Everybody has their favourite place to drink. You realize what we’re speaking about. That secret spot you solely take your folks from out of city. Or that dive bar you go to in your sweatpants. Or that neighborhood bar you simply love to go to as a result of, effectively, they know your title, proper? A hidden-gem place to drink might actually be a brewery or someplace that serves craft beer. However it doesn’t should be. And that’s why we have been so excited to introduce this piece into our end-of-year awards in 2022.
To make clear, Hop Tradition began as {a magazine} about craft beer tradition. However we’ve grow to be a lot extra. We’re delving into bourbon, appreciating pure wine, even tolerating exhausting seltzer (sorry, only one development we will’t a hundred percent get on board with). In different phrases, we love all fermented craft drinks. And the locations that work tirelessly to serve them.
And it’s reciprocal, proper? Many breweries have expanded their choices to incorporate extra than simply beer and even non-alcoholic choices.
For example, Fort Level not too long ago collabed with Broc Cellars on a beer-wine hybrid, Homage makes its personal pure wine, and even former Anchor Brewing Proprietor Fritz Maytag owns his personal vineyard. These are just some of many examples.
Level being: Consuming is ingesting.
No matter your drink of alternative, the act of going someplace to imbibe with folks you recognize and even folks you don’t is a time-honored custom. And as such, we’re honoring it right here.
To get a consultant checklist, we referred to as on people throughout the Subsequent Glass crew from totally different backgrounds and geographies. So that you’ll discover that this checklist consists of all types of watering holes. We didn’t restrict it to a sure variety of years open (like with our greatest new breweries of 2022) or sort of place.
The one requirement: You possibly can drink there.
Beneath, you’ll discover the perfect hidden-gem locations to drink in no specific order. In fact, any “greatest” checklist is open to interpretation, so take these picks with a grain of salt. And in case you missed our submit on Instagram and need to share a spot with us, simply hit us up at @hopculturemag.
The Greatest Hidden-Gem Locations to Drink in 2022
Tiger’s Taproom
Oakland, CA
Submitted by: Grace Weitz, Managing Editor, Hop Tradition
I met Tiger’s Taproom Co-Founder Brian Chan once I first moved to the Bay Space in early 2020. Initially, I reached out to him about internet hosting one among our occasions for a West Coast model of Beers With(out) Beards. How was I to know that a few week later, a world pandemic would shut down all the metropolis for mainly two years? However within the brief time I’ve identified Brian, I’ve had an opportunity to get to know Tiger’s Taproom and to listen to tales from the regulars who fiercely love this watering gap.
Named after Chan’s canine, Tiger, this quiet nook craft beer bar within the up-and-coming Jack London neighborhood of Oakland is the sort of place the place everybody feels welcome. That’s a core tenet of a hidden-gem place to drink in our opinion.
These are individuals who simply give a rattling about not solely what you’re ingesting, however about you. Simply you. That may be uncommon to search out these days.
So it’s solely a bonus that Chan showcases beer from among the greatest breweries within the Bay Space and past whereas additionally staying lowkey with a faucet of PBR.
Come right here for an iconic Christmas Ale from Anchor Brewing, a Winter Sweater from Native Brewing, an Journey Island from Temescal Brewing, a Duchesse Cherry bitter flanders crimson ale, or like we mentioned, only a straight up PBR. You’ll find all of it.
And also you’ll discover it in a heat, welcoming setting. Truthfully, I don’t get my butt over to Tiger’s Taproom sufficient. Don’t make that very same mistake.
LoLo
Austin, TX
Submitted by: John Gross, Director, Strategic Enterprise Growth, Subsequent Glass
Loads of residing in Austin entails patios. The vibes out again at LoLo are exhausting to beat. Every thing from the orange beer backyard tables to the Tejano music spilling over from the adjoining bar and above all of the bev curation make LoLo’s patio particular.
With regards to pure wine, the workers at LoLo delivers a enjoyable, top-notch expertise time after time. There’s all the time one thing thrilling open behind the bar. Funky skin-contact weirdies, glou-glou freshies, and hard-to-find restricted drops make this place a hotspot for the nerdiest of the natty wine nerds. However LoLo additionally pulls off the summary process of being simply as welcoming for anybody thirsty.
Plus tinned fish, krispi boiz, poorons of cider, and a sound system that may be turned as much as eleven when the temper is correct.
LoLo’s long-standing trade connections have attracted buzzy pop-ups from hot-shot meals and wine professionals from all around the world.
LoLo simply will get it. Place your belief within the fingers of the LoLo crew and so they’ve acquired your patio grasp lined.
Seize a particular pour when you’re there and snag a bottle for later in your method out.
