Best-of list · Beer Guide
Tom Callahan's complete guide to how to read a beer menu confidently — ABV, IBU, styles, and how to ask the right questions before you order.
The short answer
9 ranked rooms follow. How we picked is at the end of this guide.
Knowing how to read a beer menu is the difference between spending twenty dollars on something you hate and finding your new favourite pour. We have spent years at tap rooms, gastropubs, and craft beer bars across three continents, and the menus at the best places can look like a thesis paper. ABV, IBU, SRM, dry-hopped, barrel-aged, New England style, West Coast style: none of it needs to be intimidating once you know what each column is actually telling you.
Alcohol By Volume is the single most useful number on any beer menu. Most beers sit between 4.5% and 9%, but the range within craft brewing is enormous. A session IPA at 4.2% and a Double IPA at 8.7% taste entirely different and land entirely differently by the end of the night. Check this number first and match it to how long your evening is going to run.
How we picked
When you sit down at a craft beer bar, read the ABV column before anything else. Cross it against the IBU if the menu provides it, then let the style descriptor confirm or adjust your instinct. If in doubt after 90 seconds of reading, ask for a taster. The menu is a tool, not an exam. Any bar that makes you feel otherwise is not worth your money.
The nine bars in this guide all operate their beer programmes with the right philosophy: the menu is there to guide you toward something you will genuinely enjoy, and the staff are there to fill in the gaps. Walk in knowing your ABV comfort zone, stay open to a recommendation, and you will order correctly every single time.
Tom has been writing about craft beer and whisky for 14 years. He has visited over 400 tap rooms across the US, UK, and Europe and has strong opinions about which London pub serves the best cask bitter.
Last reviewed 2026-04-16 · The editors recheck hours and closures against current local coverage.