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xnicknj

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In an effort to avoid having 134 different “where should I go in Philly” threads, here is a list of breweries, bars and bottle shops in Philadelphia for visitors. This isn’t intended to be a “best of,” just an easy to use guide for out-of-towners. Feel free to contribute and we can update accordingly.

Current taplists: Philly Tap Finder

Where can I find Pliny? See above. Draft only.

Happy Hour listings: Drink Philly

Breweries (City):

Nodding Head
Dock Street
Triumph
Earth Bread & Brewery
Yards

Breweries (Suburbs):

Tired Hands
Forest & Main
Manayunk Brewery
Iron Hill
Round Guys
Naked
Free Will
Neshaminy Creek
McKenzie Brew House

Bars (City):

Center City
Monk’s Café
Good Dog
Jose Pistola’s
Strangelove's
Tria
Perch Pub
Varga Bar

Old City
Eulogy Belgian Café
Khyber Pass Pub
Race Street Café

South Philly
Devil’s Den
The Industry
South Philly Taproom
POPE
Sidecar
Growlers
Fountain Porter

South Street
Brauhaus Schmitz
The Cambridge
Percy Street BBQ
Tattooed Mom
Bainbridge Street Barrel House (one block south)

Graduate Hospital
Resurrection Ale House
Grace Tavern
Doobies

Fishtown/NoLibs/Spring Garden
Barcade
Kraftwork
Memphis Taproom
Kite & Key
Standard Tap
Belgian Cafe (Monk's less-attractive, but easier sister)
Bishop's Collar
St. Stephan's Green
Alla Spina
Prohibition Taproom
Bufad (BYOB but great for sharing bottles)
The Institute
Frankford Hall

West Philly/University City
Local 44
City Tap House

Northeast
Grey Lodge

Bars (Suburbs):

Capone’s (also bottleshop)
TJ’s
Pinocchio’s (also bottleshop)
Theresa’s
Side Bar

Bottle Shops (City):

The Foodery – Center City
The Foodery – NoLibs

Hawthorne’s (draft and food too)
Food and Friends
Beer Heaven
The Craft Beer Outlet
The Bottle Shop (draft available)
Local 44 Bottle Shop
Old Philly Ale House

Bottle Shops (Suburbs):

Philly's Craft Beers (Langhorne)
The Beer Store (Southampton)
Trenton Road Take Out (Fallsington)

Distributors (City):

Bella Vista Beer
Society Hill Beverage
Bell Beverage
Stone's
The Beer Outlet
 
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Nick and Michael, such comprehensive lists above, really makes me miss Philly!

Just wanted to add The Institute at Spring Garden as I've had HF there a lot and people visiting usually ask omg where can I find pliny and HF?! It's also a decent spot if you're seeing something at the Electric Factory.
 
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Nick and Michael, such comprehensive lists above, really makes me miss Philly!

Just wanted to add The Institute at Spring Garden as I've had HF there a lot and people visiting usually ask omg where can I find pliny and HF?! It's also a decent spot if you're seeing something at the Electric Factory.
Great spot Jon. That's two awesome places in the Eraserhood I missed. Guess that means I just have to stop in to both soon!
 
Nick,

Not sure how much work it would be, but would you be willing to keep your post updated with everything that's suggested in the thread? Meaning, take my post and everyone else's posts and add them into yours? If you do that, then everything would be in one place.
 
Nick,

Not sure how much work it would be, but would you be willing to keep your post updated with everything that's suggested in the thread? Meaning, take my post and everyone else's posts and add them into yours? If you do that, then everything would be in one place.

Yea that was kinda my plan. I created the original as a word doc so I'll update the whole thing later so we have a comprehensive list.
 
List updated with all suggestions so far. I also cleaned up the neighborhoods a bit and made South Street its own category since its popular for visitors.
 
Bottle shops in the suburbs:

Philly's Craft Beers (Langhorne)
The Beer Store (Southampton)
Trenton Road Take Out (Fallsington)
 
Blurry, but spotted this afternoon (5th October 2013) at The Foodery at 10th and Pine. Evil Twin Deaf Miguel Imperial IPA, best before April 2013. Keep your eyes peeled, kids.

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Olde Philly Ale House at 20th and Brandywine in Spring Garden. Pricey, but they usually get some good stuff in.
 
Olde Philly Ale House at 20th and Brandywine in Spring Garden. Pricey, but they usually get some good stuff in.
To be fair to her prices, she includes the 10% tax in the listed price. They can be sort of high, but never higher than the Foodery. Really nice owner too.
 
Bars:

NEP: Grey Lodge

Fishtown: Frankford Hall

Distributor: The Beer Outlet in the Far Northeast. Sister store of the Craft Beer Outlet.
 
updated everything again. also added the obligatory "where can i find pliny" since that gets asked in every philly thread.
 
