Taipei
Beer & Cheese Social House - NOW PERMANENTLY CLOSED
As the name suggests, the menu consists of beer and cheese. It's a great combination and the grilled cheese sandwiches are slathered with lots of great cheese. There are 10 draft beers as well as refrigerators full of good bottled beer. There is a nice selection of international beer. The house beer is by 886 Brew Co., which is owned by the same person who owns Beer & Cheese. The bar is large and the people are sociable. Credit cards are accepted but there may be a surcharge for the convenience. Since they've moved to the new location, it does not get as busy, at least during the times I've been there. The old location also had twice as many taps pouring fresh beer - 20. They have also eased into a bottle collection of beer that is 90% Evil Twin. There are just a handful of other bottled beers available. Evil Twin makes good beer, but you can find it almost everywhere in the world. I prefer a nice changing variety. Note: The location of this bar changed at the beginning of 2016. Update May 18, 2017: Since B & C moved to their new location a year ago, things slowly went down hill and now it seems this move has cost them. I went here this week and saw that they are permanently closed. Who knows, maybe they'll resurrect some day, but not for now. Location: 117 Keelung Road, Section 2 - NOW PERMANENTLY CLOSED Nearest Metro: Liuzhangli Station, Gold Line or Taipei 101/World Trade Center, Line 2 Updated May '17
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Beer & Cheese
Beer & Cheese Social House
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23 Public
TW 23 Brewing was started in 2014 by 3 guys who love craft beer. I keep crossing paths with one of the owners - first when I was traveling in Arizona and then again a few months later when I was in Taipei at a bar. A couple years after starting their business, they opened a taproom in December 2016 which offers up to 12 of the their beers on tap. The night I visited, they had 10 of their beers and 2 guest beers - 1 Taiwanese and 1 Japanese. This group is definitely in the top tier of brewers in Taiwan. They would be classified as a gypsy brewer since they use a brewery in Hsinchu to produce their beer. The smallish taproom had a steady stream of business while I was there. Simple food is available such as pizza or as the night I was there which was a pop-up vendor offering fresh sausage/brats. Friday and Saturday, they offer some of their beers on cask. There is a meeting area downstairs where groups can get-together. They have weekly events such as open-mike comedy and vinyl night. They've also just started offering a nice selection of sours. I tried them all while I was there and each of them had a unique and very nice flavor. Cash only - no credit cards are accepted. Great place and great beer! Location: No. 100, Section 1, Xinhai Road, Da’an District Nearest Metro: Taipower Building Station, Line 3 (Green) Updated May '17
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23 Public Taproom
TW 23 Taplist
Bar and "Kitchen"
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Eddy's Cantina
Great place, known for only serving Taiwanese craft beer with great Mexican food. I know it is a bit unusual, however the story behind the place is wonderful. I met the owners Eddy and his wife Jo. Eddy came from Canada for soccer. He has Mexican heritage, hence the good Mexican food. Jo is Taiwanese, Eddy never left… Eddy’s Cantina focus’ on only local and only fresh ingredients for food and beer. They had about 15 Taiwanese beers, from 6 different local breweries. The building sits on a corner with indoor seating and 9 outside tables on a patio which wraps around the restaurant. Very relaxing outside. I did laugh a bit when a moped drove up to exchange a small keg. Eddy said they are regular customers.
There are two locations for Eddy's Cantina, however, only the location below has been reviewed. Location: No. 1, Alley 3, lane 450 Zhongshan North Rd, Sec 6 Nearest Metro: Mingde Station, Line 2 (Red) Updated Sep '15 |
Eddy's Cantina
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Beer Geek Micropub
This is a new place; it has only been open a few months. Eddy told me about it. Good collection of Taiwanese craft beer on tap and global craft beers in bottles. Nice bar with a couple of Large TVs tuned into European soccer. Beer Geek is small to medium in size but had a unique local bar/craft beer bar atmosphere. 1F, No. 8, Yongli Rd. Xinyi District Taipei City, Taiwan Mark the owner was tending bar. He was very knowledge about the craft beer community in Taiwan. It was interesting to chat about the growth of craft beer in Taiwan, even though it is not considered a big beer drinking country. Mark is from the UK and while I was there a couple of his buddies stopped by to watch the English football game (soccer).
Location: 1F, No. 8, Yongli Rd. Xinyi District Nearest Metro: Taipei City Hall Station, Line 5 (Blue) Updated Sep '15 |
Beer Geek
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Brass Monkey
Brass Monkey is a large western-styled sports bar and nightlife bar. Not a great place for craft beer, though. The beer list is mostly typical low ABV euro lagers. 11 beers on draft - 3 Taiwan brewed beers and 8 standard international bar beers (Stella, Guiness, Hoegaarden, Carlsberg, etc.). The bottle list included Corona, Heineken, Moosehead, San Miguel and Sam Adams. There were also a couple decent Belgian ales - Duvel and Chimay. Good place for getting together with friends to watch a football game or late night entertainment. Location: 166 Fuxing North Road, Zhongshan District Nearest Metro: Nanjing Fuxing Station, Lines 3 (Green) and 4 (Yellow) Updated Jan '16 |
Brass Monkey
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Corner Office
Small selection of craft beer - just 10 taps and about the same number of bottles. Selection is mostly U.S. domestic with some fairly standard beers, such as Sam Adams. About half of both lists were craft beer selections. The others were typical international selections. But this a still nice place to visit for beer and conversation. English seemed to be the primary language and people were very sociable. The beer choices included a couple local Taiwanese brewed beers from 23 Taiwan Brewery. While there, I struck up conversations with the founders from 23 Brewing Company (who I also met earlier in the year at a brewery in Phoenix AZ) and RedPoint Brewing. Location: Lane 180, No. 8, 1st Floor Guangfu South Road Nearest Metro: Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall Station, Line 5 (Blue) Updated Feb '167 |
Corner Office Bar Area
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L'apèro Beer Shop
Mostly known to locals, you won't find many foreigner's hanging out at L'apèro's bottle shop. But we're helping spread the word about their incredible selection of almost exclusively Belgian beers. There may have been some Dutch beers in the mix, as well. I estimated there to be over 150 bottles of beer, including many vintage selections. As can be seen in the picture, it's mostly beer to-go, but there is a 3-door cooler stocked full of beer if you want to enjoy something there. You can also put a warm bottle in the cooler to cool it down if you will be there long enough. Most of the beer is priced in the range of 3-5 U.S. dollars with a small surcharge to the price if you drink it their. This is probably the most reasonably priced place to drink beer in Taipei, if you like Belgian beer. They also have an extremely large selection of branded glassware from various Belgian breweries. For Belgian beer lovers, like me, this place is a gold mine for quality beer. No food available here, but you can bring it in or order from any of the local restaurants. Location: No. 200, Xing'an Street, Songshan District Nearest Metro: Nangang Fuxing Station, Lines 1 (Brown) and 3 (Green) Updated Aug '16 |
L'apèro
Street View
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ABV Bar & Kitchen
We all know what ABV stands for and that's exactly what the name of this bar and kitchen is named. Mostly know by locals for their food, especially the tapas. But they also have a nice collection of bottled beer as can be seen in the photo. There's no tap beer sold here but their beer collection totals around 150 bottles of international craft beer, with not too much of a generic selection. Significantly higher price that L'apero's, but not overpriced compared to Taipei. One thing I didn't like is that they only offer 30 minutes of free wi-fi. Location: No. 39, Lane 260, Guangfu South Road, Da’an District Nearest Metro: Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall Station, Line 5 (Blue) Updated Aug '16 |
ABV
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