Choose your location
Sun / Jan 17
Alternative Rock / Ambient / Bar
Party Earth Review Whether they’re in the mood for delectable chocolate porters or a smoked bacon lager, patrons pining for the perfect hops will fare well at ChurchKey. With more than five hundred bottles, fifty drafts, twenty reserved labels, and five casks at the ready, this cozy bar – located above sister restaurant Birch & Barley – packs ... more
1337 14th Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
20s / 30s / 40s / After Work / Brunch
Party Earth Review Catty-corner to historic Union Station, The Dubliner is a family-owned Irish pub that has been serving up nightly Irish bands, authentic Gaelic grub, and gallons of Guinness since 1974. A large sidewalk patio entices groups of casual tourists or guests at the adjacent Phoenix Park Hotel to fuel up on traditional country ... more
4 F Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
20s / 30s / After Work / Bar / Brunch
Party Earth Review A spacious basement pub with more than five hundred bottled beers and fifty more on tap, Bier Baron Tavern – located under the Bier Baron Hotel – draws a mix of beer connoisseurs, college students, and after-work politicos eager to get down to some serious drinking in this hops and barley heaven. Walls covered in vintage ... more
Bier Baron Hotel
1523 22nd Street NW
Washington, DC 20037
20s / After Work / Arcade Games
Party Earth Review Three-dollar weeknight drink specials and a couple dozen TVs make Lucky Bar a fan favorite for after-work beer and sports – especially soccer, since it is one of the few dedicated soccer bars in DC. Neighborhood regulars, local young professionals, and international tourists with “fútbol” on the brain crowd around the venue ... more
1221 Connecticut Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20036
30s / 40s / After Work / Ambient / Bar
Party Earth Review A delectable menu of seasonal bites and a giant assortment of handcrafted ales lie behind the tall wood doors of Birch & Barley, a haven for sophisticated patrons on the hunt for good food and a lot of brew. With more than five hundred bottled beers, fifty drafts, and five casks at the ready, the venue is a veritable Shangri ... more
1337 14th Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
Anything goes / Bar / Bar Food
Party Earth Review Owned by the same guys behind Tabaq Bistro – U Street’s trendy rooftop tapas joint – The Codmother takes patrons in an entirely different direction, down into a basement haunt that’s all about punk and beer-battered fish. Exposed brick speckled with graffiti and drawings of rock icons like Sid Vicious keep the feeling divey ... more
1334 U Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
30s / 50s Music / 60s Music / Edgy
Party Earth Review Hidden in an unassuming row house, Granville Moore’s is a rustic neighborhood gastropub that prepares a thousand pounds of mussels and potatoes every week – all from a kitchen not much bigger than a walk-in closet. The venue also serves an array of sandwiches and steaks to the hungry regulars who flood in every night, but ... more
1238 H Street NE
Washington, DC 20002
40s / After Work / After Work / DJ
Party Earth Review With beer and cheer o’er flowin’, Kelly’s Irish Times has been a DC staple that’s survived and thrived – and no doubt put up with loads of bad Irish puns – for longer than even the oldest of the old-fart regulars can remember. Pub purists from across the pond might decry the all-American bric-a-brac that dresses the walls ... more
14 F Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
Anyone in need of a proper pub to drop into in-between all the museums, monuments, or day-to-day political life that permeates this town will be happy to discover that Washington, DC pubs are far easier to find than, say, rational thought on Capitol Hill.
Most of the District’s pubs offer great Happy Hour specials, much to the delight of federal employees who routinely get off at the crack of five. The government workforce actually increases DC’s population two-fold during the day, and many of these stressed out staffers, young interns, and burgeoning political bigwigs are in dire need of a pub when they leave work.
Despite its plethora of high-end drinking dens, Dupont Circle has a few great pubs to check out in DC, especially the enormous beer list at Bier Baron Tavern or the three-dollar weeknight drink specials at Lucky Bar. Catty-corner to historic Union Station, The Dubliner in Capitol Hill has been serving up nightly Irish bands, authentic Gaelic grub, and gallons of Guinness since 1974, while awesome new gastropubs and high-end beer pubs seem to pop up along the H Street Corridor every day.
Of course, nothing compares to the sloppy pub crawls that form along 18th Street in Adams Morgan – they don’t call it the “Liquorridor” for nothing – and the U Street Corridor, despite being better known for its live music scene, is also home to several successful DC pubs.
No matter where you end up in the nation’s capital, pubs in Washington, DC help remind all of us that nothing makes a hard day go away like a few frothy pints.