Top 5 Underappreciated Beer Bars

Untapped Taps

by Brian Howard

	print	email	reply	rss feed

Published: Mar 4, 2009

The tap list at Old City's rock club is ever-changing and adventurous. Current handles include crafts like Cricket Hill Colonel Blide's Bitter, Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball and Gritty McDuff's Best Brown. For Beer Week, tap-minder/selector Jeremy Thomson promises Voodoo Grand Met, Leffe Brune, a whiskey barrel-aged batch of Boulder Never Summer Ale and the debut of Philadelphia Brewing Co.'s Shacka-maximum Imperial Stout.

Inconspicuous little Bridgid's boasts a gravity tap and a range of brave brews (Legacy Nor'easter, Issaquah Menage a Frog). Beer Week choices will include Maredsous 6, Duvel Green, Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron, Atomium Premier Grand Cru, Sly Fox Gang Aft Agley and Ballast Point Baltic Porter.

The Center City wing standby's got 28 taps, featuring Victory Golden Monkey, Chimay, Leffe Brune, Great Divide Titan IPA and Spaten Oktoberfest, among others. Manager Richard Constantine keeps spots open for a rotating cider, a rotating Belgian and two rotating micros, all of which stay on tap long enough for drinkers to take a shine to 'em.

This upstart restaubar has a tap list curated by Bella Vista Beer's Chris Fetfatzes. It starts with local session staples like PBC Kenzinger and Victory Prima Pils, and continues with the likes of Lakefront IPA, River Horse Belgian Freeze, Boulder Never Summer and Offshore IPA.

Philadelphia Brewing Co.'s Bill Barton has referred to the across-the-ave. tappy as their "east office." A:TLB serves all four of PBC's year-round brews plus all applicable seasonals, and will roll out Shacka-maximum Imperial Stout with the rest of the city on March 9.

Best-Laid Plans
The 25-Year-Old Teetotaler
Small Bites
Move Over, Wine
The Week In Eats
Feeding Frenzy