Walk down the stairs off Trinity Place and Decatur tells on itself. Twain's is where the town has come to shoot pool, hear a band, and drink beer brewed in the back for three decades.
Published Oct 23, 2025 · By Daniel Okafor
Twain's Billiards and Tap sits at 211 E Trinity Place, a few steps off the downtown Decatur square and below street level, where the room opens into a wide hall of pool tables and a long bar. The place opened in 1996 and added a seven-barrel brewhouse in 2006, which makes it Decatur's first brewpub, per the venue's own history and Visit Decatur. The name nods to Mark Twain, and the room carries the same easy, unhurried humor.
This is a community room first and a beer destination second, and it earns a clear spot in the Atlanta craft beer scene. Generations of Decatur regulars learned to play eight-ball here, and the crowd still runs from Emory grad students to families killing an hour before a movie on the square.
The beer is the reason to make the trip rather than wander in. Twain's brews every house beer on draft, and the kitchen runs from-scratch pub food alongside handcrafted cocktails. The Pale Ale, built on Citra and Amarillo hops at 5.5 percent, is the bar's longtime anchor and a local favorite, while the Huzzah IPA leans on Citra, Cashmere, and Tettnang for a brighter, citrus-forward pour. Order a flight if it is your first visit, because the tap list rotates and the staff are quick to steer you toward whatever just kegged. Our guide to the best craft beer bars in Atlanta sets the wider field.
The hall is the other half of the appeal. Pool tables stretch across the floor, with shuffleboard and darts filling the corners, so a slow pint turns into a two-hour night without much planning. Live music lands on the calendar often enough that locals check before they go, and the back of the room shifts louder once a band sets up.
The crowd reads true to Decatur: low-key, talkative, and more interested in a good game and a fresh pint than in being seen. Weeknights skew to regulars and trivia, while weekends pull a younger, fuller house that keeps the tables busy past 11pm. Come for company and a cue, not for a quiet date.
Time your visit to what you want from the night. Early evenings are the move for a calm pint and an open table, while Friday and Saturday reward anyone who likes a packed room and a band. Reviewers on Yelp, where the bar holds hundreds of write-ups, return again and again to the same three notes: the house beer, the pool, and a staff that remembers faces.
What keeps Twain's on an Atlanta list is the thing a newer taproom cannot fake. Thirty years in one basement room builds a kind of trust, and the beer has kept pace with the city's craft scene rather than coasting on history. Judged on its own terms, it is one of the most dependable rooms in the eastern suburbs.
Twain's pairs naturally with Decatur's wider drinking circuit and Atlanta's beer bars. A short walk away, Brick Store Pub carries the deep-cellar beer thread, while Wrecking Bar Brewpub and The Porter Beer Bar keep the house-brewed and rare-tap nights going across town. For the full picture, our roundup of the best bars in Atlanta and the wider Atlanta bar guide set the scene.
