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South Philadelphia Tap Room
South Philly
This spacious tap room offers a selection of craft beers for dabblers (Allagash White) and pros (Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock) alike. Its Natural Wine and Funky Beer during Wine Week is not to be missed, with vino paired with beers like Russian River Supplication and Nodding Head Berliner Weisse. Happy hour runs Monday-Friday with half-off local drafts and appetizers.
Monk’s Cafe
Rittenhouse
Monk’s beast of a beer bible has an extensive list of both local and international beers for your perusal. Its best known for its Belgian beer selection as co-owner Tom Peters traveled the world bringing his hand-picked selections back to Philly in 1985. There're tutored tasting classes during Philly Beer Week as well.
2nd Story Brewing Company
Old City
Not only does this brewery/tap room offer a beer list with all of its house-made brews, it also always offers $4 pints on tap. A full bar, house cocktails, guest drafts, and bottled beers are also at your disposal. Take a seat upstairs and you can see the brewery in action, and come on Tuesdays to dump your knowledge of useless trivia in quizzo.
Local 44
West Philly
A combination craft beer bottle shop and tap room with a formidable selection of 500+ beers, you can grab a one to go or stay and enjoy it in-house. Every Monday it hosts a happy hour with complimentary tastings from a featured brewery along with bottle specials.
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Standard Tap
Northern Liberties
Sticking up for those local favorites, Standard Tap serves a selection from breweries in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware only. Everything is on draft and happy hour specials run Monday-Friday featuring $1 off beer and drinks. Their drink options also feature two cask brews served from their hand pumps (they have hand pumps!).
Tria Taproom
Rittenhouse
This tap room’s casual yet classy environment gives an approachable vibe while providing a carefully curated list of beer, wine, and cider. Try a fennel sausage wood-fired flatbread or hanger steak with hop chimichurri while you enjoy your beverage of choice.
Yards Brewing Company
Northern Liberties
Yards' tasting room has plenty to keep you busy while you wait for the free brewery tour and tastings. Whether you want to get ahead on the tasting and sample a flight or participate in a game of pool and shuffleboard, you have options. Yards also offers small batch beers that are only available in-house.
Khyber Pass Pub
Old City
Knowing what style of beer you like is important and Khyber Pass Pub’s drink menu helps by breaking up the beer list into flavors. Categories like smoked, lighter & refreshing, and Belgianesque can help you narrow down what you want to try.
City Tap House
University City
Don’t let its location in University City fool you, the City Tap House has 60+ craft beers that draw a crowd from all over Philly. This indoor tap room and restaurant has an outdoor patio with fire pits and seating that can be used year round. Its collaboration events with local breweries bring in sought-after beers like Pliny the Younger, which has beer-lovers swooning.
2nd Street Brew House
Pennsport
A laid-back environment with an expert drink selection, its list can accommodate your taste for stouts (Tröegs JavaHead Stout), Belgians (Unibroue La Fin du Monde), and Flemish sour ales. There's also weekly entertainment, annual beer events, and weekend brunch to be had.
Prohibition Taproom
Callowhill
The kitchen is always open late at Prohibition Taproom (until midnight Sunday-Thursday, 1am on weekends) for beer brats and burgers. Sundays is BYOV (bring your own vinyl record) and you’ll get 20% off of your bill. It pays to be a hipster.
Fiume
West Philly
Tucked away on the second floor above an Ethiopian restaurant (which you can order food from), sits Fiume, one of those places you only hear about if you “know a guy.” Its beer selection, original house cocktails, and house blue grass band will have you ready to make this your regular hangout.
