There are plenty of great happy hours that discount food or wine or cocktails. But where do you go when all you want is a heady craft beer at half the price? This list tabulates some of the best beery specials in the city -- some of which mark down top-notch rarities to prices unheard of under normal circumstances. Unless otherwise noted, all beers listed are examples and are subject to change. Bars are listed in alphabetical order.
Sure, you could pay full price for a Half Acre Daisy Cutter or a Ballast Point Ginger Big Eye at 2nd Street Brew House. Or you could be smart and save those for after happy hour while preserving your pennies on $3 pints of Captain Lawrence Kolsch, Ballast Point Long Fin Lager, Saranac S’more Porter, Sierra Nevada Nooner Pils, Starr Hill Debut Double Chocolate Stout and Angry Orchard cider. These specific happy hour beers don’t waver, nor does the $1 discount on all food. Monday - Saturday, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Just like in most of Chinatown, you can stuff yourself off Bar-Ly’s happy hour and spend practically nothing. Here, you’ll have the good fortune of taking half off appetizers, dumplings, sliders, cocktails and super awesome draughts like Lost Abbey Gift of the Magi and Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shutdown Ale. And the timing is perfect for a late-night snack after your early Chinese dinner has left you hungry again – this late night happy hour starts right around when the hunger pangs do. 10 p.m. - 12 a.m.
Bru manager Alex Bokulich sure knows how to stock a beer bar that grabs headlines, and his happy hour makes news (well, ours anyway) with $4 craft draughts and cans. For the entire first hour, he slashes 20% off big bottles and single malt Scotch. $5 starters and wurst sandwiches pair with the suds, as do the $5 wines and $5 house spirits. Monday - Friday, 4 p.m. - 7 p.m.
So you’ve got one of the largest selections of draught beer in the city at City Tap House. What do you do? Grin up a milk mustache with a 16-ounce Terrapin Moo Hoo (described as “chocolate milk in a glass”) for $2 off then order a similarly discounted 16-ouncer of anything else on tap (hello, Bell’s Double Cream Stout). Don’t like beer? House wines are $6 and specialty cocktails are $7 but we’ll take the moustache, ourselves. Daily 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
You could go to Cook and Shaker every day for a year (as we suspect at least one or two of you might) and not encounter the same happy hour beer special twice. Every day bartenders slash the price of two draughts in half and there’s no rhyme or reason to their selections. One April Friday it was St. Benjamin Junto and Uinta Hop Nosh IPA, along with the usual $5 Richmond Punch and half-off bar snacks. But if you go there every day, you already knew that. Monday-Friday, 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Erin Wallace’s sophisticated beer list brings all the beer boys to the yard, and Devil’s Den’s ½ off draughts brings them out before the first bell rings. You could pay a lot elsewhere for Fegley's limited Mandarin Belgian Triple brewed with more than 200 lbs of mandarin oranges or Evil Twin’s limited James Beer brewed with strawberries and olives but Wallace’s everyday low prices brings these beers down to $2.25 and $4.25, respectively. Monday-Friday, 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
You can find better discounts than Fountain Porter’s $1.50 off draughts but there may be no place to drink less expensive rarities from outstanding breweries like St. Somewhere, Perennial, Half Acre, Hill Farmstead, Oxbow, Maine and Jolly Pumpkin. Plus, with a secondary happy hour on weekends from 11am-1pm, you can take advantage of the famous $5 all-day, every-day burger and have yourself a killer breakfast. Monday through Friday, 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
While the real bargain during Jose Pistola’s happy hour is the $10 discount on margarita pitchers (normally $25 for original and $30 for flavored) — but everyone just loves this happy hour so gosh darn much, it had to be mentioned. So in the interest of keeping the theme of this map, know that craft beer cans and Allagash White draughts are $5 during these happiest of hours. Also, a few domestics (ahem, Miller Lite, Yuengling Lagers and PBR) are knocked off to $3 but please, do yourself a favor and down at least a pitcher or two of the hard stuff before you hit any of that. Monday-Friday, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Free beer? What’s better than free beer? Well, we can think of a few things but they wouldn’t be suitable for a family website such as ours. So sample beers to your penny-pinching delight every Monday from 6-8 at Local 44’s Bottle Shop Happy Hour, when a brewery rep comes in to showcase his or her stuff. But don’t take advantage by “sampling” too much. Head to the bar next door for the real happy hour and buy a $3 local draught and a $4 snack.
