Brick Store Pub

For more than a quarter of a century, whenever Americans argue about the best beer bar in the country, one name comes up again and again: Brick Store Pub. On the square in Decatur, just east of downtown Atlanta, it has quietly set the standard for what a great beer bar can be, no gimmicks, no televisions, just extraordinary beer served exactly right.

Why Brick Store is our number four

Brick Store is the highest-ranked American venue on our world craft beer ranking, and it earns that place through sheer consistency of excellence over time. Opened in 1997, it has spent more than two decades as a fixture of "best beer bar in America" lists, not as a flash in the pan, but as an institution that helped define the category. Where the three European names above it are about origin and rarity, Brick Store is about a philosophy of hospitality: the radical idea that a bar should get out of the way and let great beer, correct service and good food do the work.

It ranks fourth because it combines that philosophy with genuine depth. Upstairs sits one of the most respected Belgian beer programs in the United States and a cellar that can hold around a thousand beers, and the pub's international standing is backed by real recognition rather than hype. Few American bars have influenced how a whole country thinks about beer as much as this one.

The anti-bar philosophy

Brick Store was founded by three friends, Dave Blanchard, Mike Gallagher and Tom Moore, who had worked together in Athens, Georgia, and who opened the pub as a deliberate reaction against everything they disliked about American bars. There would be no televisions, no neon signs, no mass-market domestic lager. Instead there would be well-kept, characterful beer poured into the correct glassware, scratch-made pub food, and a warm, wood-and-brick room that felt more like an old European public house than a sports bar.

That restraint was unusual in 1997, and it turned out to be visionary. By stripping away distraction, Brick Store made the beer and the conversation the point, and it attracted exactly the kind of curious, engaged drinker who would fuel the American craft-beer boom over the following decades. The philosophy has never wavered, and it is the reason the pub still feels timeless rather than dated. Walk in today and the priorities are identical to opening night: the liquid in the glass, the food on the plate, and the people at the table.

The upstairs Belgian Beer Bar and the cellar

The heart of Brick Store's reputation is upstairs. The Belgian Beer Bar is a dedicated room devoted to the beers of Belgium, Trappist ales, lambics, saisons and more, and it is one of the finest showcases of Belgian brewing anywhere in the United States. It is quieter and more contemplative than the main pub, the sort of room where you settle in to taste something rare rather than knock back a pint.

Behind that program sits a serious cellar. Brick Store can hold on the order of a thousand beers at a time, including aged and rare bottles that reward drinkers who like to explore. The pub was even instrumental in making that cellar possible: its founders campaigned for the 2004 Georgia law that raised the state's cap on beer alcohol content, opening the door to the strong Belgian and specialty ales that had previously been illegal to sell. In other words, Brick Store did not just curate great beer, it helped change the law so that Georgians could drink it at all. That advocacy is part of why the pub is woven so deeply into the story of Southern beer.

A pub the beer world takes seriously

The accolades are real and citable. CNN produced a segment openly asking whether Brick Store was the best beer bar in America. Forbes named it Georgia's entry in a survey of the best craft beer bars in every state. RateBeer users have repeatedly ranked it among the best beer bars in the country. And in 2016, in the honour that best captures its standing, all three owners were knighted by the Belgian Brewers' Guild, made Knights of the Brewers' Mashstaff, for their work promoting beer culture, a genuinely rare distinction for an American publican.

Perhaps the clearest signal of Brick Store's place in the global beer community is that it hosts Cantillon's Zwanze Day. Each year the legendary Brussels lambic brewery, our number one, releases a special beer simultaneously at a small, carefully chosen list of the world's best beer bars, and Brick Store has long been one of the American venues trusted to pour it. When the greatest brewery on earth picks the rooms it wants representing it, Brick Store is on the list. That is a stronger endorsement than any award.

Decatur Square and the room

Brick Store sits at 125 E Court Square, anchoring the historic square in Decatur, a walkable, independent-minded city that adjoins Atlanta and is easily reached by MARTA rail. The setting is part of the charm: a handsome old building on a genuine town square, surrounded by bookshops, restaurants and the kind of civic life that has made Decatur one of the most beloved corners of metro Atlanta. The pub is widely credited as a founding pillar of the city's, and the wider Southeast's, craft-beer culture.

