Latest reviews from Portsmouth
| 70 /100 165 HIGH ST “Nice place in downtown Portsmouth. They do flights and they have 8 taps with all own beers. Good to get new NH ticks.“ |
| 74 /100 459 ISLINGTON STREET, NUMBER 4 “Pretty good place in Portsmouth. Located in the back of a commercial building housing a plumbing company, this place has all you need: lots of parking , big patio with basketball court, nice modest taproom, beer and …hot dogs. So ended up doing a beer and hot dog tasting! Beers were well done if nothing special . Menu had 6 hot dogs, sandwiches, and dips. Flight of 4 for 10$.“ |
| 74 /100 165 HIGH ST “Small place, I came in through an alley entrance. Small patio. Looks like an old workshop of some sort. Bar and high tables, rustic, worn vibe. Good music! Great service too. Beer was hit or miss. Fun little, quirky place“ |
| 76 /100 56 MARKET STREET “Large storefront brewpub right in downtown. Long bar and multiple seating options, inside and out. Flights available. Good service. Food menu.“ |
| 78 /100 909 ISLINGTON STREET - SUITE #12 “Hidden in the back of an industrial building with a ton of charm. Service is attentive. Beer is tasty, but not a huge selection. Fun stop in Portsmouth“ |
| 70 /100 Portsmouth Gas Light Co. (Restaurant) 64 MARKET ST “Pizza joint on steroids. Service is fine. Pizza is good. Beer selection is not huge, but has a lot of Easter eggs.“ |
| 72 /100 Row 34 - Portsmouth (Restaurant) 5 PORTWALK PLACE “Hipster seafood joint. Food is good, if you like seafood. Service is decent. Beer selection is curated and really seasonal. Overall, an overpriced but good place.“ |
| 78 /100 459 ISLINGTON STREET, NUMBER 4 “Quick lunchtime visit on a Saturday. Small tap room with a decent sized outdoor beer garden. Had a nice vibe to it, the beer was good and they had a decent selection of affordable bar food.“ |
| 72 /100 909 ISLINGTON STREET - SUITE #12 “Nice looking tasting room with outdoor seating in the back. Stopped in during the day and no other customers were there. The beer was good but there was no food available.“ |
| 80 /100 WHYM Craft Beer Cafe (Restaurant) 3548 LAFAYETTE RD “Relocated to Rt 1 in Hampton. Due to COVID restrictions, outdoor dining was the only option. Inside was a nice open bar and casual space. Good selection of interesting and rare local beers. Food was decent.“ |
| 74 /100 165 HIGH ST “Small place, kind of a hole in the wall. Good ambiance with a bunch of cool decorations hanging all over the joint. Food is absolutely fantastic, service is good, actually a really cool place to hang out.“ |
| 60 /100 56 MARKET STREET “Nice brewpub in the heart of downtown Portsmouth. They had multiple of their own selections on tap along with a few guest taps. The beers and food were both OK. Nothing stood out as fantastic. Service was great!“ |
| 86 /100 21 CONGRESS ST “Right downtown in Portsmouth with a homey setting. Selection is excellent, with 100 taps - something for everyone. Service was excellent, though it was lunch, so the place wasn't full. Food is good.“ |
| 76 /100 165 HIGH ST “I haven't been here since they were just a home brew shop and massage parlor, glad to finally get to check out the place that makes all the fine beer I've had elsewhere. Somewhat industrial space with a small square bar area as you walk in. There's an outside beer garden with twice the space and most tables have shade. A dozen beers on tap and only one gruit today. I had a great strawberry blond and a really nice stout here today. They have food looks like dogs and sandwiches. We didn't try any but they looked interesting. Cans and bottles to go. Seems priced in line with the area. Most taps $6 North country cider is $8 a can for some reason. Id go back for the beer or to try one of the hot dogs.“ |
| 62 /100 Ri Ra (Bar) 22-26 MARKET SQUARE “Located in an old bank building in downtown Portland, this place has stunning architecture and really cool vibe. The beer list, on the other hand, is pretty basic with lots of BMC and ordinary Irish pub options. Not really a craft beer destination but it's one of the few places in Portsmouth that stays open relatively late.“ |
| 70 /100 WHYM Craft Beer Cafe (Restaurant) 3548 LAFAYETTE RD “Located about 5 miles south of downtown in the back of a motel complex. Inside has a very small bar area but also a number of tables a well. They had maybe 14-16 drafts on during my visit almost all of them some form of IPA which I think is the theme for the month. Most of the beers were local, within 2 hours, craft. Service was attentive.“ |
