This post is on a topic that is near and dear to my heart: beer.
Taipei’s craft beer scene has come a long way since Taiwan Beer’s monopoly came to a complete end in 2002. After that, the first few microbreweries that emerged on the Taipei beer scene were questionable. I remember trying some of these when I first arrived in Taiwan in 2008.
But in the last decade, there has been a rapid proliferation of seriously top-notch brews flowing out of taps across Taipei city.
In this article, I’m going to introduce nine of my personal favorite craft beer bars, tap rooms, brewpubs, and microbreweries in Taipei.
At the end, I’ll include another 10+ places where you can find good craft beer in Taipei, including the original Taiwan Beer brewery and even 7-11! Also check my similar guides to the best cocktail bars in Taipei and other fun things to do at night in Taipei!
Best Craft Beer Spots in Taipei
Here are what I believe to be the best craft beer taprooms/brewpubs/breweries in Taipei.
There are 9 entries, some with multiple locations, plus I’ll introduce over 10 more in the final section. All of them are pinned in the below map.
Taihu Brewing (4 Locations)
In its roughly 10 years since founding (2013) by some local beer lovers, Taihu Brewing has grown to be Taiwan’s most successful craft brewery. You can even find some of their creations (like their ubiquitous 9.9% cocktails in a can) in 7-Elevens across the country.
Taihu (臺虎) literally means “Taiwan Tiger”. Tai refers to the use of local Taiwanese ingredients in their beverages, while hu or tiger is a common symbol for courage in local folklore.
They are also known for the beautiful artwork on their cans and their highly recognizable logo.
Personally, I enjoy many of Taihu’s traditional beers, like their award-winning IPA, but their flavored or experimental ones can be a bit much for me. For example, the tomato and plum gose is a hard pass for me.
Their 9.9% cocktails are decent but best mixed with ice in a cup and shared with a friend – you can buy plastic cups and ice at any 7-11.
Taihu has no less than 4 locations in Taipei, one in Taichung, plus a beautiful silver Airstream trailer which parks at various events and locations. Here are the four Taipei locations:
- Driftwood 西門町 (here): Ximending location with a tropical beach hut vibe. Around 20 rotating beers plus cocktails on tap. Light snacks available.
- Taihu Da’an 啜飲室大安 (here) More of a restaurant vibe, with excellent burgers. Convenient location near Zhongxiao Fuxiung MRT but long wait at meal times.
- Taihu Brewing Landmark 啜飲室 (here) Hole-in-the-wall taproom in ritzy Xinyi district, not far from Taipei 101 and Taipei City Hall MRT. A few tables inside and outside.
- Taihu Gyoza Bar 啜飲室東門 (here) The newest addition, a Japanese-style gastropub housed in a heritage Japanese-era prison complex, with gyozas, dangos, and other Japanese foods. Standing tables but chairs also available.
Jim & Dad’s Taipei
Jim & Dad’s 吉姆老爹 (here) is a lesser-known brewery and taproom in Taipei, but one of my personal favorites.
The Jim & Dad’s Taproom and Bottle Shop in Taipei is a small but cozy taproom, with some couch seating on the second floor.
It’s only a few steps away from the southern end of Dihua Street, considered Taipei’s oldest street. It’s also very close to two other craft beer spots (see Floating and Mikkeller below), so you can hit three excellent beer spots in one night.
Jim & Dad’s Brewing Company specializes at using local and especially Yilan-sourced ingredients in their beers.
Most of their flavored beers taste better executed to me than the more famous Taihu ones. When I last visited, their guava wheat beer, kumquat beer, passionfruit IPA, and tea beers were all hits among my group of friends.
The actual brewery is located among the rice paddies and green onion fields of Yilan county, just down the street from the better-known Kavalan whisky distillery.
If you happen to be visiting Yilan, I highly recommend stopping in for a beer! When I visited with my wife’s family, we were surprised to find that my father-in-law knew one of the owners from many years ago!
23 Brewing (2 locations & comedy club)
23 Brewing is a brewery established by three Americans in Taipei. Their beers are commonly seen at various bars and restaurants all over Taipei and Taiwan, so most local beer aficionados know the label well. Read more about the brand here.
At both their taprooms, 23 Public (here in Da’an) and 23 Music Room (here in Yuanshan’s mini bar district), the currently available beers are displayed on a black board above the bar, with alcohol percentage, IBU, and price. A dozen-plus options are available at any given time.
23 Public has an intimate vibe and doubles as a record shop. I especially liked that each beer comes with a little card detailing its characteristics, something I don’t think I’ve seen at any other brewery in Taipei.
I had a good chat with the bartender during my last visit. Although it feels very much like an American taproom, all the staff (and patrons!) when I visited were Taiwanese.
The newer 23 Music Room hosts live music and DJ performances. It’s among the collection of small bars, underground night clubs, and open-air food court at Maji Square (also see Crafted below).
