Guide to Georgia Beer Bars

When you ask for Georgia beer bar recommendations a couple of names always come up. Brick Store Pub and The Porter are likely to top most people’s lists, and with good reason. Both bars are owned by passionate craft beer fans, they offer an amazing selection of beer, a comfortable environment and great food choices to pair with your brew. However, there are a lot of great places across the state to grab a craft beer. If you’re in any decent sized town in Georgia you should be able to find a spot to sit down and enjoy a pint or two.

For our purpose, a “beer bar” is anywhere you can sit down and order a full pour of craft beer. Some of the places that are favorites are liquor stores with back areas that serve beer, or growler/bottle shops that can do full pours. We’re also including brewpubs in this list.

We’ve featured a few of Georgia’s best beer bars on Beer Guys Radio. If you’d like to hear more about them check out these episodes:

Brick Store Pub | Interview with Dave Blanchard and Ryan Skinner from their Belgian beer bar.

The Porter Beer Bar | Interview with Molly Gunn and Nick Rutherford from The Porter’s beer cellar.

Truck & Tap | Truck & Tap’s Zach Yurchuck shares some info on his unique beer bar. We also talk with Brewtopia’s Owen Ogletree and Reformation Brewery’s Spencer Nix.

| Truck & Tap’s Zach Yurchuck shares some info on his unique beer bar. We also talk with Brewtopia’s Owen Ogletree and Reformation Brewery’s Spencer Nix. The J. Clyde and Establishment | The J. Clyde’s Jerry Hartley and Establishment’s David Reed and Dave Dixon join us in the studio.

What makes a good beer bar?

We asked the folks over at Reddit ATLbeer what their favorite Georgia beer bars were, as well as what made a good beer bar. Although everyone has their personal preferences these are the items that topped the list.

Clean lines and glassware



Fresh beer (Where appropriate, we’re not talking cellar/vintage beer.)

(Where appropriate, we’re not talking cellar/vintage beer.) Easily available, up-to-date tap list, with prices

Knowledgeable staff

Interesting tap list

Smoke free

Quality food

Top 5 Georgia Beer Bars

This wasn’t easy to put together. As we mentioned above, Brick Store Pub and The Porter are pretty unanimously the two favorites in Georgia, but the list goes all over from there. For the purpose of our top list I used the favorites from our Reddit poll as well as my and Beer Guy Aaron’s personal favorites. We’d love to know your favorites as well.

Brick Store Pub | Decatur, GA

Currently celebrating 19 years in Georgia. Brick Store Pub has seen a world of changes in that time and they’ve done an amazing job of keeping up with, and setting, craft beer trends. They were one of the first beer bars in Georgia and much of the revitalization of the Decatur area can be credited to them. A comfortable atmosphere free of TVs, an amazing beer menu, and delicious food choices (try the raclette) make them an easy choice. Check out our episode with owner Dave Blanchard and beer manager Ryan Skinner here.

Currently celebrating 19 years in Georgia. Brick Store Pub has seen a world of changes in that time and they’ve done an amazing job of keeping up with, and setting, craft beer trends. They were one of the first beer bars in Georgia and much of the revitalization of the Decatur area can be credited to them. A comfortable atmosphere free of TVs, an amazing beer menu, and delicious food choices (try the raclette) make them an easy choice. Check out our episode with owner Dave Blanchard and beer manager Ryan Skinner here. The Porter | Atlanta

Located in the quirky Little 5 Points neighborhood, The Porter is tied for top spot with Brick Store Pub. Both locations have been voted Best Beer Bars in America by respected industry publications and websites on more than one occasion. The Porter offers a huge selection of bottled and draft beer as well as an extensive cellar menu.

