125 Best Places to Have a Beer Before You Die
All About Beer Magazine recently came out with this list of their idea of the 125 best places in the world to have a beer. There are many worthy places on there for sure. But lists like these won't make everyone entirely happy. Here are a few things that stuck out:
1) Of course, the lack of Seattle/Washington places. Stumbling Monk is awesome, but to have that included as the only Seattle place (barely made it at #124) seems wrong. No Brouwer's Cafe? No Uber Tavern?
2) It's one thing for Seattle places not to make it when the rest of the list is filled with great spots, but we scratched our heads at the inclusion of Clark Street Alehouse and John Barleycorn in Chicago, even at Goose Island. But, especially, John Barleycorn. Anyone visiting Chicago should avoid that place at all costs. This Yelp review sums it up pretty well:
John Barleycorn can shampoo my crotch. This place is full imbeciles, lechers, cuckolds, and chodes. I set foot in this bar once, when a friend who I have since cut ties to suggested the idea of going to "this really cool bar in Wrigleyville" -- I have since drawn an invisible line around Wrigleyville and have begun pretending that there is a giant hole in the Earth inside that invisible line. John Barleycorn is one of the reasons I decide to draw that line. On that fated night, the night I was forced to enter that horrifying place...I witnessed some of the most disgusting, shallow, antagonistic, predatory, and foul actions I have ever witnessed in person. The atmosphere of this place is simply unsettling, I will never return...and urge you to avoid it at all costs as well.
3) The inclusion of having a beer atop the Green Monster at Fenway in the top 20, but no mention of having a beer in the bleachers at Wrigley Field on a hot July day. Ok, that one's a bit personal.
Photo thanks to ade_peever on Flickr.
