Editorial
Knowing how to read a beer menu is the difference between spending twenty dollars on something you hate and finding your new favourite pour. We have spent years at tap rooms, gastropubs, and craft beer bars across three continents, and the menus at the best places can look like a thesis paper. ABV, IBU, SRM, dry-hopped, barrel-aged, New England style, West Coast style: none of it needs to be intimidating once you know what each column is actually telling you.
Alcohol By Volume is the single most useful number on any beer menu. Most beers sit between 4.5% and 9%, but the range within craft brewing is enormous. A session IPA at 4.2% and a Double IPA at 8.7% taste entirely different and land entirely differently by the end of the night. Check this number first and match it to how long your evening is going to run.
International Bitterness Units measure the hop-derived bitterness in a beer. A standard American lager sits around 8 to 12 IBU. A West Coast IPA can reach 70 to 100. What the number does not capture is how that bitterness is balanced by malt sweetness, so a 60 IBU stout can taste far less bitter than a 40 IBU dry-hopped pale simply because the body of the beer absorbs it differently. If you dislike bitter beer, stay below 25. If you enjoy IPAs, 40 to 70 is your zone. Numbers above 80 are for people who drink their Campari without ice.
After ABV and IBU, the beer style is the third column worth reading. Most menus describe the style along with a tasting note in 8 to 15 words. Train yourself to read the adjectives rather than the style name. Words like citrus, tropical, and hazy mean soft and fruity. Words like resinous, dry, and piney mean sharp and bitter. Words like roasted, chocolate, and coffee mean dark and rich.
Any craft beer bar worth its reputation will offer samples. If the menu has left you genuinely uncertain, point at two options and ask for a taster of each. A good bartender will pour you roughly two ounces of both without hesitation. This is not an imposition. It is how knowledgeable staff introduce you to what they have on tap and it takes less than 90 seconds of their time.
When you sit down at a craft beer bar, read the ABV column before anything else. Cross it against the IBU if the menu provides it, then let the style descriptor confirm or adjust your instinct. If in doubt after 90 seconds of reading, ask for a taster. The menu is a tool, not an exam. Any bar that makes you feel otherwise is not worth your money.
The nine bars in this guide all operate their beer programmes with the right philosophy: the menu is there to guide you toward something you will genuinely enjoy, and the staff are there to fill in the gaps. Walk in knowing your ABV comfort zone, stay open to a recommendation, and you will order correctly every single time.
Tom has been writing about craft beer and whisky for 14 years. He has visited over 400 tap rooms across the US, UK, and Europe and has strong opinions about which London pub serves the best cask bitter.