What it is: Located in Little Five Points (L5P), Atlanta’s most eclectic commercial district, this two-time James Beard Foundation nominee reopened in May 2024; renovations they expected to take a couple of weeks lasted two years. New owners made a few cosmetic changes by enlarging some booths, recycling old tables and booths into a barrel ceiling, adding a few more paintings of animals drinking beer, and displaying a previously scattered collection of suitcases—the porter, get it?—as art on one wall. But the very long bar leading to dining in the back is as comfortable a place to contemplate beer as when the pub first opened in 2008.
Why it’s great: “We missed you so much,” a customer tells a bartender on a midsummer Friday, studying a list of 60 draft choices (but only eight hazy IPAs) from 20 states. There are two cask-beer engines and a vintage menu that runs 15 pages. The food is equally impressive, including the goat-cheese fritters and fish and chips that were favorites before, plus new items such as crispy Hen of Woods mushrooms and sausage made from red wine and garlic. Then there are the small touches, such as ice water served in branded shaker glasses from breweries that may or may not still be in business.
Hours: 5 p.m.–midnight, Wednesday–Friday; 11 a.m.–midnight, Saturday & Sunday; closed Monday & Tuesday
Address: 1156 Euclid Ave., Atlanta
Web: theporterbeerbar.com
IG: @theporterbeerbar