Here’s your chance to try some new beers at Old Eagle Tavern without bothering the bartender for a million tastes. With draughts at half the usual price, you can sample a 2SP Brewing Antonym Farmhouse Ale for $3 and a 10.5 oz. Weyerbacher Sunday Morning American Imperial Stout for less than $5. Or you can stick with what you know and pay $2 for a domestic bottle. Monday through Friday, 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
You haven’t seen beer deals like this since college. $2 off draught beers at Taproom on 19th means that a $3 Yuengling Lord Chesterfield rings in at just $1, and patrons with snootier palates can stick their pinkies out while sipping a discounted Stillwater Cellar Door or a Birrificio del Ducato Verdi Imperial Russian Stout with hot peppers. Cool down your tongue with a $5 shot of Jameson, a Tap Burger for $2 off or half-price wings and General Tso's Cauliflower. Monday to Friday 5 pm – 7 pm
We didn’t think it possible but The Gaslight owner Jason Chichonski has sculpted a happy hour almost as alluring as his chiseled visage. $3 draughts mean you can drink a Troegs Mad Elf or an uber-hoppy Captain Lawrence Palate Shifter for practically as little as you could buy it in a store. Lots of food is discounted to $4, and several wines and cocktails show off their own good looks at $5 per glass. Monday through Friday, 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
If you haven’t checked out The Irish Pol’s new Market Street digs, you oughta go during happy hour, when most of the 40 beers on tap are sold for just $3. Which beers, you ask? All but the ones with the highest ABVs, we answers. If awesome $3 craft beers aren’t your thing, first of all, why are you reading this list, and second of all, bartenders will pour you a straight shot of booze for the same price. 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
After more than ten years behind the bar at Varga Bar Rich Colli has had plenty of time to craft snappy happy hour specials that bring us ½ off draft beers ($3-$4), house wines ($4.50) and well drinks ($3-$4) like manna dropped from the pin-up ladies painted on ceiling above your head.
Sure, you could pay full price for a Half Acre Daisy Cutter or a Ballast Point Ginger Big Eye at 2nd Street Brew House. Or you could be smart and save those for after happy hour while preserving your pennies on $3 pints of Captain Lawrence Kolsch, Ballast Point Long Fin Lager, Saranac S’more Porter, Sierra Nevada Nooner Pils, Starr Hill Debut Double Chocolate Stout and Angry Orchard cider. These specific happy hour beers don’t waver, nor does the $1 discount on all food. Monday - Saturday, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Just like in most of Chinatown, you can stuff yourself off Bar-Ly’s happy hour and spend practically nothing. Here, you’ll have the good fortune of taking half off appetizers, dumplings, sliders, cocktails and super awesome draughts like Lost Abbey Gift of the Magi and Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shutdown Ale. And the timing is perfect for a late-night snack after your early Chinese dinner has left you hungry again – this late night happy hour starts right around when the hunger pangs do. 10 p.m. - 12 a.m.
Bru manager Alex Bokulich sure knows how to stock a beer bar that grabs headlines, and his happy hour makes news (well, ours anyway) with $4 craft draughts and cans. For the entire first hour, he slashes 20% off big bottles and single malt Scotch. $5 starters and wurst sandwiches pair with the suds, as do the $5 wines and $5 house spirits. Monday - Friday, 4 p.m. - 7 p.m.