Located in the quirky Little 5 Points neighborhood, The Porter is tied for top spot with Brick Store Pub. Both locations have been voted Best Beer Bars in America by respected industry publications and websites on more than one occasion. The Porter offers a huge selection of bottled and draft beer as well as an extensive cellar menu. Trappeze | Athens

When Trappeze was planning to open the owners were told a bar in the college town of Athens that didn’t serve light beer and shot specials wouldn’t make it. They’ve been going strong for almost 10 years now. Like the others, a mix of great beer selections and an interesting menu make them a winner. If you’re visiting Athens they are a short walk to/from Creature Comforts brewery.

When Trappeze was planning to open the owners were told a bar in the college town of Athens that didn’t serve light beer and shot specials wouldn’t make it. They’ve been going strong for almost 10 years now. Like the others, a mix of great beer selections and an interesting menu make them a winner. If you’re visiting Athens they are a short walk to/from Creature Comforts brewery. Truck & Tap | Woodstock

This is my local favorite, honestly not biased by the fact they are a Beer Guys Radio sponsor… I swear. It also received the most votes on our Reddit poll. Truck & Tap is one of the newer kids on the block but they offer several rotating taps as well as bottle selections. What makes them unique is that their food service is provided by a rotating selection of food trucks. Depending on the day you visit you can get barbecue, pizza, tacos, Mediterranean, Caribbean, and others. The bar features roll-up doors on the front and back, essentially turning them into a huge covered patio when weather permits.

This is my local favorite, honestly not biased by the fact they are a Beer Guys Radio sponsor… I swear. It also received the most votes on our Reddit poll. Truck & Tap is one of the newer kids on the block but they offer several rotating taps as well as bottle selections. What makes them unique is that their food service is provided by a rotating selection of food trucks. Depending on the day you visit you can get barbecue, pizza, tacos, Mediterranean, Caribbean, and others. The bar features roll-up doors on the front and back, essentially turning them into a huge covered patio when weather permits. Argosy | Atlanta (EAV)

A great bar in the lively East Atlanta Village neighborhood. Argosy features a very cool antique nautical decor and a back game room that opens later in the evening. Visit after 11 PM and order two draft beers and get a free pizza!

Almost on the list: I could have easily made a Top 10 or Top 20, but I’m trying not to get too rambly here, however these are worth mentioning as well. The Nest in Kennesaw (one of my favorites), The Wing Cafe and Tap House in Marietta, Nonic in Columbus (very new but already popular), and The Hive in Augusta, and Summit’s in Snellville (one of Aaron’s favorites.)

Georgia Beer Bars

Here’s a map of the full(ish) list of beer bars in Georgia. Our criteria was fairly loose when putting this together. If a location serves full pours of craft beer and has more than 1-2 selections we included them on the list. Some of these locations are true craft beer bars, some are more traditional restaurants with a decent craft beer selection, we even have some bottle shops on the list that offer full beers and may even have a bar area. Although not included in our Top 5 list (we reserved that for actual beer bars) we also included brewpubs on the map, hard to get much more local craft beer than at a good brewpub.

Locations marked with a BLUE MUG are BEER GUYS APPROVED venues. These are the best of the best, beer bars and brewpubs that we have visited that meet all of the criteria mentioned above for a good beer bar. Extensive and interesting beer selections, great food choices, proper and clean glassware, and knowledgeable staff. If you’re close to one of these venues they are an excellent choice for craft beer. If a location isn’t mark as BGR Approved that does not necessarily mean it isn’t a great beer bar.

You can find craft beer anywhere in Georgia

If you listen to the show or follow our posts you’ve undoubtedly heard us complain about our insane beer laws here. Despite the challenges, we’ve got some amazing beer and beer bars in our state – two of the best beer bars in the world, as a matter of fact. If you’re in any decent sized town across Georgia you should be able to find at least one location close by to enjoy craft beer.

Did we miss one of your favorites? Just let us know in the comments and we’ll review it for inclusion on the list.

Copying and use of this info on other sites. Please feel free to copy or use the info/map to help spread the love for Georgia’s beer bars. If you do, please credit Beer Guys Radio with a link to our site. Cheers!

If you’d like to view the data used for the map, you can see that here.