What it is: After Hurricane Katrina, Polly Watts transformed the place her father had run as a conventional neighborhood bar—in New Orleans’s Lower Garden District—into the beer-centric mecca it is today. “I liked craft beer,” she says, “but at the time, there was no real place in the city or the state to access that.” Today, the two-story building on the corner of Polymnia and St. Charles offers a draft list of up to 50 beers, ensuring variety as well as freshness, while keeping hundreds of bottles on hand for anyone looking to dive into their stellar cellar.
Why it’s great: By offering round-the-clock hours, the bar never closes—literally. “We’re a different bar to different people,” Watts says. Beer tourists trickle in at daylight hours to try local brews from places such as NOLA Brewing as well as European classics such as St. Bernardus and Cantillon. Medical personnel coming off the night shift may pop in at 6 a.m. for something stronger off the equally robust whiskey list. Regardless when you show, if you’re hungry, try the Dump Truck fries, topped with cheesy béchamel and pulled pork. It’s as absurdly delicious as it sounds. —Beth Demmon
Details
Hours: 24/7/365
Address: 1732 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans, Louisiana
Web: theavenuepub.com