The Best Hidden-Gem Places to Drink of 2025

What does it mean to be a hidden-gem place to drink? That’s a tricky question. Just look at the submissions from the team, and you’ll find a whole variety of answers.

One is an over 300-year-old family-run brewery in Franconia.

Another is a hot-dog-toting dive bar in Pittsburgh.

One is a magical brewpub in Tuscany.

Another is a bottle shop in Stockholm with a book of beers as thick as a Britannica Encyclopedia.

The common thread? These are all places that we almost want to keep to ourselves, whether it’s the dive bar down the street, the nothing-fancy neighborhood taproom, or the low-key cocktail bar in the city.

While our exact interpretations may change, one thing remains the same: We have soft spots in our hearts for these hidden gems, and we almost (almost) don’t even want to share them with you.

But of course, we will.

Below, we pulled together a list of the teams’ favorites. We listed these best hidden-gem places to drink in no particular order because we each love them all in their own way. Of course, any “best” list is open to interpretation, so take these picks with a grain of salt. And if you want to share your favorite place to drink, just hit us up at @hopculturemag.

The Best Hidden Gem Places to Drink in 2025

Brauerei Bayer

Theinheim, Bayern, Germany
Submitted by: Grace Lee-Weitz, Senior Content Editor, Hop Culture

We had an incredible opportunity to host our first-ever Untappd epic beer adventure in Germany. This nine-day trip took fans through the astonishing drinking region of Bavaria and Franconia in Germany. For one of our favorite stops of the entire trip, head to Brauerei-Gasthof “Zum Grünen Baum” Bayer Theinheim (aka Brauerei Bayer), a thirty-minute drive, an hour-and-a-half train ride, or an hour-and-forty-five-minute bike ride west of Bamberg.

Helmed by master brewer Stefanie Bayer, Brauerei Bayer is one of the smallest breweries in Franconia, a region in northern Bavaria that boasts its own distinct culture, cuisine, dialect, and even beer styles (hence: landbier and vollbier). Consider that Franconia is to Bavaria as Scotland is to the U.K., a distinct place with its own identity within a larger amalgamated region.

And the family-run brewery, owned by the Bayers since 1718, proudly keeps things local, sourcing pilsner and Munich malt from Bamberg and hops from Hallertau and Spalt.

Brewing runs in Stefanie’s blood. Her grandad was the last brewmaster, while her uncle also brews, and her dad, Michael Bayer, owns the brewery but helms the kitchen. Since she was five years old, Stefanie has helped out in the restaurant and brewery, cleaning glasses and tapping kegs. When she grew up, Stefanie eventually earned her bachelor’s in brewing at Doemens Academy in Munich, taking over the reins.

The small 40-hectoliter brewery makes about 2,500 to 3,000 hectoliters a year, focusing mainly on just two types of beer—landbier and knörzla, a sort of rustic amber lager whose name roughly translates to a couple of things like “from the woods” or the Franconian word for the end of the bread. Which, with a malt bill of Pilsner, Munich, and caramel malt, is pretty much what this beer tastes like.

But much to the excitement of our group, Brauerie Bayer also has a dedicated sour program, pretty rare for that area, thanks to Stefanie’s uncle, who developed a love for sour beer while traveling in Belgium. They also make special seasonal beers, such as a dark doppelbock for Christmas and a summer ale in the warmer months.

Somewhat coincidentally, while we visited, Hop Culture Social Media Manager Magic Muncie struck up a conversation with a guy wearing an Other Half tee at the table next to ours.

Turns out we had previously interviewed Jose Santos Caro for a different piece on “Everything You Need to Know About Visiting Franconia’s Rich Beer Scene.”

Santos Caro, who estimates he’s visited 300 of the 350 breweries in Franconia, considers Brauerie Bayer in his top ten. He counts himself a regular here and couldn’t have been more stoked that we were visiting. He thinks the landbier is top-notch, giving effusive praise throughout our conversation.

Absolutely delicious, we crushed three or four of these ourselves from their beautiful mugs, making us feel like regulars, even if just for a few hours. Zippy with a whisper of underlying spiciness, the 4.7% ABV beer presented mostly clean malt, with nothing over-the-top.