I don't know if you are trying to keep this a secret but Bainbridge Street Barrel House sounds pretty legit. I haven't been there but their First Anny party is at the beginning of November, might come down for it and that weekend. Cheers!
ShawDeuce22, you're definitely right. It's a really good (at times great) bar. I think the problem is kind of an "embarrassment of riches" sort of thing. Pretty much every bar in any part of Philly that people would visit is kick ass for one reason or another. xnicknj could have listed 20 other places and still not have a comprehensive list. But anyway, Bainbridge Street is really good.
 
ShawDeuce22, you're definitely right. It's a really good (at times great) bar. I think the problem is kind of an "embarrassment of riches" sort of thing. Pretty much every bar in any part of Philly that people would visit is kick ass for one reason or another. xnicknj could have listed 20 other places and still not have a comprehensive list. But anyway, Bainbridge Street is really good.
I hear ya, I used to live there from 2008-11 and miss it practically everyday. I hope to move back some day and park my ass at Sidecar on the reg, Adam is a great dude and Sam is one of the chillest bartenders around.
 
I hear ya, I used to live there from 2008-11 and miss it practically everyday. I hope to move back some day and park my ass at Sidecar on the reg, Adam is a great dude and Sam is one of the chillest bartenders around.
Yea man, Sidecar is great. I live three blocks away and go there pretty regularly. This is such a great beer town. Are you from Philly?
 
Yea man, Sidecar is great. I live three blocks away and go there pretty regularly. This is such a great beer town. Are you from Philly?
Grew up in the boonies outside of Scranton orginally. Syracuse for college and Philly directly after. I'll be down there for CBX but mostly to visit with friends for the long weekend.
 
Surprised I forgot the Barrel House since that's right by me, added it up - also noted the burbs spots that are bottle shops. I know there's more places we could list but as mdillon86 mentioned, if we use everything it's gonna be an unwieldy list with too many options. I'll continue to edit whenever I see new stuff in here.
 
anyone hit the bainbridge st barrel house last night? i saw they had abraxas and pappy big black voodoo daddy. tonight they have bbpt5, one of my favorite beers. and OF COURSE i cannot get downtown tonight.
 
anyone hit the bainbridge st barrel house last night? i saw they had abraxas and pappy big black voodoo daddy. tonight they have bbpt5, one of my favorite beers. and OF COURSE i cannot get downtown tonight.
To be honest, I completely forgot about it. I wonder what the crowd was like. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it tonight either. I have to start adding these things to my calendar.
 
To be honest, I completely forgot about it. I wonder what the crowd was like. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it tonight either. I have to start adding these things to my calendar.

I heard it really wasnt that crazy, which isnt too hard to believe on a chilly Tuesday in the middle of the day. I would imagine **** got nuts by happy hour though. I wanted to go by after work to check it out but no time, cant go today either.

This weekend is the Craft Beer Express (which I don't like) but some of the events associated with it are cool. The Deschutes beer at POPE should be great...but again, can't make it. :oops:
 
I heard it really wasnt that crazy, which isnt too hard to believe on a chilly Tuesday in the middle of the day. I would imagine **** got nuts by happy hour though. I wanted to go by after work to check it out but no time, cant go today either.

This weekend is the Craft Beer Express (which I don't like) but some of the events associated with it are cool. The Deschutes beer at POPE should be great...but again, can't make it. :oops:

agreed. the craft beer express is the WORST
 
Max, I went there for lunch yesterday and was there for a couple hours. Was a great time to be there and got everything I wanted. Skipped today since I can only do 3+ hours of drinking on a weekday once a week. Well, sort of once a week as I'm going to Jose Pistola's friday, but still. Didn't go today, was apparently a bit busier in the beginning as people grabbed tickets. Don't know how the evenings went.
 
that's pretty sweet. i have a 9-5 type job way out in eastern bucks county.... so i would've had to take the day off of work. and my boss is a beer guy (which is a blessing and a curse) so he would've known exactly what i was doing.

just like beer week when events are throughout the day and i can't get to them... if i owned a place, that would be exactly what i would do so the crowds wouldn't be so huge. but from a consumer standpoint it sucks cause i can't go.

it's cool tho. i had ba abraxas during beer week at the memphis taproom and it really wasn't all that crowded. guess it was before the beer had really taken off.
 
Nah, it was because they didn't really announce it until the night before. The keg was supposed to be at Devil's Den but they ended up getting like BA Sump or something.

And, yeah, it's convenient working from home on top of having a flexible job.
 
Nah, it was because they didn't really announce it until the night before. The keg was supposed to be at Devil's Den but they ended up getting like BA Sump or something.

And, yeah, it's convenient working from home on top of having a flexible job.

ohhhhh i guess that makes sense. hopefully i'll see it out in the suburbs soon.
 
Anyone have any suggestions up in the Northwest? Gonna be moving up to Mt. Airy soon, and I have no idea if there's a decent bottle shop anywhere in Gtown/Mt Airy/Chestnut Hill.
 
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