CRAFTs & Co. pours Phuket Old Town's deepest beer list from a Sino Portuguese building on Yaowarat Road. RestaurantGuru ranks it the number one pub in Phuket across more than five hundred reviews, and the draw is the taps rather than the decor.
Who would love it: beer drinkers who want range, from Belgian classics to American hop forward labels, with simple food to match. Who would find it less their speed: cocktail seekers, because this is a beer house first and the spirit list is short.
The bar holds a casual modern fit out inside a heritage shophouse, with a long counter and tables that fill on cooler evenings. It carries more than eighty draft and bottled beers, including labels such as Vedett, Tuatara, Deschutes, and Stone. The kitchen runs Western pub plates built to pair with whatever is on tap.
The list rotates, so the move is to ask what is new on draft rather than chasing a single label. Beer prices sit in the mid range for the old town, reasonable for imported craft in Thailand. Phuket Insider and Phuket.net both point to the depth of the selection as the reason regulars keep coming back.
The crowd mixes resident expats, visiting beer fans, and old town wanderers who stop in off Yaowarat Road. Evenings are the busy window, with the room steady rather than rowdy. The music and the talk stay at a level where a table conversation still works.
On a Sunday the location pays off, since Yaowarat sits beside the Lard Yai walking street that takes over the old town. That makes it an easy pause between market stalls and the rest of the quarter's bars. The kitchen stays open later than most cafes nearby.
Beyond the draft lines the fridges hold a rotating bottle list that reaches further than most Thai beer bars manage. The RestaurantGuru review count, past five hundred, points to a steady local following rather than a passing trade. The staff know the list well and will steer a flight if you are unsure where to start.
For travellers used to thin beer lists in beach towns, the range here is the reason to cross the island. The bar also pours a short cider list and a handful of local Thai craft labels for those after something closer to home. Prices stay fair given the import costs that push most craft beer in Thailand higher.
Yaowarat Road runs through the heart of the old town, so the bar folds easily into a longer evening across the quarter. Pub plates such as burgers and wings keep the kitchen busy alongside the taps. The room stays comfortable rather than loud, which suits a long session over several pours.
CRAFTs & Co. suits a relaxed beer led evening, a group warm up, or a Sunday market break. For more of the area see our guide to the best craft beer in Phuket, the cocktail bench at Dibuk House, the heritage room at Black Cat Old Town, and the bookshelf bar at The Library.
The deep tap list also makes it a useful benchmark for what craft beer in Thailand can be. Beer travellers tend to return more than once to work through the rotating lines. That repeat trade is what keeps the bar at the top of the local rankings.
Few places on the island take beer this seriously, and the old town setting makes the trip across worth it for anyone chasing a real tap list. Regulars treat it as the default beer stop.