“It’s very, very easy to drink,” Stefanie almost cautioned us. To truly understand what landbier can be, you must try Brauerei Bayer’s version.

Putting Brauerei Bayer over the top as a true hidden-gem place to drink is its excellent food, still passionately made by Stefanie’s dad. With a focus on fresh and local ingredients, Chef Michael incorporates items like Steigerwald asparagus and wild boar into his seasonal Franconian dishes.

“You can really taste the love in their food,” proclaimed Judy Sees, one of the Untappd enthusiasts on the trip.

The longer we sat at Brauerei Bayer, the louder it got, as more and more locals crowded into the booths around us.

“I just loved listening to those guys behind us,” said Frank Sees, Judy’s other half. “You could just tell they were having a good time.”

And so did we.

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Akkurat

Stockholm, Sweden
Submitted by: John Gross, Next Glass Director, Strategic Business Development

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I was fortunate enough to visit this incredible beer bar right after its thirtieth birthday, and there were so many special collaborations and limited kegs still around that I can only IMAGINE the epic proper celebration.

I’m three decades late to the party of falling in love with the beer culture of Akkurat, but I pledge to make up for lost time by sending as many people to Stockholm as I can!

The neighborhood of Södermalm has no shortage of great beer spots, but hospitality sets Akkurat apart. It was a no-brainer to visit the bar and poke around the cellar multiple times while in Sweden.

The bottle list is about as thick as a Britannica Encyclopedia, and the cellar has Belgian beers as far as the eye can see. Akkurat has made quite an impact on beer lovers over the years, racking up awards for its cask ales, whiskey program, and more.

Akkurat carries the bastion of the heyday of beer. The Fjäderholmarnas Bryggeri hoppy lager MK:7 was made special for the bar’s anniversary and was one of my favorites of my entire Euro trip. I also enjoyed a bottle of Cantillon 20th Anniversary Super Blend; I’m thankful the regulars helped me finish it.

Other standouts from the tapwall included Nyköping Brewing’s Palles Pils (a super-solid and crushable pils) and 0/0 Brewing’s Narangi IPA (hazy, citrusy, and refreshing!).

You’ve been to other gastro-pubby-type places before, but this one is one of the best. They have their own Cantillion blends for crying out loud. Throw in their special “Moules Asia” (made with coconut milk, red curry, and Asian aromatics) and a gracious/knowledgeable team, and Akkurat is truly world-class.

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Crow Bryggeri

Oslo, Norway
Submitted by: Grace Lee-Weitz, Senior Content Editor, Hop Culture

Whoever said black crows are bad luck? Quite by accident, we visited Crow Bryggeri in Oslo during the last day of its Lager Week. Literally, the bartender, who introduced himself to us as Eddie, told us that usually the brewpub’s draft list only includes one or two lagers. When we went, bottom-fermenting beers had commandeered almost all twenty taps.

Those like the bar’s own Black Crow Lager, a smooth, dark, creamy schwarzbier with Saaz and New Zealand Pacific Gem hops.

Since it was a slightly slow day at Crow, Eddie brought this beer to us to try first. We liked it so much that we ordered a whole pint.

As we sipped and read, we struck up a conversation with the guy next to us, who just happened to have lived in California for fifteen years.

Eddie saw us deep in conversation and offered us a little shooter of Norway’s legendary Aquavit, a Scandinavian spirit made with botanicals like caraway, dill, fennel, citrus, and anise.

We suppose the incredible hospitality here could have clouded our judgment (or maybe it was the Aquavit), but beer tastes better with great conversation and good friends, right? Even those you’ve just met.

We can’t say that Crow Bryggeri is like this every day, but for its hospitality, damn fine beer, and fantastic conversation, we have to name this Oslo-based brewery as one of our favorite hidden-gem places to drink in 2025.

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Bob’s Laundry and One Pint Pub

Helsinki, Finland
Submitted by: Grace Lee-Weitz, Senior Content Editor, Hop Culture

We actually had a tough time narrowing down just one hidden-gem place to drink in Helsinki, Finland.

We traveled to this Nordic capital as a part of a Baltic States beer trip that included Tallinn, Estonia, and Riga, Latvia.

