avenue Pub features a rotating 47 taps on two floors (so you can get your exercise in between rounds) and once you mix that with some amazing Louisiana cuisine, you won't be thinking about Bourbon Street no more. And the most important part, here in the land of to-go cups, the Avenue is open 24 hours a day. Yup.

11. International Tap House

City: Chesterfield, Mo.
Address: 161 Long Rd.
Website: internationaltaphouse.com

Itap is not an iPhone app (yet), but is, in fact, a clean, well-organized beer haven in one of the macro beer capitals. They're ballsy, refusing to include a single macro in their 500+ offered beers (if that's not worth a pat on the back, you must be missing hands). Beers are organized into country and style, and the coolers are lit up like the treasure troves they are. Kegs are rotated heavily so on a busy night you could see 60+, but you'll have to get your food somewhere else; the beer is the main and only event round these parts. And though that's a shame, we understand. Come on Wednesdays for kill the keg night: $12 for bottomless glasses of the kegs they are looking to switch out.

10. La Trappe Cafe

City: San Francisco
Address: 800 Greenwich St.
Website: latrappecafe.com

A serious Belgian and European beer cave in North Beach, San Francisco, it might as well be an embassy for beer in America. With an incredible selection of wonders like Brasserie du Roc and Cantillon St. Lamvinus, this is a bar catering to the beautiful-tradition-meets-innovation happening in Europe these days. Top it off with some detail-oriented real-deal Belgian food, and you can save yourself from having to convert all your money.

9. Capital Ale House

City: Richmond, Va
Address: 623 East Main St.
Website: capitalalehouse.com

There's really nothing like Capital Ale House anywhere in Richmond. What's perhaps the most impressive thing about CAH is that it comes from a practically beer barren part of the country (excluding Legend Brewer's), at least at the time, and now almost 10 years later, it is a thing of legend. Capital is one of the forefathers of the really deep list, with 3 or 4 times as many bottles as are offered at their upstairs and downstairs game room bar's combined. Add to that a steller beer garden, a stage for music on the second floor, and a food menu you wouldn't mind calling your dinner. That's beautiful math.

8. Max's Taphouse

City: Baltimore
Address: 737 South Broadway
Website: maxs.com

When you talk about deep beer lists, it might not be able to get any deeper than Max's Taphouse. 102 taps. 5 casks. 1,000 bottles. It's difficult to order here. Come on Tuesdays to sit in with beer expert Casey Hard and try some really amazing rare beers. They may even have some other guest speakers on hand to talk about the craft and the product. Maybe that will help.

7. The Porter Beer Bar

City: Atlanta
Address: 1156 Euclid Ave.
Website: theporterbeerbar.com

430 beers is a good way to start describing the Porter Beer Bar in Atlanta. In the heart of the Little Five Points, right off the Blue and Green line, you'll find one of the best bets for beer on the East Coast. Sort of like a pirate ship, it has an irresistible grungy charm, though it avoids smelling like old beer (even pirates scrub the deck!); this is a great place to be swallowed out to sea. Try the salt and vinegar popcorn, try seven or nine of the very democratically chosen beers, get a tasting flight, pass out, wake up, repeat.

6. Blind Tiger

City: New York
Address: 281 Bleecker St.
Website: blindtigeralehouse.com

Another forerunner of the movement and a huge influence on beer culture, Blind Tiger opened in the mid-'90s and has been converting opening tabs into open minds and feeding some serious beer to the city of New York ever since. Featuring a solid rotating cast (casks, too) and a crazy happy hour—11:30 to 8:00— every day, there's a reason it's an institution and a hot spot, one and the same.

5. The Map Room

City: Chicago
Address: 1949 North Hoyne Ave.
Website: maproom.com

The Map Room is crazy, chaotic, campy, and charming like the good tour guide it is. They may only have 20 some taps but their 200+ bottles are sublimely picked by their Cicerone certified manager, and their attention to detail is almost unparalled. This may be one of the few bars in the country that also offer Beer School to people looking to open their minds, pallets, and wallets a little bit more. A must see.

4. The Moan and Dove

City: Amherst, Mass.
Address: 460 West St.
Website: moananddove.com

This Western Mass institution has one of those amazingly put together menus that really chooses the golden and most character-driven beers in every category across the board. A very chill bar, with good atmosphere, a quiet vibe, and just damn good beer (Beer Advocate had them listed as the best in America only a handful of years ago). Watch out for the dogs hanging out on the floor.

3. Regional Food and Drink

City: Washington, D.C.
Address: 1523 22nd St. NW
Website: lovethebeer.com

So much like a church of beer that they have a bound-beer bible with their hundreds of beers listed and described in aching detail. This shelter secured a spot right across from the Verizon Center, and is a safe haven for that area, indeed. So much so that you may never want to leave, and you don't really ever have to, since there is a 43 room hotel attached to the bar that's been there for something like a hundred years. Or sleep off your Saturday in good company. Either way.

2. Monk's Cafe

City: Philadelphia
Address: 264 South 16th St.
Website: monkscafe.com

If you're alive and in America, do yourself a favor and go to Monk's Cafe before you die or move. Widely considered one of the best bars in the country, it happens to also be best friends with brew. Their amazing list focuses on Belgians, but  also features some award-winning house Flemish sours, and some seriously rare pulls (including La Rulles La Grand 10, currently). Monk's may very well be the perfect place to claim Belgian sanctuary on the East Coast, plopped down in the middle of Philly from some magical cloud made of ale. Even better, the food here is top notch. They are known for their burgers but are most famous for their mussel pots, a seriously large bowl, done in a choice of many broths.

1. The Great Lost Bear

City: Portland, Maine
Address: 540 Forest Ave.
Website: greatlostbear.com

Lost Bear and its founder David Geary are two big reasons why craft beer is what it is today. Geary's bar opened in 1986 when microbrewing mostly existed as a sort of crafty science experiment in garages across the country. And over the years he has expanded the bar with each and every new micro that sprung up in the Northeast and around the country. The Lost Bear is a huge advocate and one of the first bars to do so many of the staples of true beer bars (tastings, food pairings, meet the brewer, tasting by region). Show your respects and browse some of the truly amazing beers being brewed in the state and the region in general. All hail.