The Day by day Beer Bar
Durham, NC
Submitted by: Grace Weitz, Managing Editor, Hop Tradition
Sure, I’m being biased. However when one of many journal’s favourite folks on the planet tells you about his plans to open up his personal craft beer bar serving “Chilly Drinks, Sizzling Sandwiches, and Good Vibes,” you get fairly excited. We’re providing you with the within scope on the following hidden-gem place to drink in Durham, NC.
That’s proper, people. Former Hop Tradition Managing Editor John Paradiso and his enterprise and life associate Rosa Paradiso lower the ribbon on The Day by day Beer Bar in early December. Simply this previous weekend, in truth.
Touted as an all-day cafe, The Day by day Beer Bar serves espresso within the morning, sandwiches, salads, and snacks all through the day, together with craft beer, pure wine, and non-alcoholic drinks out of an outdated industrial brick constructing in downtown Durham that used to deal with a beloved jazz membership referred to as Discuss of the City.
Simplicity and intentionality are key phrases at The Day by day. Plus, slightly little bit of enjoyable. All influenced by John’s personal experiences within the beer trade.
For espresso, meaning partnering with Caleb Durham from Yonder Espresso, who John met at an occasion at Ancillary Fermentation. A curated checklist will showcase thrilling craft producers that aren’t essentially available within the Triangle space. “The underside line is to serve a product that’s easy and good however not over difficult,” says John. “We’re specializing in good producers making easy, good merchandise.”
For meals, meaning dishes just like the “Hummus & Bread” with a recipe Rosa has been making at residence, together with Za’atar from a neighborhood Lebanese firm primarily based in North Carolina. Or a easy fig jam, goat cheese, and arugula sandwich John says his mother used to make.
In fact, with a background in beer you possibly can wager that The Day by day will serve a well-curated taplist.
Once more, Paradiso says the main focus right here is intentionality. “We need to present breweries that aren’t available that we’ve had an opportunity to satisfy and know as people and may communicate to why they’re so nice different than simply the liquid itself,” he says. “Telling the story of those producers is as necessary as serving actually good beer.”
Count on beer from people Paradiso has met throughout his journeys with Hop Tradition, similar to Twin Elephant, Midway Crooks, Flying Machine, Zilicoah, Trophy, and Bond Brothers, to call a couple of.
In all places all through The Day by day you possibly can see these considerate but playful touches. Particularly within the paintings.
Designed by Erik Raines, who John additionally met by way of Hop Tradition, The Day by day’s graphics have an nearly Steamboat Willie or Looney Tunes vibe to them. “It’s a playful throwback,” says John. “Perhaps slightly little bit of nostalgia.”
That is simply the sort of place we will think about ourselves staying in all day. By no means wanting to depart for worry of lacking out on a second that makes us smile.
Monk’s Cafe
Philadelphia, PA
Submitted by: Kenny Gould, Founder, Hop Tradition
Monk’s Cafe may not be hidden, however we’ll take any excuse to go to this one-of-a-kind craft beer bar in Philadelphia. Opened in 1997 by the dynamic Tom Peters, Monk’s has since grow to be the go-to spot for anybody searching for uncommon, classic, and thrilling beer—particularly beer of the Belgian persuasion.
Earlier this 12 months, we stopped by Monk’s as a part of the Philadelphia episode of our Subsequent Exit beer and journey present, and the go to was as life-changing for us as the one Peters made to Brussels in 1984.
In the event you haven’t made the pilgrimage but, we’ll meet you there!
Dudley Market
Venice Seashore, CA
Submitted by: Libby Borchert, Account Govt, Brewery Options
Dudley is particular.
This crew catches recent fish by day and serves it up for dinner by night time paired with a stunning bottle of pure wine. All of the meals and drinks listed below are elegant.
The atmosphere is okay eating meets Venice Seashore meets cool-kid-that-doesn’t-know-they-are-cool vibes. Feels like all the standards for a hidden-gem place to drink.
You’ll be able to simply inform everybody working there loves what they do and everybody eating is having a good time. With Momlovesart all around the inside and outside of the constructing, it’s exhausting to not fall in love with this SoCal gem.
Do you need to know a secret? On prime of the catch of the day, you HAVE to order the burger. Don’t query it, simply do it and thank me later.
Brick Retailer Pub
Decatur, GA
Submitted by: Grace Weitz, Managing Editor, Hop Tradition
Co-owned by Mike Gallagher, Dave Blanchard, and Tom Moore (who maybe not too coincidentally additionally has a stake in Good Phrase), Brick Retailer Pub emulates the quintessential neighborhood British pub.
Located in an outdated courthouse constructing, Brick Retailer Pub has been a staple within the space for twenty-five years. And during the last two and a half a long time, it has completely constructed up its famend status…brick by brick.
