The Best Beer Bars in New Orleans

Jeff "Beachbum" Berry wrote the books that revived tiki culture, and then he went and opened a bar. Latitude 29 sits inside a French Quarter hotel, all mid-century lines and lauhala matting, with a chunky oak bar backed by a tiki map of the world. It leans sophisticated rather than plastic-hula-girl, and the rum and fruit cocktails are the serious kind, made by people who know exactly what they're doing.

1. Difford's Guide 5 stars · Difford's Guide
2. Eater These Are the Very Best Bars in New Orleans
3. The 50 The 50 Discovery

Cooter Brown's is a sprawling Carrollton beer bar where the tap list runs long enough to need a study guide, and the game is always on somewhere. There's a front bar for cocktails, a back bar for local experimental pours, and an oyster counter for people who ordered beer and then had ideas. Boudin balls and shots keep things moving. It's been the place to gather a group for a very long time.

1. Difford's Guide 3.5 stars · Difford's Guide
2. The Infatuation The Best Bars In New Orleans

Frenchmen Street runs on live music, but D.B.A. is there for the beer, the spirits, and the wine, with bands as a bonus rather than the point. Two redwood-lined rooms share a central bar, one leaning lounge, one leaning jazz club, both dim and ceiling-fan slow. The New York sister bar genes show a little, which gives this New Orleans dive a slightly unlikely polish that the regulars seem happy to ignore.

1. Difford's Guide 4 stars · Difford's Guide

Three blocks from Bourbon Street and operating at a different frequency entirely, The Black Penny is a low-key craft beer bar with more than 70 canned options and the kind of room that actually makes you want to stay. One side runs plush leather banquettes against distressed plaster walls; the other is all dark wood and salvaged barge boards behind the bar. The crowd tends to know exactly why they came, and it isn't the tourists.

1. Difford's Guide 4 stars · Difford's Guide

The log-cabin feel is no accident: red wood ceiling, timber-clad walls, and a long solid bar give this neighborhood pub on Magazine Street the warmth of somewhere that's been broken in properly. It draws locals and Tulane students rather than tourists, with around fifty taps pouring everything from Abita Andygator to Belgian ales and American microbrews. A good place to disappear into a beer and feel like a regular by the second round.

1. Difford's Guide 3.5 stars · Difford's Guide