So, we’re cheating a bit here and including two of our favorites!

One Pint Pub

The nondescript One Pint Pub is a little hard to find, tucked into the corner of what looks like an office building sitting alongside a tiny canal.

But those willing to venture a little farther afield will find a packed pub that’s clearly a locals’ watering hole.

As SalamaNation’s general manager, Aleksi Laurila, told us, “It’s an OG place. They were the first ones to bring special beer into [Helsinki] in the late ‘90s.”

While Carlsberg and Fuller’s coasters plaster the ceiling, you’ll find plenty of craft beer here (although Krombacher did seem to be a favorite group order). We snagged a seat at the tiny bar and settled in with a pint of Olarin Panimo Red Neck.

For thirty minutes, we watched a steady stream of those speaking mostly in Finnish (and a few in English) order hoppy pints of Olarin Panimo Jarmo DDH IPA, Krombacher Pils, and even an occasional Andechs Weissbier Hell.

With the smell of wood, sweat, and beer everywhere, local newspapers littering the bar, and a corner of used board games beckoning, we could have believed we were in a pub on the corner of any London street—the only thing missing was a fireplace and some British banter.

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Bob’s Laundry

When we build drinking guides for any new city we visit, we reach out to folks we know who live there for suggestions, we find recs from our friends on Instagram, and we do some good old-fashioned research ourselves from our sister brands like Untappd and BeerAdvocate.

And then sometimes, we just stumble into places serendipitously.

Those like Bob’s Laundry, a tiny, almost subterranean bar with killer cocktails, small Asian-inspired bites, its own beer, and a laundromat.

Yes, you read that correctly. Walk into Bob’s Laundry and you’ll think it’s laundry day at the Flip N’ Fold. (Which we needed at this point in our trip, since we’d already been traveling for a week.)

But walk past that second door, and you’ll find a legit place to drink. We thanked our lucky socks for having to do laundry because we found a true hidden gem.

While you’ll find a series of sensational cocktails here (all printed on a linen menu that could be cut straight from a laundry bag), we enjoyed the eponymous beer—Bob’s Laundry.

Brewed by Kakola Brewing Company, this Japanese rice lager, as the bartender explained to us, is meant to be easy-drinking, crisp, and light enough to enjoy a few of while you fluff and fold.

Which is precisely what we did.

We’re saying it here first: Please bring the bar-with-a-laundromat trend to the States.

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Good Dog Bar

Philadelphia, PA
Submitted by: Dustin Jeffers, Vice President, Brewery Product & Experience, Next Glass

With Craft Brewer’s Conference in Philly next year, it feels only right to shout out one of my favorite local spots. Sure, Monk’s Cafe will always hold GOAT status, but when it’s packed with East Coasters chasing Pliny pours, walk just five minutes north to Good Dog Bar.

This three-story neighborhood staple nails the essentials: a thoughtful local beer list, genuinely great food, and plenty of room to shoot pool or just hang out.

I’ve said it before, Philly is the best beer city in the country, and Good Dog is one of the bars that prove it. Add it to your must-visit list next time you’re in town.

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Bottlerocket Social Hall

Pittsburgh, PA
Submitted by: Aaron Keefner, Brewery Solutions Consultant, Next Glass

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At Bottlerocket Social Hall in the Allentown neighborhood of Pittsburgh, you walk into a bar/venue, and the wood panel walls transform you back to your grandparents’ basement.

Bottlerocket does a fantastic job of being a well-kept “dive bar” that has something for everyone. You want cheap macro beers? You’ve got it! You want some craft beer? Well, they have that, too. Mixed drinks? No problem!

Plus, they put on events practically every day, from concerts to awe-inspiring comedy shows, karaoke, trivia, etc.

Oddly enough, one of the things that keeps people coming back the most? Hot dogs. BottleDogs is their own hot dog cart that serves a variety of all-beef hot dogs, the perfect snack to keep you hanging around longer than intended.

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Cato’s Ale House

Oakland, CA
Submitted by: Grace Lee-Weitz, Senior Content Editor, Hop Culture

From the outside, you wouldn’t guess that Cato’s Ale House has one of the best beer selections in the Bay Area. The place looks like your average sports bar, but it is so much more.