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1. Monk's Cafe
264 S 16th St, Philadelphia -
2. 2nd Story Brewing Company
117 Chestnut St, Philadelphia -
3. Local 44 Bottle Shop
4333 Spruce St, Philadelphia -
4. Standard Tap
901 N 2nd St, Philadelphia -
5. Tria Taproom
2005 Walnut St, Philadelphia -
6. Yards Brewing Company
901 N Delaware Ave, Philadelphia -
7. Khyber Pass Pub
56 S 2nd St, Philadelphia -
8. City Tap House
3925 Walnut St, Philadelphia -
9. 2nd Street Brewhouse
1700 S 2nd St, Philadelphia -
10. Prohibition Tap Room
501 N 13th St, Philadelphia -
11. Fiume
229 S 45th St, Philadelphia -
12. South Philadelphia Tap Room
1509 Mifflin St, Philadelphia
Monk's Cafe is more of a dank beer pub than any kind of cafe, but it's become a Philadelphia institution thanks to its staggering bottled beer list (there are more than 300 local and global brews to choose from). Yes, the place is dark. Yes, it's cramped. But the draft selection of Belgian suds makes Monk's a national leader in the category: owner Tom Peters was actually knighted in Belgium to honor his dedication. Drinkers can pick up a "beer bible" from the bar, which could pass for a novela under the dim electric candles scattered throughout. Pub fare flows from the kitchen, and while the burger won't disappoint and you can order grilled salmon if that's your thing, the true must-eat dish is the pot of mussels, flavored with sour beer-sautéed jalapeños, peppers, and onions.
Yes, the second-floor brewery gives this brewpub its name, but fried starters by the basket and other savory bites are just as good a reason to hit up this Old City spot that formerly housed Triumph Brewing.
Courtesy of the beer bar barons of West Philly's Local 44, this new next-door bottle shop stores 500+ cold choice brews (incl. Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel) in a rustically wooded interior with cheekily labeled beer coolers ("Red & Hoppy", "Belgian, Actually") and an upstairs nook packed with room-temp biggies like a 750ml Kriek De Ranke and an equally large jug of AleSmith's Wee Heavy, which you'll definitely do if you drink too many of these.
Some fun facts about the Standard Tap, they have tons of craft beer on tap and every menu item is a special while supplies last. Now stop reading and go eat something!
The Rittenhouse location of this cozy bar boasts a number of carefully-curated, seasonal beers, wines, and ciders. And in a true taproom fashion, without a bottle in sight. Big windows, a solid-glass, climate-controlled wine "cellar" that dominates the back wall, and an airy-for-its-size interior -- lined with sparsely-appointed counters and rustic stools -- creates the perfect atmosphere to enjoy craft libations, wood-fired grilled flatbreads, and sophisticated snacks.
Founded by a couple of local homebrewers, Yards Brewing Company and now produces one of the best pale ales in the country -- as per The New York Times -- at a waterfront plant boasting a 100-seat pub. And in addition to supplying both year round and seasonal brews, Yards' parking lot is home to a variety of food trucks, perfect for all-night pairings.
The KPP is a late-night joint offering some fan-food favorites from down South, like red beans & rice and even beignets. And oh-so-much beer.
City Tap House has an extensive selection of micro-brews and delicious food to go along with them, as well as a killer patio for outdoor drinking.
A laid-back environment with an expert drink selection, its list can accommodate your taste for stouts (Tröegs JavaHead Stout), Belgians (Unibroue La Fin du Monde), and Flemish sour ales. There's also weekly entertainment, annual beer events, and weekend brunch to be had.
The kitchen stays open 'til 1am on weekends at Prohibition, which makes it the perfect place to go before or after a show at nearby Union Transfer. Or, if you're simply craving a pub burger set to jukebox throwback tunes, this is the spot: the burgers here are 100% grass-fed local beef and topped with Hope Springs cheddar, lettuce, haystack onions, all on a snowflake bun. Oh, and Sundays are BYOV: Bring your own vinyl record and you’ll get 20% off of your bill.
Tucked above University City Ethiopian restaurant Abyssinia, Fiume brilliantly executes the concept of a speakeasy by embracing its inner dive bar. Christmas lights illuminate a chalkboard listing of the bar’s extensive beer selection, and you’ll be sure to find some unique bottles you’ve never heard of. Philadelphians who trek from all over the city to Fiume don’t mind that the prices are slightly above average or that there are only six stools at the bar and a handful of tables. And even though the place is so miniscule that you’ll wonder just how the live Bluegrass band managed to squeeze both its members and instruments inside, you too will want to come time and time again.
This is one of our favorite bars in South Philly.