Plop into an intimate sales space with mustard yellow cushioning and darkish mahogany benches. Pull up a stool to the horseshoe-shaped bar or head upstairs to the comfy cask bar. Wherever you sit, it’s such as you’re hiding in plain sight. And that’s probably the most comforting feeling, particularly whenever you begin off ingesting solo on the bar, having fun with their Sunday Biscuit Service (two small buttery biscuits with a swath of apple butter), and studying a Michael Connelly e book.
Fortunate for me, on the day I ventured out, Brick Retailer welcomed Schilling Beer Co. to take over eleven of its faucets. (Okay, I wasn’t precisely fortunate; I’d realized concerning the occasion from Odd Colony Brewing Co. Co-Founder Blake Schweigert at Good Phrase the night time earlier than.)
However any given Sunday yow will discover Brick Retailer spotlighting a unique brewery.
That is only a place you go to lose time with a superb e book and a terrific pint. In the event you’re spending a weekend ingesting and consuming in Atlanta, you’ll want to cease at Brick Retailer Pub.
Bonus: Inside Voice Brewing, one among our greatest new breweries of the 12 months, is only a brief five-minute stroll away.
The Instances Bar
Nashville, TN
Submitted by: Kyle Roderick, Govt Vice President of Product, Subsequent Glass
The Instances Bar is a espresso store by day and a tiny, stress-free cocktail and beer spot at night time. Their checklist of inventive cocktails rotates seasonally with a couple of signature alternatives all the time obtainable. I final visited earlier within the 12 months and made it some extent to go to twice throughout my keep so I might strive a pair extra of their drinks. It’s acquired a heat, stress-free environment with a few spots for small teams to sit down. Their standout drink earlier this 12 months was one which featured the notorious Underberg: a staple in among the greatest breweries I loved this 12 months.
ChurchKey
Washington, D.C.
Submitted by: Kenny Gould, Founder, Hop Tradition
Each month, I journey to D.C. for grad college. And each month, I cease at ChurchKey. Closed for what appeared like a lifetime due to COVID, the DMV-based beer bar not too long ago reopened… and it’s not solely again, however higher than ever.
With a menu organized by taste profile (crispy, hoppy, malty, and so on.), it’s simple to search out one thing for everybody. In the event you’re searching for a spot the place your beer is served in correct glassware and all the way down to the correct diploma of temperature for the type, you need ChurchKey.
Our largest remorse of the 12 months is lacking Snallygaster, the D.C. space’s annual celebration of craft beer, which is thrown by the identical group that owns ChurchKey and takes place in the course of the second weekend of October (professional tip – put 10/7/23 on the calendar now and we’ll see you there subsequent 12 months!).
Do or Dive
Brooklyn, NY
Submitted by: Libby Borchert, Account Govt, Brewery Options
Dive bars are the right hidden-gem locations to drink. Unassuming, typically cigarette stained, and generally off-the-beaten path, dive bars make for among the greatest watering holes round.
Do or Dive is my favourite dive bar in Brooklyn, handsdown. The bartenders are pleasant and humorous, the music is all the time good and the locals are all vibing with one another. Sit down, have a low-life or 5 and don’t overlook a espresso factor earlier than you permit!
Goed Zuur
Denver, CO
Submitted by: Grace Weitz, Managing Editor, Hop Tradition
In the event you’re spending an epic weekend ingesting and consuming in Denver, you’ll want to put Goed Zuur in your must-stop checklist.
Cheese, cured meats, and craft beer. That’s the secret right here.
If there’s simply a few you, park your self on the island bar within the center. Seize a Palate Cleaning Pils collab from Bierstadt or one of many different funky saisons and sours from native favorites like Westbound & Down and Crooked Stave.
Then merely test off which six cheeses and charcuterie you need on a white piece of paper and put together to be whisked away to bliss.
Mere minutes later (or maybe longer, we don’t know—time simply appears to face nonetheless right here), somebody from the kitchen gently settles an enormous board in entrance of you.
On it you’ll discover every of your alternatives expertly paired with what the restaurant believes are the perfect accompaniments. I’m going to be utterly trustworthy right here: I discovered myself in such a state of euphoria that I forgot to jot down down all of the cheeses and elements that got here with them.
However in broad brushstrokes, I attempted one which was earthier, studded with hemp seeds, and paired with some sort of jam. One other creamier cheese nearly like candy cream sat nudged subsequent to a swath of home made marmalade and advised to be topped with a chip of chocolate close by. Whereas orange slabs of some sort of cheddar parked themselves subsequent to pickled celery.
Crunchy, creamy, candy, slick, this can be a story of textures that can depart you residing fortunately ever after.
I imply, in case you acquired caught right here for a couple of hours and determined to skip the remainder of the afternoon, we might utterly perceive.
