Hey gang, Next week I will be stopping in Birmingham for the evening on my way from StL to Atlanta. I have never been there. I am staying downtown. I have done some homework and I have a rough itinerary, I just wanted to see if those of you familiar with Birmingham would do anything different, I am wide open to suggestions. J Clyde looks like it has about the best beer selection, I have seen some reviews complaining about the service, but it looks like its worth a stop for a beer or two. Avondale and Good People both look like cool places to check out, and I am going to try, but if you had to pick one or the other which would it be? Also is snake handler easy to find? Do they sell cans to go at the brewery? For a casual good relaxed sandwich type joint for dinner I like the looks of garage café, any thoughts? And lastly, if I wanted to go to some sort of late night dive-ish (but not filled with college douchers) type place, what would be a good friendly place that's at least sort of in the vicinity of downtown area? Beer selection doesn't matter, Ill likely be loaded at this point and want to sober up with some easy beers. Thanks for any words of wisdom. Ryan
i'll share some thoughts. for beer bars go to either j clyde or hop city. hop city is a bottle shop that also has a growler fill bar where you can buy pints. very cool place. j clyde used to be my go to place, but for a variety of reasons, i haven't been going as much recently. either place is a very worthy stop though. both breweries are a lot of fun. good people is more of a operational brewery/warehouse type feel and avondale has much more of a traditional bar type feel. i prefer good people's beer, but i enjoy both. if you go to hop city though, cahaba brewery is a block or two away and a fun place to have a beer as well. atmosphere wise: (in my opinion) cahaba is the most casual and intimate, avondale is the most "college doucherish", and good people is somewhere in between. one caveat, if the barons (our minor league baseball team) have a home game the night you are in town, good people will be very crowded before and after the game and you will have to park a few blocks away from the brewery/stadium since they are across the street from each other. games are great fun and the new park is awesome if you are in the mood for some baseball though. you will not find snake handler in cans right now, but you will almost certainly find it on tap at the brewery or at any of the other main beer bars in town. none of the breweries are allowed to sell any beer to go. the garage is a cool place, but make sure to bring cash. if you end up going to avondale, eat at saw's soul kitchen if you want some bbq. it's right down the street from avondale brewery (also relatively close to cahaba/hop city) and it's awesome. the classic late night dive type place in town is marty's in the five points area. the patty melt is supposed to be amazing. sorry if i rambled, but i kept thinking of stuff to say. hope you enjoy your stay.
The service complaints for the J Clyde are undoubtedly based on Thursday/Friday nights. Avoid those times and you should be fine - get there before 6 or 630, or avoid Thu/Fri, and you should be fine.
If u want to go the brewery route I would go Good People, I love cahaba but selection is small. J Clyde is the best beer/food joint by far. Def go by Hop City and get a growler of snake handler to go along with any other Bama brews u want to try. If ur interested in any IP trades BM me and I'll swing by if possible. Enjoy the craft beer boom we are having here in Bama!
freduardo nailed it. Vulcan is pretty cool too, and just up the hill from the J. Clyde. It's the largest cast iron statue in the world with a good view of the city.
Go to J Clyde it is an in one for you food and time wise. You will not be disappointed. They also have plenty of great local brews in tje middle room
