Boston Beer Bars to Try
Boston is America’s original drinking town, with some of the country’s oldest bars and brewhouses still slinging suds to customers today. And while downing a cold brewski and a cup of clam chowder with the rest of the tourists is undoubtedly delicious, beer aficionados looking to get a taste of the city’s more modern drinking culture will delight in this tour of Beantown’s beer scene away from the beaten track. Check out the below spots to find some of the Boston area’s best beer.
Two locations: 535 Columbus Ave, Boston; 400 Highland Ave, Somerville
There are plenty of good reasons to explore Somerville’s Davis Square (just hop on the Red Line to get there), and great beer is just one of them. Five Horses Tavern offers over 150 beers, with 37 rotating taps and 120 or so in the bottle and at least one beer on cask. They’ve also got a separate whiskey bar, and specialty tacos. If you can’t make it all the way out to Somerville, their second location in the South End is smaller in size, but still packs the same sudsy wallop with 40 beers on tap and 60 in the bottle.
30 Germania St.
Nowhere does Boston’s history and love for beer dovetail more perfectly than at Sam Adams. Take a tour of the facility that put craft brewing on America’s map, and learn all about what it takes to make some of the region’s most popular beer. It’s a delicious lesson—tours include a free tasting glass and samples of Sam Adams brews—but get there early: tickets are limited, and can’t be purchased in advance. Real beer nerds might want to take advantage of one of the brewery’s specialty tours, which get you further behind the scenes and deeper into Sam Adams’ creative process. (One of them even includes cheese.)