Pliny the Elder is always on draft. I’ll say that again: Pliny the Elder is always on draft. That’s how you know this place is a hidden gem. Pair that with twenty-two more lines of world-class, often local craft beer, a window that serves food, and great neighborhood events like packed trivia every Monday night, and you’ve got yourself a California classic.

I used to live about a five-minute walk from here; now I’m a twenty-five-minute drive, and it makes me so sad that I didn’t spend enough time here to become a regular.

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La Bottega Matta

Montepulciano SI, Italy
Submitted by: Magic Muncie, Social Media Manager, Hop Culture and Untappd

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Tucked away in the stunning Italian Tuscan wine region, La Bottega Matta is like a dream come true for beer enthusiasts. Just a stone’s throw from Montepulciano, this hidden gem is the ultimate spot to kick back and enjoy an epic beer lineup, along with some seriously delicious proper Italian cuisine. This family-owned brewpub is an absolute gem you can’t miss if you’re in this region of Italy.

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SUMI

Tallinn, Estonia
Submitted by: Grace Lee-Weitz, Senior Content Editor, Hop Culture

Everyone will tell you that if you’re traveling to Tallinn, Estonia, you have to visit Põhjala. And that’s true because it is one of the highest-rated breweries in the Baltic States.

But here’s a little secret: The folks who own Põhjala also opened a new spot this year, SUMI. Coffee and French-focused pastry shop by day and an Asian-inspired small plates restaurant by night, SUMI cooks all its dishes over an open fire, including house-made mochi bread.

Honestly, we didn’t have time to stop here for dinner, but we did grab pastries to go.

SUMI is one of the few places in Tallinn where you can find bagels (which Vahtra likes to buy in bulk and freeze at home) and sourdough donuts, along with a crowd-pleasing ham and cheese croissant. In my pay-it-forward move for the day, I shared these donuts with my traveling group, who devoured them faster than I could say bon appétit.

“Those pastries you gave me,” I texted Põhjala Head Brewer Martin Vahtra. “I shared them with a few folks in our group, and they were gone in like two seconds. Rave reviews!!”

If you do visit for dinner, expect fun, inventive shareable plates—for instance, the salmon tataki with a burnt onion ponzu or fried tofu with Korean chili sauce. Don’t skip out on the hot dog either; it’s a sausage with spicy Korean noodles, cheese, green onion, and mayo on a fresh poppy-seed bun. So definitely not a Chicago dog, but maybe more like a Tallinn dog.

Of course, you’ll also find ten taps of Põhjala beer, which the brewery selects seasonally to pair with the food menu.

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The Free House

Nelson Tasman, New Zealand
Submitted by: Grace Lee-Weitz, Senior Content Editor, Hop Culture

Amen to real ale! You can’t go to Nelson Tasman, New Zealand, without visiting The Free House pub. Period. End of sentence. Don’t argue with us—sermon over.

Housed in an old church, the pub has become an institution in Nelson.

Walk under the wrought vine-covered iron gate, and a cream stucco building with navy and red trim emerges. Round the corner, wooden doors open to what looks like a church hall basement. A corkboard on the wall promotes local events like yoga, and a creaky foldout table sports brochures for Nelson’s Fringe Festival and a free craft beer magazine called the Pursuit of Hoppiness.

Wooden mess-hall-like benches lead to a tiny bustling bar with three beer engines and ten rainbow-colored taps. A decision The Free House Owner Eelco Boswijk made because he says, “I like color!”

We settled into one of the tables with Townshend ESB on cask and an 8 Wired Blossom, an ode-to-spring blonde ale brewed with a bouquet of actual flowers and local Matakana honey.

The Free House evolved sixteen years ago out of necessity.

“There was no craft beer available in Nelson when we opened,” says Boswijk, who first started doing little quarterly beer events, hoping somebody would open a pub. It turns out no one did.

An event with 350 people grew to 1,100 by the eighth one. Clearly, people were interested, with some flying into Nelson Tasman from around the country just for that one night, according to Boswijk. “They were fun days,” he says with a particular cartoon-like gleam in his eye. “People just kept coming.”

Opening The Free House ensured they always had a place to go.