So you’ve got one of the largest selections of draught beer in the city at City Tap House. What do you do? Grin up a milk mustache with a 16-ounce Terrapin Moo Hoo (described as “chocolate milk in a glass”) for $2 off then order a similarly discounted 16-ouncer of anything else on tap (hello, Bell’s Double Cream Stout). Don’t like beer? House wines are $6 and specialty cocktails are $7 but we’ll take the moustache, ourselves. Daily 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
You could go to Cook and Shaker every day for a year (as we suspect at least one or two of you might) and not encounter the same happy hour beer special twice. Every day bartenders slash the price of two draughts in half and there’s no rhyme or reason to their selections. One April Friday it was St. Benjamin Junto and Uinta Hop Nosh IPA, along with the usual $5 Richmond Punch and half-off bar snacks. But if you go there every day, you already knew that. Monday-Friday, 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Erin Wallace’s sophisticated beer list brings all the beer boys to the yard, and Devil’s Den’s ½ off draughts brings them out before the first bell rings. You could pay a lot elsewhere for Fegley's limited Mandarin Belgian Triple brewed with more than 200 lbs of mandarin oranges or Evil Twin’s limited James Beer brewed with strawberries and olives but Wallace’s everyday low prices brings these beers down to $2.25 and $4.25, respectively. Monday-Friday, 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
You can find better discounts than Fountain Porter’s $1.50 off draughts but there may be no place to drink less expensive rarities from outstanding breweries like St. Somewhere, Perennial, Half Acre, Hill Farmstead, Oxbow, Maine and Jolly Pumpkin. Plus, with a secondary happy hour on weekends from 11am-1pm, you can take advantage of the famous $5 all-day, every-day burger and have yourself a killer breakfast. Monday through Friday, 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
While the real bargain during Jose Pistola’s happy hour is the $10 discount on margarita pitchers (normally $25 for original and $30 for flavored) — but everyone just loves this happy hour so gosh darn much, it had to be mentioned. So in the interest of keeping the theme of this map, know that craft beer cans and Allagash White draughts are $5 during these happiest of hours. Also, a few domestics (ahem, Miller Lite, Yuengling Lagers and PBR) are knocked off to $3 but please, do yourself a favor and down at least a pitcher or two of the hard stuff before you hit any of that. Monday-Friday, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Free beer? What’s better than free beer? Well, we can think of a few things but they wouldn’t be suitable for a family website such as ours. So sample beers to your penny-pinching delight every Monday from 6-8 at Local 44’s Bottle Shop Happy Hour, when a brewery rep comes in to showcase his or her stuff. But don’t take advantage by “sampling” too much. Head to the bar next door for the real happy hour and buy a $3 local draught and a $4 snack.
Here’s your chance to try some new beers at Old Eagle Tavern without bothering the bartender for a million tastes. With draughts at half the usual price, you can sample a 2SP Brewing Antonym Farmhouse Ale for $3 and a 10.5 oz. Weyerbacher Sunday Morning American Imperial Stout for less than $5. Or you can stick with what you know and pay $2 for a domestic bottle. Monday through Friday, 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
You haven’t seen beer deals like this since college. $2 off draught beers at Taproom on 19th means that a $3 Yuengling Lord Chesterfield rings in at just $1, and patrons with snootier palates can stick their pinkies out while sipping a discounted Stillwater Cellar Door or a Birrificio del Ducato Verdi Imperial Russian Stout with hot peppers. Cool down your tongue with a $5 shot of Jameson, a Tap Burger for $2 off or half-price wings and General Tso's Cauliflower. Monday to Friday 5 pm – 7 pm
We didn’t think it possible but The Gaslight owner Jason Chichonski has sculpted a happy hour almost as alluring as his chiseled visage. $3 draughts mean you can drink a Troegs Mad Elf or an uber-hoppy Captain Lawrence Palate Shifter for practically as little as you could buy it in a store. Lots of food is discounted to $4, and several wines and cocktails show off their own good looks at $5 per glass. Monday through Friday, 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
If you haven’t checked out The Irish Pol’s new Market Street digs, you oughta go during happy hour, when most of the 40 beers on tap are sold for just $3. Which beers, you ask? All but the ones with the highest ABVs, we answers. If awesome $3 craft beers aren’t your thing, first of all, why are you reading this list, and second of all, bartenders will pour you a straight shot of booze for the same price. 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
After more than ten years behind the bar at Varga Bar Rich Colli has had plenty of time to craft snappy happy hour specials that bring us ½ off draft beers ($3-$4), house wines ($4.50) and well drinks ($3-$4) like manna dropped from the pin-up ladies painted on ceiling above your head.
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