Top Hops: Best 5 New Craft Beer Bars of 2011

Keith Underwood

The Many Colors of Craft Beer

Over the past few years, sales of mass-produced beer (Bud, Miller, Coors and the like) are down along with housing, investments and other barometers of economic growth. Guess what is not down? Craft breweries. Craft beer bars. Craft beer sales.

According to the Brewers Association, which represents the artists who brew innovative and exceptionally drinkable beer, craft beer sales went up 11 percent in 2010 and were up 14 percent in the first six months of 2011. Conversely, mass brewers are losing sales (silent applause OK here). Droves of (good) beer fans are supporting new beer bars in numbers that have bar owners expanding into second and even third locations within years of opening the first. Plus, seemingly every new restaurant that opens must offer 24 or more tap handles of craft beer.

"It's an artistic movement," says Tony Yanow, who this summer opened Mohawk Bend in Echo Park. Yes, great craft brewers are a form of art. Here are the top five new beer bars of 2011, in alphabetical order.

Daniel Drennon

Burger and beer at Steingarten L.A.

5. Steingarten L.A., West Los Angeles:
David Watrous, aka the Gueuze Hound and a self-described "beer evangelist," has created 20 taps of rotating excellence and a bottle list that is even better. Watrous has forgotten more about sours, lambics and gueuzes than we know. Hence, if your beer preferences lean in that direction, Steingarten should be your new home away from home. If they lean more toward California craft, he has you covered there as well. Steingarten has frequent beer event nights with brewers. We especially recommend the happy hour, 4-7 p.m. weeknights. The food, which focuses on sausages and burgers, is excellent. The interior bar and restaurant are warm and welcoming. And the outdoor patio in the back is an escape from the hustle and bustle (read: traffic) of the Pico corridor. 10543 W. Pico Blvd., W.L.A.

Kat Nguyen

Mohawk Bend in Echo Park

4. Mohawk Bend, Echo Park:
Mohawk Bend is the latest project of Yanow, who also has the beer bar Tony's Darts Away, in Burbank, and the brewing company Golden Road Brewing. Mohawk Bend is a beer wonderland that features a whopping 72 tap handles with four nitro lines and two Firkin pump handles. Formerly a vaudeville theater, Mohawk has a relatively dark front room with high ceilings and, to the right, a long, cool bar with a wall of chrome tap handles, which seems to stretch on forever. The entire left side is an open kitchen. But your eyes are drawn to the skylight-lit backroom, with its original brick wall that is more than 100 years old. It is a beautiful space in which to drink beautiful beer. Half of the 72 tap handles will rotate with each blown keg, so customers can always expect something new and different. While the selection is overwhelmingly California-centric, five handles will be dedicated to an out-of-state brewer each month -- yes, they brew great beer in other states, too. 2141 W. Sunset Blvd., Echo Park.

Daniel Drennon

Vanessa Sikoff pours the "Hoppy Hour" glass jug of craft beer

3. City Tavern, Culver City:
City Tavern is a sibling of Rush Street, which is several blocks west of it in downtown Culver City. City offers 22 rotating taps of craft beer, plus an additional nine taps split among three party-size booths where you can pour your own beer at the table. It has a big, inviting dining room and bar, along with a small but lovely outdoor patio.
Matt Meiers, the bar manager, keeps the California craft beers in a near-perfect rotation of styles and featured breweries. City Tavern also puts on beer-pairing dinners, with the brewers present for meet-and-greets that are extremely popular with beer geeks. Jessica Christensen's North Carolina-influenced menu pairs nicely with the brews. Simply put, one of our favorite places to hang. 9739 Culver Blvd., Culver City.