Boswijk has a past as colorful as the taps behind his bar. Born in Nelson Tasman to a family whom several people pointed out to me owned the town’s legendary first coffee house—Chez Eelco coffee house—Boswijk moved to Perth to make clothes. On a trip to buy silk in China in 1987, Boswijk just decided to stay. “I didn’t buy silk; I just spent money traveling,” he laughs. Six months later, Boswijk crossed into Pakistan, where he got sick enough that he had to fly to London to get medical treatment. Within a week of living there, he bumped into a childhood friend while walking down Kensington High Street. Again, he just decided to stay. It’s here that Boswijk developed a taste for real ale.

Sometime later, after our beers are a little lower, Boswijk drops that he’s also lived in the Cayman Islands. I’m confident that if I’d had more time to chat, I would have discovered many more stories.

The Free House is a house built out of beliefs. But not the kind you think.

The little former church we were drinking in hasn’t housed congregants of a religion (other than drinking) since 1998, transforming into a seamstress shop and then someone’s home before Boswijk snapped it up.

“It has been a church of many lives,” my partner quips.

If the secondhand furniture could talk, it would have some stories to tell. Like the old chairs from Starbucks Boswijk points out at a round table nearby. He explains how New Zealand’s proud coffee-drinking culture threw Starbucks out when it tried to come to the country. “They were really cheap,” he says with a smile.

Today, Boswijk calls The Free House a “third space” where people can meet and talk. “We sell beer because it helps people talk to each other,” says Boswijk slyly before admitting that it also “pays the bills.”

But mostly, The Free House is a space for people to connect, “a little oasis shut off from the outside world,” says Boswijk, pointing out there are no screens inside and that the entire sound system for the pub sits in a tiny beatbox up on the wall with a toy car. “Because it’s all about talking.”

In 2021, Boswijk branched out even further, installing a small 400L kettle and 500L tank brewery called the Flavourtorium. Most days, the doors on a used 40ft shipping container that houses the rainbow-jacketed brew kit are rolled up, leaving the kit in plain view for drinkers on the patio.

The small size means The Free House can brew pretty much whatever they want—like the 4.2% It’s Getting Kind Hefe hefeweizen on tap when we visited.

But Boswijk’s love of real ale leads him to call the Flavourtorium’s dark mild the beer he’s most proud of.

“People would sit and drink three, four, five, six pints happily,” he beams.

As we finish our beers, I notice a painting on the opposite wall just over Boswijk’s shoulder. When I ask the world-traveling pub owner, he says it’s called the Last Supper, a personal rendition from a basketball player who plays for New Zealand’s national team. He agreed to loan it to The Free House because he’s always traveling. “It’ll stay here until he’s ready to take it away,” says Boswijk.

This feels exactly right because, at The Free House, you can come as you are, stay as long as you like, talk to people, sit quietly and listen to people, drink a few pints of dark mild, and when you’re ready to go home, hopefully leave a little happier.

Everything here is an answer to our prayers.

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Golding’s Free Dive

Wellington, New Zealand
Submitted by: Grace Lee-Weitz, Senior Content Editor, Hop Culture

A true North American dive bar, Golding’s Free Dive is located somewhere you might not expect: Wellington, New Zealand.

This is the kind of place you want to visit in the later hours of the night, in my opinion.

Pro Tip: Although if you go a little earlier, you can order Neapolitan pizza from Pizza Pomodoro just across the lane.

With strings of Christmas lights on the ceiling, stickers plastered all over the front door, and a huge light-up sign that just says “BEER,” Golding’s has all the markings of a classic dive bar. But you’ll find a little more than just “BEER” here. With the addition of “Free” in its name, Golding’s is a free house, meaning it’s not tied down to contract beer from any one brewery. So you’ll find many local craft breweries on tap, such as Parrotdog Limited Release 25 IPA and Liberty Yakima Monster. There’s also an interesting selection of wines, whiskey, and rum.

If you missed the pizza, order some salty snacks from behind the bar. We had some type of puffy, cheesy thing that I didn’t catch the name of, but again seemed to scream, “You’re in a dive bar!”

True hidden gem (that pretty much everyone in Wellington knows about, and now you do too!).

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