| 42 /100 New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet (Beer Store) 605 US 1 BYPASS “State liquor store with about 300 different locations in New Hampshire. You can find cider and mead here, No beer. I have absolutely no idea why the hell this was added to the site.“ |
| 84 /100 165 HIGH ST “Nice homey converted warehouse space. Service is polite and prompt. Beer is good and a number of interesting selections. Food is so-so and it is pricey.“ |
| 76 /100 459 ISLINGTON STREET, NUMBER 4 “As noted elsewhere, a little tucked away/hard to find with just enough parking for a busy Saturday. Seems unassuming enough with the dimly lit, musty hallway noted by radarsock but once you open the door, boy was there a party inside! It reminded me of the car ad in front of the waterfall where you can't hear anything from inside the car and upon opening the door it's loud. Liars' Bench wasn't LOUD (meaning too loud) but was the appropriate amount for a high-energy, happening place appropriate for early evening before a night out (which is was). Not a Sunday-afternoon-bring-the-kids-vibe (at least not at that time). 8 taps, several different styles, which made things interesting, and most were decent to above average. If these guys keep experimenting, I think they'll find magic. Friendly, prompt service. Nice that flights are available (but remember to "lift" the flight before moving, as the bartender recommends, or the glasses will topple :-).“ |
| 50 /100 Garys Beverage (Beer Store) 165 DEER STREET “Typical convenience store. Beer selection is OK, not great - solid for a convenience store. Everything else is Meh.“ |
| 72 /100 459 ISLINGTON STREET, NUMBER 4 “Traditional "brewery built into a former industrial building" motif. Beer is decent, not exceptional. Service is good. Best part of this place is their annual Bockfest in March, which is excellent.“ |
| 72 /100 105 BARTLETT STREET “Nice ambiance that borders North Mill Pond. They have some seating that overlooks the pond with some additional seating on the main floor area. Prices are about pair for the area in both samples and 4 packs to go. The main focus of this brewery is IPA's. They do occasionally put out a different style but know you will be drinking IPA before you go to the counter.“ |
| 84 /100 56 MARKET STREET “Located in downtown Portsmouth, the Portsmouth Brewery is a brewpub with a regularly changing rotation of beer, as well as a some local beers on tap. Food is good, service is OK. Best place to stop for craft beer folks in downtown Portsmouth.“ |
| 68 /100 56 MARKET STREET “Right in the heart of downtown, the taproom has a cool rustic, old-town feel to it. 8 house beers on tap, plus some guests. Flights of all 8 available for just $10. Beer quality was fairly average, with nothing really standing out. Super friendly service. Worth a stop when in town.“ |
| 58 /100 165 HIGH ST “Right downtown and just a few blocks from Portsmouth, this is a quaint little place. 10 house taps plus 4 guest taps on when we visited. Flights of 6 available for $12. Beer styles were whacky, with a couple of gruits on. Wasn’t enamoured with the beers, but a few were done alright. Not a top spot, but maybe worth a look.“ |
| 50 /100 459 ISLINGTON STREET, NUMBER 4 “Just across the train tracks from Great Rhythm, this is a decent stop. 8 house beers on tap, but none of the more ambitious styles on, so it wasn’t memorable in this sense. Decent service and comfortable enough, just not a highlight.“ |
| 70 /100 105 BARTLETT STREET “This was perhaps our favourite brewery stop in Portsmouth. Beautiful location across from a lake and quite tranquil. Modern and nicely decorated tasting room, with 6 house beers on tap. 4 oz tasters available for $2-3. They specialize in hazy IPAs and two of them were spectacular, the other two being good too. Super friendly service. Highly recommended visit.“ |
| 70 /100 WHYM Craft Beer Cafe (Restaurant) 3548 LAFAYETTE RD “Oddly located off a main road and then further in the lot across from a motel or something. Once you get inside the bar, it feels more usual. Quite intimate and nicely set-up. Small, well-curated taplist, with some bottles of mead available as well. No flights or small pours, though the bartender was happy to make an arrangement for us. Prices are okay for a bar. Worth a stop.“ |
