The 10 Best Craft Beer Bars in Buenos Aires

Porteños stopped saying cerveza and started saying birra somewhere in the mid 2010s, and the slang tracked the supply. Argentina had roughly 70 breweries in 2010; current estimates put the figure above 1,000. Buenos Aires drinks a healthy share of the output.

The odd part is that the capital never started this. Cervecería Antares lit its kettles in Mar del Plata in 1998 and spent two decades exporting the brewpub model inland, while Patagonia's German-settled towns supplied the country's older brewing tradition. Buenos Aires arrived late, then made up the distance at speed.

The result is a scene built on street corners rather than industrial estates. Tap lists get chalked onto blackboards in Palermo and Villa Crespo, pints pour as pintas, and the national point of pride is the IPA argenta, a wheat-softened hop showcase the country invented for itself in 2013.

This page ranks the venues worth crossing town for. Below you will find where the bars cluster, how the late porteño clock actually works, and what to order first when you sit down.

Palermo Soho

The cobbled blocks around Plaza Armenia hold the densest run of craft taps in the city, folded between boutiques that shut just as the bars wake up. Cervecería Antares, the Mar del Plata operation that effectively founded Argentine craft brewing in 1998, pours its flagship range at Armenia 1447 alongside German-leaning plates.

The rest of the grid works as a self-guiding crawl, because almost every second corner chalks up a tap list. Ride Line D of the Subte to Plaza Italia and walk south into the grid; ten minutes on foot covers the core, and the walk itself doubles as a menu.

Palermo Hollywood

Cross Avenida Juan B. Justo and the same neighbourhood changes register. Hollywood runs later and louder, its taprooms, with breweries such as Temple and Bronson represented, sharing streets with television studios and parrillas whose smoke drifts past the terrace tables.

Frank's Bar hides here too, a cocktail room behind an unmarked entrance for the hour when hop fatigue arrives. Line D again does the work: Ministro Carranza station sits on the district's edge.

Villa Crespo

Palermo's scruffier neighbour has become the serious drinker's choice, helped by gentler rents and a resident crowd that actually lives above the bars. Desarmadero Bar, at the corner of Gorriti and Lavalleja, made its name on a tap wall given over to independent Argentine breweries.

The barrio also holds 878 Bar, the unmarked room on Thames that pioneered the city's hidden bar movement and still counts among its best rooms of any kind. Line B to Malabia leaves you a short walk from both, and the quieter side streets reward wandering between stops.

San Telmo

The oldest barrio treats beer as furniture rather than fashion, and that is its charm. Its strength is the bar notable, the city government's protected register of heritage cafés, and the ranking above includes two: Bar Británico, facing Parque Lezama at the corner of Brasil and Defensa, and Bar de Cao, west along Avenida Independencia.

Neither pretends to be a taproom, and nobody should want them to. Use Independencia station, where Lines C and E cross, and finish a beer-heavy weekend with an hour under their old ceilings.

Colegiales, Belgrano and the northern corridor

Follow the tracks north west and the taprooms continue through Colegiales, Belgrano and Núñez, residential districts where the brewery count keeps climbing and the queues stay short. The crowds are more local, the terraces wider, and the pace slower than anything in Palermo.

Line D runs the spine of this corridor, with Juramento station serving Belgrano's stretch of Avenida Cabildo. Save it for a second or third night, once the obvious circuit is done and you want porteños rather than tourists at the next table.

What makes a great craft beer bar in Buenos Aires

Independence first. Patagonia pours all over this city, but the brand belongs to AB InBev, and the bars this page rates highly keep their taps for independents: Antares, Rabieta, Peñón del Águila, Blest, Buller and a rotating cast of smaller producers.

Second, a proper IPA argenta. The style emerged in 2013 from meetings of the Somos Cerveceros homebrewers' association, and it is the one beer Argentina can call its own: up to 15 per cent wheat in the grist, Argentine-grown Cascade, Mapuche and Nugget hops, and citrus that runs to grapefruit and tangerine peel. A bar that brews or sources a good one understands the local canon.

Third, the room has to work at porteño hours. A great beer bar here holds a crowd from the after-office slot through to the post-midnight wave without turning into a nightclub, and the best add serious food, because nobody in this city drinks on an empty stomach.

Finally, honest measures and a legible list. The pinta became the standard pour during the boom years; a bar that chalks its board, names its breweries and fills its glasses earns local loyalty fast.

