Philly's Best Beer Bar

By SARAH BAICKER

Updated 12:58 PM EST, Mon, Feb 9, 2009

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Put your Miller and Coors bottles aside—craft and internatonal beers are in. And there's a slew of bars and pubs in this town with beer menus that'll have you asking: "Bud who?"

Philadelphia magazine: Teresa's Next Door
126 N. Wayne Ave., Wayne
It’s not just the city of Philadelphia that’s taken a liking to craft and international brews. Beer bars and gastropubs have been popping up in ‘burbs like Doylestown, West Chester and Wayne, which is where you’ll find Teresa’s Next Door. Co-owner/chef Andrew Dickerson told Craig LaBan he was inspired by “Monk’s Belgian spirit, Standard Tap’s dedication to fresh local beers, and Tria’s focus on artisan cheese and wines.” As good as that sounds on its own, Teresa’s also offers 200 bottled beers and 26 brews on tap daily—what more could the Main Line ask for?

MyFoxPhilly: The Grey Lodge Pub
6235 Frankford Ave.
First, Beeradvocate.com ranked The Grey Lodge Pub as the 25th best beer bar in the U.S. Soon after, Esquire magazine placed the Northeast Philly institution on its list of America’s best bars. Then we started hearing the stories—Center City residents taking the El all the way to the end of the line, then hopping a bus (that’s an hour-long commute) just to check out the ever-evolving list of specialty beers on tap. But it wasn’t ‘til we visited the G.L.P. ourselves that we finally got why MyFoxPhilly picked the pub as their top beer bar. You’re going to have to trust Fox—and us—on this one, and head up to the Great Northeast. It’s worth it.

Citysearch & AOL City’s Best: Monk’s Belgian Cafe
264 S. 16th St.
Monk’s doesn’t have a beer list; it has a beer bible. And that beer bible boasts more than 200 Belgian beers, in addition to a frequently rotating list of on-tap specialties at its front and back bars. Even the food menu is a testament to Belgian brews—the veal cheeks are braised in Abbaye de Val Dieu Brown Ale, the chicken roulade is topped with Urthel Bock. This is about as close to a legitimate Belgian experience as you’ll find in Center City, and the extensive beer offerings at Monk's mean you can keep coming back, and still find plenty of new brews to try.

Around Town pick: The Foodery
837 N. 2nd St.
Okay, so the Foodery isn’t technically a bar, but bear with us on this one. The Northern Liberties beer emporium offers more than 800 varieties of the hoppy stuff. Yes, really—800 brews from around the world. And while it’s first-and-foremost a take-home shop, you can order a sandwich from the in-store deli, and enjoy it with a beer at one of the tables that line the Foodery’s east side. Add to that an extremely knowledgeable, friendly staff and free weekly beer tastings on Thursdays, and we think you’ll begin to understand why we’re willing to make an exception for this one.

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