| 76 /100 105 BARTLETT STREET “Quite large brewery with small taproom. Nice straight view to brewery from taproom. 8 beers on tap (7 of them was IPA so you know what is the mission of this brewery). Alpha acids in the air with gentle rock music. Cans to go. IPAs were great. Some merchandise also available. If you like IPAs and casual atmosphere this is place for you.“ |
| 70 /100 Portsmouth Book and Bar (Bar) 40 PLEASANT ST “Very beautiful building! Strange combination of bar, small lunch restaurant and book store. 8 beers on tap all of them fresh locals. Nice easy hippie music in the background. Sandwich was huge, very cheap but little bit of boring.“ |
| 62 /100 British Beer Company (Bar) 103 HANOVER ST. AT PORTWALK PLACE “Pretty big place just next to my hotel. Alsays nice to see lots of Fuller's beers in town. Some local beers on tap too but nothing special. Would I come here again? Probably not because there is nothing exciting in beer sensitive way. According to posters they do have some special brewery nights.“ |
| 70 /100 459 ISLINGTON STREET, NUMBER 4 “Quite small place in strange neighborhood. 6 taps and some different sausages for food. Beers were light but clean and drinkable so this one is brewery I would call sessionable. 4 oz pours and bigger glasses available. There was pretty cool old blues band playing music and it wasn't too loud which is always a good thing. For tick hunter there is six cheap ticks and nothing more but I had to take one big pint and enjoy the atmosphere.“ |
| 70 /100 56 MARKET STREET “Pretty big place but little bit of boring. Food was good. Their own beers quite mediocre but still place is worth of visiting. Own room for merchandise in the entry.“ |
| 84 /100 WHYM Craft Beer Cafe (Restaurant) 3548 LAFAYETTE RD “Arrived little bit of too early and it wasn't still open and decided to walk away. Luckily changed my mind and turned because this place is a hidden gem. Building itself is pretty strange combination. 10 taps but everything was in great shape and IPAs were excellent. Met guy who probably was owner, great guy and gave me in fact extra can with me when I left the place. It was very early and it was Tuesday so it wasn't crowded but I would imagine that this one is pretty popular place. One of those places you would like to have in your own neighborhood walking distance from your home.“ |
| 86 /100 165 HIGH ST “Visited on quiet Monday but small place was quite packed up. Door is on the alley and gives cold chills but no reason to back up. 14 taps (11 own beers and 3 from visiting breweries). Half pours and 4oz pours available. Growler fills and some merchandise too. Strange combination of gruits, traditional ales and IPAs. Even sahti on tap but actually I think it was not real sahti but one of those heavily "junipered" American sahtis. Interesting charmful hippie music from 60-70. Very interesting place and actually Iiked this one very much. Reminds me from one of my favorite bars in Finland. Must place for hardcore beer travelers.“ |
| 80 /100 21 CONGRESS ST “Huge place, 116 taps (didn't count, reads in front window), walls full of huge tv screen showing sports. Pizza (ribs & mushroom) was great. Tap list is pretty versatile so definitely worth of visiting but probably very place sometimes. Samples were all with different price and some of them quite say but gotta say that most of the IPAs weren't fresh“ |
| 78 /100 459 ISLINGTON STREET, NUMBER 4 “What I like best about Liars' Bench, is its cozy unassuming nature. The actual bar is hiding inside an entirely unrelated business park plaza building whereupon you must go through an entrance, walk down a musty-scented pathway, eventually finding a door marked "Beer" in black ink at its center. Inside you're greeted with aesthetically pleasant wooden barroom floors, giving little suggestion as to how astoundingly delectable the beer in all honestly is. Most all of their taps were sessionable in one way or another and they all had a certain "wow!" factor keeping me intangibly interested. Highly drinkable farmhouse ales that were succinct yet delivering plenty of sublime punches to their performances. My only meaningful criticism is that finding it can be a chore. Perhaps I also disliked how beer was the sole thing to consume.
