Tips for Atlanta

Take this with a grain of salt from a Yankee that gets to Atlanta 1-2x/year for work.

1) My go-to every time I'm in town is the Little Five Points area for The Porter Beer Bar and Wrecking Bar Brewpub. For breweries, Monday Night Brewing Garage would be at the top of my list - good beers, diverse tap list, outdoor patioo space.

2) Other than Scofflaw (big open tasting room w/outdoor space, located in an industrial park) I haven't been to other breweries in Underwood Hills area. They are on my list for the next visit. If you go to Monday Night Garage, Wild Heaven and Best End Brewery are both right there.

3) Torched Hop strikes me as a brewery that would fit the bill for Sunday football. Hudson Grille in midtown is a sports bar that had a decent tap list last time I visited.

 

Halfway Crooks for lagers - Little Cottage for everything else.

 

For neighborhoods you really need to check out Decatur/Avondale. Two of the best breweries in GA are there, Inner Voice and Little Cottage. One of the best beer bars in the country is there, Brick Store. And you have about 4 other breweries within 2 miles of each other. Top of the next tier would be 3 Taverns. There is a Marta stop right in the middle of it all and everything is an easy walk or 3 minute Uber ride from each other. Have fun!

 

And the food was top notch when I was there a few years ago. Had a big taplist and everything was pretty well done.

 

Vibe/variety:

Inner Voice (downtown Decatur).

I was just there last night (it's their anniversary week) and they have at least 12 different beers on tap and they are all fantastic. They are still releasing two more beers today so I can pretty much guarantee they will have some of them on for the next week or two.

Halfway Crooks (Summerhill)

European-style taproom and the best lagers in the Atlanta area. Their Oktoberfest celebration is going on for a couple more weeks so liter steins are plenty available.

Walkable:

Avondale Estates or Lee/White complex

These are really the only two areas of Atlanta you can walk to more than two breweries together.
Avondale Estates has three breweries (Little Cottage is by far the best) and the area is open container so you can get a beer to-go and walk to the other two breweries (Lost Druid and Wild Heaven).
The Lee/White complex is in West End and there are multiple breweries there (Monday Night, Wild Heaven and Best End). There is also a distillery (ASW) plus other merchants.

Sports:

Torched Hop (in Midtown) is likely to be your best option. They have multiple large TVs and a good variety of beers and food. While a lot of breweries have TVs most aren't focused on catering to sports fans taking over to watch events.

 

It's not easy to walk. Almost all of them are spread out just far enough to require a drive. I think the only two walkable are Bold Monk and the second Scofflaw location. But in the general area you also have the original Scofflaw, Second Self/Atlanta Brewing, Steady Hand, Firemaker, Monday Night and Urban Tree Cider.
These are all within 10 minutes of each other but it is definitely not walkable.

 

Longtime Atlanta native. Wished I had seen this sooner.

First, sadly I must say, the Underwood Hills area you are talking about is not walkable, nor would you want to attempt it, especially after dark. Crime has spiked in Atlanta like most major cities and walking around in these areas is not advisable That being said, you can still safely have an enjoyable visit.




New Realm Brewing is a great spot. An inside bar and upstairs outdoor area. Good diverse beer selection. Good food onsite. Head Brewer there is well known in the industry and was at Stone Brewing.
http://newrealmbrewing.com/atlanta/

Bold Monk Brewing - Mostly Belgian style beers here, but excellent beers and a European flair to it and outdoor beer garden. Very cool spot. Good food on site.
https://boldmonkbrewingco.com/

Halfway Crooks - Some others have mentioned this one. Excellent beer here too. There outdoor beer garden has been closed, so may want to check if it is open if you want to sit outside. Cozy, neat bar area.
https://halfwaycrooks.beer/

Monday Night Brewing: Very popular spot. Good variety of beers and unique atmosphere.
https://mondaynightbrewing.com/

BUT, if you only visit one brewery in the Atlanta area, I highly encourage you to visit Good Word Brewing in Duluth, GA. Yep, it's outside the perimeter but it is probably the best brewery in the Atlanta area. They do a great job with a variety of classic, drinkable beer styles. They have a number of low ABV beers on the menu perfect for an evening session of drinking. They do have food there but if their menu is not to your liking, the brewery is right downtown Duluth and there are several good restaurants within easy walking distance. I can't speak highly enough of this brewery and their staff. I always have a great experience there.
https://goodwordbrewing.com/

I'm sure I left some place good out, like Variant in Roswell or Atlanta Brewing Co. (Atlanta's oldest brewery). The challenge with Atlanta is the breweries are pretty spread out and not all of the best ones are right downtown. I also can't think of a place I would tell you to absolutely avoid. Most places make pretty good beer.

Hope this helps. PLEASE post back after your trip to let us know how it went. And feel free ti message me at my BA account. Hope you have a great trip!

 

It's fine during the day, I just wouldn't go walking around there at night. Marietta Blvd in that area is iffy in many spots.

So you'll be near Bold Monk and there is also Round Trip not too far from Bold Monk. I live in Cumming, which is about 20 minutes west of Duluth and about 35 - 40 minutes north of downtown. I drive in every now and then to pick up from Round Trip. Good quality German style brews there. Nothing that special about the tap room and they have an outdoor area, but it's in an industrial park. But the beer is worth a stop in if those styles are to your liking. Look forward to hearing your feedback!

 

Thanks for the thorough recap! Halfway Crooks is always a fave. I live way north of the perimeter, so not able to get there often.

Pleased to hear you liked Round Trip that much. I think that's one of the under appreciated breweries in town.

Glad you enjoyed your visit! Cheers!

 

I was just in Atlanta for a wedding. We were staying in Midtown. Lot's of Uberable options close by. I was able to hit up the following breweries:
New Realm Brewing - Decent beer, they had food but we didn't try any, but the outside patio area was super nice.
Torched Hop Brewing - Very nice taproom and I really liked the beer I had.
SweetWater Tavern - Pretty good beer & food, but a very nice outdoor patio area, and the inside taproom was large. They have an event space at the end of the building that was super nice.
Orpheus Brewing - The taproom is right next to a park. We really enjoyed the couple beers we had there.

We also stopped at Whitehall Tavern which is a sports bar. I was able to finally try Creature Comforts Tropicalia IPA, which was really good, and if you like IPA's and find yourself in the area, you should try it.

Down the street from my hotel there was a Whole Foods, that had a huge fridge full of cold local beer. I was looking for some Thursday night football beers, and it did not disappoint.

 

Hey! Just landed in ATL - going to be here through the weekend.

any exciting releases I should look out for? Any good bottle shops near Candler Park? I’ve typically gone to Ale Yeah!

thanks for the hot tips in advance. I hope you’re all gearing up for an excellent Thanksgiving!

 

Welcome to Atlanta!

I live outside the perimeter and am not that familiar with the bottle shops in that area but Ale Yeah is probably your best bet. Some great places to hit with good beers on tap are Wrecking Bar and Porter Beer Bar.

Some breweries to check out (you may find some interesting releases there that are not at the bottle shops): Halfway Crooks, Three Taverns, and Wild Heaven. New Realm is always a great place hit for food and beer. There are some more good suggestions in the previous comments if you venture further out from Candler Park.

Enjoy your stay and hope you find some great beers!