Cork-n-Bottle Liquors
Fremont, CA
Submitted by: Kyle Roderick, Govt Vice President of Product, Subsequent Glass
Only a fast cease off the 880 freeway, Cork-n-Bottle is your typical power drink, salty snack, and everyday-needs liquor retailer in entrance. Within the again, you’ll discover the most effective alternatives of craft beer in all the Bay Space. Should-have bottles of the most recent Bottle Logic launch, distinctive vintages of Firestone stouts, and a stocked fridge of recent, native brewery alternatives from gentle lagers to fruited sours. As if that wasn’t motive sufficient to go to, in addition they match fourteen rotating faucets within the again with a few barstools to sip away a day.
BierWax
Brooklyn, NY
Submitted by: Grace Weitz, Managing Editor, Hop Tradition
Technically, this can be a suggestion from our good good friend and Finback Co-Founder Basil Lee when he helped us put collectively an unbelievable checklist of “The 11 Greatest Breweries and Bars in Brooklyn, In response to the Consultants.”
However I additionally used to stay a fast ten-minute stroll away from BierWax a couple of years in the past, so I can corroborate that it’s certainly an unbelievable hidden-gem place to drink. Particularly since in New York Metropolis bar like Tørst, Proletariat, and Covenhoven get many of the consideration (don’t get us unsuitable, these locations are all superb too. Simply undecided we’d think about them hidden-gem locations to drink anymore. That’s all we’re saying).
Founder and proprietor Chris Maestro modeled the craft beer and vinyl file bar from his passions for hip hop and craft beer. With over 5,000 vinyl information and a curated faucet checklist, BierWax scratches the itch of many an audiophile and beer-o-phile (we will make {that a} phrase, proper?) in Brooklyn.
Whereas these kinds of vinyl listening bars are fairly widespread in Tokyo, they’re surprisingly unusual in the USA.
Maestro is proving they shouldn’t be.
“BierWax is such an superior spot; it’s a terrific idea and a terrific place and neighborhood,” says Lee. “Superior file assortment and superior beer assortment in a small place that’s like this shotgun-long showbox that just about forces everybody to be shut and neighborhood oriented and make buddies.”
BierWax drips with confidence and coolness, however in a method that’s understated and low-key.
Go for the beer and keep for the music. Or go for the music and keep for the beer. Both method you’re positive to spend a couple of hours right here chilling, listening, and ingesting.
Helen’s Wines
Los Angeles, CA
Submitted by: Grace Weitz, Managing Editor, Hop Tradition
Tucked away into the again of Jon & Vinny’s within the Fairfox neighborhood of Los Angeles, women-owned Helen’s Wines is a retail wine store targeted on naturally pushed and organically farmed labels.
Personally, I first realized about Helen’s and Jon & Vinny’s by way of an episode of Munchies Chef’s Night time Out. So this previous Labor Day when my spouse and I took a visit to Southern California, this place topped the checklist.
Accordingly, that is sort of a twofer. The transfer right here? Seize a reservation on the counter at Jon & Vinny’s, saunter into Helen’s within the again beforehand to nab a bottle of wine; dine on all-day Italian-inspired dishes like ricotta toast with orange blossom honey and sesame seeds, a mile-high plate of greens with an avalanche of shaved cheese, wooden grilled broccolini with golden raisins, almonds, and chili French dressing, and cacio e pepe (we damned ourselves and didn’t depart room for pizza. Extremely suggest getting a pie right here too); saunter again to Helen’s after you’re a bottle and 4 or 5 dishes deep; and buy no matter your coronary heart wishes to go. You’re welcome.
DryHop Brewers
Chicago, IL
Submitted by: Grace Weitz, Managing Editor, Hop Tradition
Chicago has a particular place in my coronary heart. The primary craft beer I ever drank was a Goose Island 312 (**gasp** This was again when Goose Island was nonetheless thought-about craft beer) at a bar within the shadow of Wrigley Area. And it was at slightly neighborhood hidden-gem place to drink referred to as DryHop Brewers over a pint of their Shark Meets Hipster Wheat IPA that I had the epiphany that I wished to make craft beer my profession. Over time Chicago has grow to be a powerhouse metropolis for breweries.
Certain, you will have your stalwarts like Half Acre and Revolution, however much more not too long ago some once-considered-under-the-radar or underrated breweries like Mikerphone, Moody Tongue, Marz, and Off Coloration have been catapulted into the nationwide highlight. These are all superb breweries in their very own proper, nevertheless it’s locations like DryHop, an unassuming neighborhood bar that makes its personal killer beers on a small scale alongside completely paired meals in probably the most welcoming environment, which have stayed with me all these years. DryHop is the primary place I am going again to as quickly as I step off the aircraft at O’Hare and the final beer I seize earlier than I depart.