“ |
| 72 /100 21 CONGRESS ST “Thirsty Moose - Portsmouth virtually represents every county in New Hampshire, sparing little unused ambition. Delectable burgers, groovy 80s tunes, and of course their famously splendid beer selection. It goes without saying that a lot of it comes from the granite state itself. It’s picked and put on the list. Always features appreciable NH entries. Parking n this side of town is a scary nightmare - it’d be best to simply leave your car at the Hanover Garage and walk to Congress. Finding a bar stool wherein yelling over the nearby sports events on TV is a difficult, irritating challenge. But it can be done if you arrive early enough.“ |
| 68 /100 Portsmouth Gas Light Co. (Restaurant) 64 MARKET ST “The renovation this place underwent is amazing considering that a good chunk of it was in flames roughly 2 years ago. Solid selection. Come for grilled delicacies, sexy fatass pizzas and swanky beers but stay for the music and nightclub scene. Leave early, though. It’s a mess after midnight, holy shit.“ |
| 72 /100 Portsmouth Book and Bar (Bar) 40 PLEASANT ST “This is where you go for a proper date. Pegging is in the table now.
You’ve got this.“ |
| 66 /100 Ri Ra (Bar) 22-26 MARKET SQUARE “Ambiance is great, as a few have mentioned already. The draft was a little plain on the day I visited but the Irish jig group saved my experience, as did their scrumptious fish and chips. One of the more inviting hangout locations Portsmouth has to offer.“ |
| 78 /100 165 HIGH ST “Stopped for dinner and drinks on a Sunday in late June 2016. Cool intimate space. Bar seats about 8, tables for another 20+. Decent crowd, but not crowded. Seven of their own beers, and seven guest taps when I went.
Food menu seemed a touch high on a few items, but our bowls (lotus, and jambalaya) were pretty awesome. As my wife reminded me, we all too often think “like Americans” and expect price to reflect quantity, not quality. The food price here reflects the latter, and the quantity is enough to feel sated, especially while drinking. For having “only” seven of their own beers on, they cover a nice array of styles, with a saison, a kolsch, two sour gruits, a weizenbock, porter, and an IPA. The guest taps offered a few more styles, and a cider. Worth a stop, and this may fit in our travel plans for dinner stops in the future.
