The Archives

 

 

 

 

A fun place to go if you are into the old school 80s arcade games and you want a good beer. The vibe is very young and liberal minded. The crowd varied from younger college kids to the older farts like myself who played the games in their original heyday. The service was good and the beer list was extensive enough to please everyone. I had a couple of good pints, and I noticed that they had some really nice bottles in the cooler, but I wasn't ready to have a full 750 to myself.

Worth a visit.

Really loved the place, solid beer selection, and the bar is full of old original arcade games like Pac Man, Jurassic Park pinball etc. A laid back atmosphere, would love to go again and play some more games and sip a few good beers.

What’s not to love about 24 mostly obscure taps and roughly 70 bottles of beer with the ability to walk down memory lane and play some of your favorite arcade games when you were growing up. They keep up with the weekend crowds, service-wise and it’s always clean, check it out, you’ll be impressed.

The Archives is a little like Barcade in NYC. It's got multi taps of quality craft brew and plenty of 80's arcade games. Each beer you buy earns you token to use, and there's plenty to choose from. That little stroll down memory lane can be nice if you're as old as I am, or you can just look back at the old games with interest. More important is the beer selection, 24 on tap, and about 70 in bottles, because let's face it, the video games of yesteryear can't compete with those of today and you'll either get bored or run out of tokens! (I can't even imagine how much money I spent getting good at Defender, Galaga, Joust, and Battlezone, but I know I spent almost all of my money doing it, and when I'd go to the mall I'd always have at least a $10 roll of quarters which is equal to $31 in today's money).

So what's the drawback? Ahhh-haaa! It can get pricey! Just like me dropping all of those quarters into those slots back in the 80's your money won't last long when you're drinking $8 goblets of Burlington Beer Co. "Chunky". In fact, of the 24 on tap right now there are 11 that I've never tried, and I assure you, they're not the cheap ones! But there are cheaper places to drink, and less expensive beers to be found, but it's about the atmosphere right? You just can't get it anywhere else.

I'll be back to Burlington someday sooner than later and I'll stop in, but at the same time, it certainly won't be my first stop ;)

Best beer selection in Vermont hands down. Very knowledgeable and friendly staff. They use proper glassware. You can tell they really care about what they are serving you. Cool place with a garage door, great music that gives the place some good vibes. They go above and beyond. I love the vintage arcade games. There really is no place that compares in Vermont. World class beer bar with award winning cocktails and natural wines. They've got it all.

 

It's hard not to love this place if you're a craft beer drinker. They go out of there way to have a crazy cool and obscure list of beers on tap. Definitely always something that you haven't had and want to try, and and something you maybe haven't heard of and will end up loving. They've got a great mix of the Vermont classics and out-of-state/international stuff. Also love that they have cheap cans as well.

It's a retro arcade bar so don't miss the awesome games that you haven't played since you were a kid!