‘Ganbei’ to the Taipei craft beer scene and Taiwan brewery bars.
From beautiful beer taprooms like Taihu Brewing to Taipei craft beer bars in historic buildings, there is much to enjoy whilst exploring Taipei’s best bars and pubs.
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Taipei has loads to offer craft beer connoisseurs and drinkers in Taiwan, from booze and gyoza at Rongjin Gorgeous Time to Taiwan night market craft beer bars.
Featuring international taprooms like Mikkeller Taipei to local Taiwan breweries like Zhangmen Brewing, here is our guide to the best Taipei craft beer bars with photos:
Try this – Taipei Pub Crawl or Taipei Nightlife tour
Zhangmen Brewing (five Taipei craft beer bars)
With one taproom located by the trees by the main entrance to Huashan 1914 Creative Park, Zhangmen Craft Brewery is a cracking craft brewery in Taiwan with over 10 brewery taprooms, including five in Taipei (they also have a cute craft beer bar on Yongkang Street).
2024 update – we visited Zhangmen Brewing in early 2024 but it appears to be temporarily closed as of summer 2024. If you know something different, please let us know.
The Taipei Zhangmen Brewing taproom and brewery at Huashan 1914 has an incredible tap-range (around 16 craft beers to try on our last visit), a leafy terrace, plus great views of all the weekend markets and street performers.
This seems to be a great outdoor space for parents to enjoy beers and food whilst their children play in the park nearby.
We tried their 6.4% cherry sour 6.6% American IPA. We definitely recommend Zhangmen Brewing as one of the best craft beer breweries in Taipei and Taiwan.
Taiwanderers tip: if you go to Zhangman Brewing on Yongkang street, be sure to check out the Taipei Tian Jin Scallion Pancake stall nearby – find out why this the tastiest Taipei green onion pancake here >
Addresses:
- 100, Taiwan, Taipei City, Zhongzheng District, Section 1, Bade Road
- Zhangmen Brewing Yongkang, No. 10號, Lane 4, Yongkang St, Da’an District, Taipei
- Plus other branches in Neihu District and Taipei Breeze Songgao.
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Taihu Brewing
Taihu Brewing dominates the Taiwan and Taipei craft beer scene with numerous craft taproom bars plus it is stocked in many 7-Eleven stores.
Taihu’s craft beer can featuring a tiger (Taihu Shisu Plum Ale), and their 9.99%(!) Happy Set strong beers can be found in most of the larger Taiwan 7-Eleven stores plus in the special 7-Eleven bars in selected cities.
Look out for their brightly coloured craft beer cans in convenience stores like Taihu Brewing’s Mugicha Black Tea Ale and their Taiwanese Guava Gose – both quite unique local additions to the Taiwan craft beer market.
We’ve been to several Taihu Brewing craft beer bars in Taiwan including their Taichung Taihu Brewing taproom, complete with roof terrace and rather magic ‘Back to the Taihu’ / Back to the Future inspired neon sign – all have a cracking beer selections.
Our favourite two Taipei craft beer Taihu Brewing bars are:
Taihu Brewing Dongmen Gyoza Bar
We visited the Taihu brewery bar at Rongjin Gorgeous Time for lunch and loved this place (one of several Taihu Brewery bars in Taipei and across Taiwan).
As well as choice craft beer, they specialise in gyozas and jiaozi dumplings and their interior is incredible with one heck of a sake collection. So if you want some highball action after a heady day of sightseeing, Taihu has you covered.
Taihu Gyoza Bar also does a lunchtime special (until 4pm) where you can choose 8 dumplings of your choice, two sides (including karaage chicken) and a soft drink for NT$390 which we’d highly recommend.
Address: Taihu Gyoza Bar, Rongjin Gorgeous Time, No. 155號, Jinhua Street, Da’an District, Taipei
You might like our Taiwanderers guide to Taipei Rongjin Gorgeous Time cafes, bars and shops >
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Taihu Brewing Driftwood Bar
Given Ximending is Taipei’s main entertainment and night-time neighbourhood and popular with tourists, it is no surprise there is a surfeit of pubs, clubs and craft beer bars to enjoy.
