Growing up in the late 70's and early 80's our town had a place, The Old Heidelberg, that had several good German beers on tap and it was fairly famous for having a very good beer selection- almost unheard of at the time. We also used to make a pilgrimage to the Peculiar Pub in NYC- without a doubt pioneers in what is now known as craft beers. Any shout outs for your local craft beer pioneers long gone or still around?
1702 in Tucson, formally called Local Dough has always been into serving good beer.... Its my disneyland!
Before I even clicked on the thread I thought of the Peculiar Pub (the original location, which is where the Slaughtered Lamb moved in after they relocated). Canterbury Ales on Long Island (Oyster Bay and Huntington) have also been around for a while (mid-80s I'd guess)- the OB one was my local watering hole for a while. Other than that, yeah, we'd go to German places for German beers, especially around Oktoberfest, and Irish Bars for Guinness (believe it or not, we'd actually have to plan an evening around getting some of the draught back then- and it was all the better and worth it, too! )
Brickskeller in DC in the 1990s had quite the reputation. I never made it, but I did once drive 'Smokey and the Bandit'-style from SC to a nearby beer shop in Chevy Chase, MD to buy 5 cases of Schlenkerla.
For me Max's on Broadway in Fell's Point in the early 90's I learned a ton about good beer in that bar.