Planning your night

Run on the porteño clock or spend the whole night fighting it. Dinner rarely starts before nine, bars hit their stride near midnight, and weekend closing time is more rumour than rule. Arriving at seven means drinking alone, which some regard as a bonus.

Seasons flip south of the equator. December through February is terrace weather in Palermo and Villa Crespo; June and July justify the stouts and the indoor back rooms. The taps run year round either way.

Booking is mostly unnecessary at taprooms, though hidden rooms such as 878 Bar and Frank's reward planning ahead, and any group of six or more should reserve wherever it goes. Etiquette is simple: order at the counter in taprooms, wait for table service in the heritage cafés.

The Subte gets you there but not home. Line D serves both halves of Palermo via Plaza Italia and Ministro Carranza and reaches Belgrano at Juramento; Line B stops at Malabia for Villa Crespo; Lines C and E meet at Independencia for San Telmo.

You need a rechargeable SUBE card to ride, so buy one early in your trip. The network does not run all night, which means budgeting for a taxi or ride app once the last train goes.

Buenos Aires is now a beer city that happens to be world famous for wine, and the gap narrows every year. Drink the IPA argenta first, judge every bar by the independents on its board, and give Palermo Soho your first night and Villa Crespo your second.

Skip anywhere pouring only macro lager at craft prices; the city has too many good taps to waste an evening. The venues ranked above earn their places by keeping faith with the breweries that built the boom, from Antares' 1998 head start onwards. And finish at least once in a bar notable, because the beer story reads better under old ceilings.

Where can I find the best craft beer near me in Buenos Aires?

If you are staying anywhere central, the honest answer is Palermo. Its Soho and Hollywood halves hold the city's densest run of taprooms, with Villa Crespo one Subte stop away for the more local version, and Colegiales and Belgrano carrying the scene north. San Telmo suits heritage bars more than hop lists, so save it for a slower night. For a ranked list sorted around your location, use our craft beer bars near me finder.

Which neighbourhood is best for a taproom crawl in Buenos Aires?

Palermo Soho, without much argument. The blocks around Plaza Armenia pack taprooms within a few minutes' walk of each other, including the Buenos Aires flagship of Cervecería Antares at Armenia 1447, and Line D drops you at Plaza Italia to start. When Soho tires you, cross Avenida Juan B. Justo into Palermo Hollywood and keep going. Villa Crespo makes the best second night; see the full Buenos Aires guide for more districts worth your evening.

Which independent Argentine breweries should I look for on tap?

Start with Antares, brewing in Mar del Plata since 1998 and the country's acknowledged craft pioneer. Then work through Rabieta, Peñón del Águila, Blest and Buller, independents you will keep meeting on tap walls, plus Buenos Aires taproom names such as Temple and Bronson. One caveat: Patagonia belongs to AB InBev, so it does not count as independent, however often its taps appear. Our craft beer hub explains how we weigh independence when ranking bars.

What beer styles does Buenos Aires do best?

The IPA argenta, the country's own invention. Created in 2013 through the Somos Cerveceros homebrewers' association, it blends pale malt with up to 15 per cent wheat and leans on Argentine-grown Cascade, Mapuche and Nugget hops for grapefruit and tangerine aromatics, landing between 5 and 6.5 per cent alcohol. The BJCP now lists it as provisional style X2, which counts as international recognition. Beyond that, expect solid golden ales, honey beers and stouts once winter arrives.

When do craft beer bars in Buenos Aires get busy, and should I book?

Late, by any other country's standard. The after-office crowd builds through the evening, thins while the city sits down to its ten o'clock dinners, then returns in force after midnight, with Thursday to Saturday the peak. Walk-ins work at most taprooms if you arrive before that dinner wave. Hidden bars and small rooms are the exception, and any group of six or more should reserve. Summer terraces in Palermo and Villa Crespo fill fastest of all.

Is Patagonia cerveza artesanal actually craft beer?

Not by the definition most brewers use. Patagonia is owned by AB InBev, the world's biggest brewer, which is why its bars look so polished and its taps appear across the city. The beer is competently made, and plenty of porteños drink it happily without losing sleep. But if independence matters to you, the ranked bars on this page keep their lines for producers such as Antares, Blest and Rabieta, and the difference shows in the rotation.