Inside, the mood is exactly what the anti-bar philosophy promises: exposed brick, worn wood, low light and the hum of conversation rather than the blare of screens. The main level is a lively pub; the upstairs Belgian bar is calmer and more reverent. It manages the difficult trick of being both a genuine neighbourhood local and an international destination, and it wears both roles lightly.

The food

Brick Store has always taken its kitchen as seriously as its taps. The food is scratch-made pub fare designed to go with beer rather than to upstage it, the sort of cooking that rewards a thoughtful pairing and keeps you at the table for another round. In a category where too many beer bars treat food as an afterthought, Brick Store's commitment to a proper kitchen is part of what has kept it beloved for so long, and part of why it functions as a real restaurant as much as a bar.

Why it mattered to American beer

To appreciate Brick Store fully, remember what American beer looked like in 1997. Craft brewing existed, but it was a niche within a market still overwhelmingly dominated by light industrial lager, and most bars reflected that, big screens, big brands, little curiosity. A pub that refused all of it, poured Belgian ales in proper glassware and treated beer with the seriousness usually reserved for wine was genuinely countercultural. Brick Store helped prove there was an audience for that seriousness, and dozens of the beer bars that followed across the South and beyond were built in its image.

That founding role is a big part of why the pub sits so high on a global list rather than merely a local one. Great beer bars do not only serve their customers; they shape a scene, train a generation of drinkers and raise the standard everyone else is measured against. Brick Store did all three in a region that, at the time, had very little craft-beer culture to build on. Two and a half decades later, Atlanta and the wider Southeast have a thriving beer scene, and much of it grew in the space this pub opened up.

A day in Decatur

One of the underrated pleasures of a Brick Store visit is that it slots into a genuinely lovely day rather than demanding a special trip. Decatur Square is one of metro Atlanta's most walkable, characterful corners, independent bookshops, restaurants, a farmers' market and a steady stream of local events, and it is easy to reach from central Atlanta on MARTA rail, which means you can build an afternoon around it without a car. Arrive in the late afternoon, wander the square, then settle in at the pub as the evening crowd builds. Start downstairs with a pint and food, then move upstairs to the Belgian bar for something rarer as the night goes on. Used that way, Brick Store is not just a bar to tick off but the anchor of one of the best low-key days out in the region.

Who it is for

Brick Store is for almost everyone who cares about beer, which is exactly its gift. The Belgian obsessive can spend an evening upstairs chasing rare bottles; the newcomer can sit downstairs with a well-kept pint and good food and simply enjoy a great pub. There is no snobbery and no barrier to entry, just an unusually high standard applied with warmth. It suits solo travellers, dates, groups of friends and out-of-town beer pilgrims equally well. About the only person who will not love it is someone who came hoping to watch the game, and even they may be won over by what is in the glass.

The verdict

We rank Brick Store Pub fourth in the world because it proves that greatness in a beer bar is not only about rarity or heritage, it is also about doing the fundamentals better, and for longer, than anyone else. A quarter-century of no-compromise curation, a Belgian program the whole country looks to, a cellar a thousand bottles deep, a role in changing Georgia's beer laws, a Belgian knighthood and a standing invitation from Cantillon add up to an American classic in the truest sense. It is, by our reckoning, the best beer bar in the United States, and one of the very best anywhere in the world. Two and a half decades on, it remains the room much of the American beer world quietly measures itself against, and it shows no sign of slowing down. Explore more with our Atlanta craft beer guide and Atlanta bar guide.

What to order

• 01

  Whatever's open from the cellar

  Ask upstairs, the rare Belgian and aged bottles are the whole point.

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• 02

  A Trappist on tap

  The Belgian Beer Bar's core strength, poured in correct glassware.

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• 03

  Zwanze Day pour (in season)

  If you visit for Cantillon's annual release, this is a bucket-list moment.

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• 04

  Scratch-made pub food

  Built to pair with beer, order a plate and stay a while.

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