A beer drinker's guide to Boston

The most complete beer bar in Boston. Phenomenal comfort food, great American Craft Ales and the best selection of Belgian beers that I have ever encountered.

Random FYI: they're opening a new restaurant focused on American Craft Ales, BBQ, and Grilled Fish called The Roadhouse -- two blocks down on Beacon St.

Redbones has a real solid selection of beers upstairs and downstairs (Underbones). They have 20 constantly rotating taps with a heavy emphasis on unique microbrews. They seem to always have fresh beers from the Berkshires, NY, and also from the West Coast. They also always keep PBR on the last tap. Why? Because they can.

Cambridge Common seems to have focused on the local New England breweries much more than other beer bars. They always have the latest from Berkshire Brewing Company, Southhampton, Allagash, CBC, Long Trail, Opa-Opa, Otter Creek and more.

Good fried pickles too! Downsides are that sometimes they serve the beer in chilled glasses (why?) and the food is slightly overpriced.

I have a love-hate relationship with Sunset. In short: I love the collossal beer list, that it's great for big groups and the location...but I hate that they always have the same beers, the tap lines aren't the cleanest and it's a relatively uninspiring atmosphere.

Deep Ellum is a lesser known player on the Allston/Brighton beer-bar scene. Tucked away on Cambridge St near the intersection (if you can call it that) of Cambridge St and Brighton Ave, they have a ton of great craft beers and some real good European cuisine (sausages made in-house).

I'm writing this up for the Back Bay location -- but much of the same can be said for the Inman location.

Good food, and a very solid, but unspectacular beer selection. They have a ton of good British beers (Boddington's!), and some good American Craft Ales (they always have some sort of Dogfish).