One of our favourites is the Taihu Brewing Driftwood Bar, located on the ground floor of the Papa Whale Hotel.
A curious concoction of craft beer and kitsch decor, Taipei Driftwood Bar in Ximen is kind of like having a beer on a tropical island, with tiki-inspired interiors and hop-tastic Hawaiian themes – the fact the craft beer choice here is so good is just a bonus.
We dropped in for a pint (or three) of Taihu’s craft beer one weekday afternoon at around 5pm and by mid evening, the place was full (mainly drinkers here are tourists staying in the hotel or expat workers, relaxing after a hard day in the office).
As well as craft beer, whiskey and spirits, there is a whole heap of Taihu Brewing merchandise you can buy plus a large TV screen showing sports or local news. Even the toilets here were a bit unusual with phrases like ‘Rocket Man’ adorning the toilet cubicle doors. Strange brew indeed.
Address: Taihu Brewing Driftwood Ximending, Papa Whale Hotel, No. 46號, Kunming Street, Wanhua District, Taipei
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Mikkeller Bar Taipei
Located close to Taipei’s famous Dihua Street, we have a love-hate relationship with Mikkeller Bar Taipei – whilst they possibly have the largest craft beer selection in Taipei, boy do you have to pay for it!
It can be pretty expensive, as it worked out to cost around £20 a pint (over $NT800) based on the small measures we opted for: “Tai-wanna” drink more here but the cost of craft beer at Mikkeller is quite hefty, easily the most pricey pint we had anywhere in Taiwan.
Two x 150ml craft beers cost us just over $NT400 (in early 2024).
That said, if you aren’t a budget traveller in Taiwan, Mikkeller Taipei has over 20 craft beers on tap and a shiny sleek bar of epic proportions as you first enter.
You can even try before you buy (which is useful, given the prices) and brews include beers from the USA, Japan and Taiwan craft beers.
Upstairs, there is a nice seating area with the Mikkeller beer characters painted on the wall and it was super busy on the Saturday night we visited. It has a nice atmosphere and there were drinkers of all ages.
Address: Mikkeller Bar Taipei, No. 241號, Nanjing W Road, Datong District, Taipei
Taiwanderers tip – this is a nice bar to combine with a trip to nearby Ningxia Night market, or after a night-time bite at one of the Dihua Street restaurants.
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Our final best Taipei Craft Beer Bar
Time Beer at Raohe Night Market – 精酿专卖
‘Time’ for Taipei craft beers at Raohe Night Market – Time Beer is a cute and charming Taipei craft beer that sits directly in front of Raohe Night Market.
With only enough space to sit around a dozen or show drinkers, this is one atmospheric bar, with a huge range of beers on tap and in cans, lit up by a huge ‘Time Beer’ neon sign at the rear of the bar
Serving up a range of Taiwan craft beers like Taihu Brewing and Nantou’s Tsai’s Actual Brewing, you can also get a wide selection of international ales beers like St Austell from Cornwall or Revision Brewing from Nevada USA.
Sometimes, you can get three craft beer cans for $NT500 (around £12 or $15 USD).
We’d recommend arriving at Raohe Night Market just before 6pm to explore the stalls, eat loads of delicious Taiwanese Street food then watch the world go by with some Taiwan craft beers at Time Beer.
Taiwanderers Tip – make sure you get the pork pepper buns from Fuzhou Pepper Buns stall – but possibly let them cool down first before biting into them or you’ll get a burnt mouth like us!
Address – TimeBeer精釀專賣(ビール専門店), Songshan District, Raohe Street, 136 – 1號1樓
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Have we missed any top Taipei craft beer bars? We are returning later in 2024 and want to visit more Taiwan breweries, Taipei pubs and terrific taprooms so please hit us up in the comments with any recommendations.
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