“ |
| 78 /100 Row 34 - Portsmouth (Restaurant) 5 PORTWALK PLACE “It looks like a sibling of the Row 34 location in Boston. Lots of polished steel and wood. great oyster and seafood menu. They have a lot of craft option but there not nearly as adventurous and unique as what they offer in Boston. Still it’s a lovely place to have a meal and watch a game.“ |
| 74 /100 165 HIGH ST “This place has hired two brewers assigned with overlooking two different brewing methods. One primarily does ales: typically, IPAs/DIPAs, porters, stouts, browns, and English-based bitters. The other is a forager, who is often responsible for disgusting herbal throw-up beer prevalent in the 12th century. I really did enjoy the sour beer they made with sweet gale, it’s just when they have a wormwood, anise and pine bark ale on along with four other beers that taste nothing else but Everlcear and toothpaste, I start to worry. I’m really glad to see that they finally fixed their flight glass problem. If you had ordered a flight a few years ago chances are high they came in these big chunks of wood with the wrong sizes for the holes. The glasses often would get stuck and took quite a bit of prying to get them loose. It was frustrating to say the least but also managed to be mildly amusing among wildly drunk patrons including myself. Sandwiches were just plainly alright when the kitchen first opened, and they were pricey too. A few years whoosh by and their sandwich game has been stepped up thoroughly, totally worth the price they’re asking for. Their IPA bases are astonishingly good and juicy. Yeah, it’s a young white hipster’s paradise. And I don’t even mean this as an insult. The people who come in for drinks are generally always ridiculously friendly and engaging. Only a small portion are pompous windbags. Bartenders know their shit, though it’s usually not totally free from at least somewhat impatient sass directed at order-lingering customers who say "um..." upon looking at their menus after sitting down. Cool decor, fun, jiving music (live music is a nightly thing now). I’ll be back most certainly. I felt like I was swimming against a heavy current just to walk up to the bar. This place has always been crawling with people, and sometimes their pets, even. I mean, this is Portsmouth after all. A tiny operation serving gruits and IPAs will now be trendy because of its uniqueness. Not necessarily "bad", but it also doesn’t really mean anything. My brain has this habit of unintentionally questioning whether or not they started brewing gruits just to be different, or because they genuinely believed that they could make a great addition to the style. And for as much I know, they have. However, I don’t think that I’m ever going to not worry about if new gruits on their tap line will actually be worth it or a revolting mess. I’ve had a lot of strange, uninteresting, and nasty Medieval-resurrected beer at this place, some of which I’d prefer not to remember. But you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, I guess.“ |
| 70 /100 Portsmouth Book and Bar (Bar) 40 PLEASANT ST “Used bookstore that also serves snacks, coffee, beer, and wine. Selection is mostly local with a total of 9 tap handles. The place is pretty cool, don’t get me wrong. However, If you are a hard core beer geek, you may not be able to get a new beer tick. I have visited a total of 3 separate times and not once could I sample a new brew. If you’re from out of state it is worth a look if you have some extra time to spare in Portsmouth. Cool place to open a book and chill out but maybe not a must stop if you are traveling. “ |
| 86 /100 56 MARKET STREET “In the historic section of town in a historic building, this place exudes 19th century New England industrialization. Food was quite good and the beers as well. Nice change from the modern breed of small warehouse brewpubs.“ |
| 64 /100 56 MARKET STREET “Visited on Tuesday, 5/17/2016 at around 8:00pm. A decent crowd was there for a Tuesday night. parking might be challenging, since it’s downtown and surrounded by lots of other shops and restaurants. Service was so-so, as were the beers. they do offer flights. Didn’t try the food, but it looked like standard brewpub fare.“ |
| 80 /100 56 MARKET STREET “Moderately sized pub, with a relaxed atmosphere in centre of town. Our server was very friendly and helpful with beer choices. Tap list was split 50:50 with own beers and stuff from others (mostly Smuttynose). Bottle list seemed very modest indeed. I only tried their own beer from the tap and most liked the Torn and Frayed IPA here. Didn’t eat. Prices seemed OK. A solid choice for when in the area.“ |
| 68 /100 21 CONGRESS ST “Visited on a busy Monday night. The place was pretty busy. They had Bar seating available. Huge draft list with a big emphasis on New Hampshire beers. You can do flights of whatever you like. I hit on a good night and it was only $5 for a flight of six. The vibe is mostly sports bar. All things considered, this place is alright and is a good place to tick beers and watch some sports. If you aren’t into that, this probably isn’t a place for you.“ |
| 74 /100 56 MARKET STREET “Visited around dinner time on a Monday night. Pretty busy, but was able to get a table within 15-20 minutes. They have a large draft list, with about half of them being house beers. They had a good bit of Smuttynose stuff on draft as well. They do offer beer flights, but I opted for full pours here. For food, i had the lamb burger, and was pretty impressed with it. Service was good. Prices were fair. All around, this is a cool place. I would come back again. Of note, there is also a gift shop attached, but i didn’t get an opportunity to look around in there.“ |