Many of 23’s beers have playful names. For example, on my last visit, I took my chances on a pineapple and Sichuan peppercorn-flavored beer called Queer Trash. Everything I’ve tried from 23 Brewing – crazy flavors and not – has passed the test.
Besides the two taprooms, 23 Brewing also operates Two Three Comedy Club.
Ximen Beer Bar
Ximen Beer Bar 西門町酒吧 (here) is a small beer bar serving bottles and draft beers from various local and foreign breweries, both micro and macro.
As the name suggests, it is in popular Ximending district, just off Cinema Street, where several movie theaters and even a cinema-themed speakeasy cocktail bar are found.
This beer bar is not hipster whatsoever. If you want a plain old Taiwan beer, they’ve got it. It’s got some kitschy memorabilia, photos all over the walls, and casual, down-to-earth, local vibes.
When we last visited, the Taiwanese staff were playful and actually having fun. They weren’t afraid to strike up a conversation in English with my friends and I (not common in Taiwan).
Since many travelers stay in Ximending, you have a decent chance of meeting someone to chat withhere. Note that there is a TWD 300 minimum (around 2 drinks).
Floating Taipei
Floating Taipei 漂浮台北 (here) is just down the street from two other entries in my article, Jim & Dad’s (see above) and Mikkeller (see below). Of the three, this craft beer bar is the newest on the scene, having just opened in 2021.
On our visit, we found Floating to be welcoming and cozy, with some fun baseball and superhero decorations on the walls and American cartoons being projected onto large screens in the bar.
Floating does both cocktails and craft beers. There were 18 beers on tap and many more cans available when we visited, including some local, Japanese, and American ones.
I’d like to say I remember exactly how good our beers were, but this was our final stop on an evening of beer and cocktail bar hopping (our second-last stop was Antique 1900, an absinthe bar down the street), so my memory is a little hazy. But the reviews confirm that the beer here it on point!
There’s a minimum spend of TWD 500, which would be two large glasses of draft beer.
Mikkeller Bar
If you’re not familiar with Mikkeller beer, you should be. This Danish brewery is one of the foremost craft beer brands in the world and about as hipster as it gets.
They are especially known for doing collaborations, creative or unusual takes on traditional styles, and opening taprooms abroad, with more than 250 branches in 37 countries.
Mikkeller Bar Taipei 米凱樂啤酒吧 (here) oozes with Mikkeller-ness, with the brand’s distinctive Scandinavian characters plastered on the walls. It occupies a heritage building at the southern end of historic Dihua Street.
After you enter and ponder the many beers listed on the blackboard above, you should carry your order up to the second floor mini beer hall, which involves going up an outdoor flight of stairs and through a tiny smoking area.
The 2F hall features a long, German beer hall-style wooden table.
Mikkeller Taipei ranges from date-worthy on a quiet weeknight to downright noisy on weekends. Craft beer is never cheap in Taiwan, but I found this to be among the most expensive – my flight of beers cost TWD 680!
On the plus side, many of the 25-ish beers available are very strong, so you don’t need to order too many to get the job done.
Crafted – Beer & Co.
Miniature and intimate, Crafted Beer & Co. (here) is a staple craft beer spot that every beer geek in the city knows.
Mainly this is due to the extremely convenient location in Maji Square (Maji2), the covered outdoor dining and entertainment space near Yuanshan MRT station. You’ll find Crafted roughly in the middle of the covered food stall, restaurant, and bar street.
One great thing about crafted is that you can choose to sit outside in the public area for people watching or duck inside to enjoy their AC.
In the daytime the area has food court vibes (Crafted opens at 2 p.m. on weekends, one of the earliest in this list), while at night the area turns into a bar district, with several drinking and underground night club options.
Crafted usually has half a dozen beers on tap, mostly local but foreign ones may appear. It also doubles as a bottle shop, with lots of Belgian and American beers especially.
Zhang Men Brewing
Zhang Men (掌門精釀) is yet another staple on the Taipei brewpub scene.
Their actual brewery is in Xizhi district of New Taipei City, while their first brewpub is here on Yongkang Street, otherwise known for its many excellent Taiwanese restaurants and traditional teahouses.
Besides the Yongkang location, there are now others at Taipei City Hall, Neihu, and beyond Taipei in Hsinchu, Hualien, Taichung, Kaohsiung, and even one in Hong Kong.
Reporting from their original Yongkang location, the brewpub is American style and was packed to the gills on our weekend visit, so the staff were very busy.
Every beer my friends and I tried was excellent, though.
If you’re a smoker, you’ll love the large smoking area at the entrance. But since we were seated inside right next to the door, we didn’t love the fumes wafting in every time someone opened it (which was often). I can’t speak for the other locations, though!
Redpoint Taproom (closed, but beers still available)
While Taihu takes the lead for most famous craft brewery in Taipei, in my opinion, Redpoint (紅點桌邊飲) makes the best beer.
Redpoint was founded by two Americans who have been in Taiwan for 20+ years. They were united by their love for beer and rock climbing – redpoint is a climbing term that I won’t attempt to explain because I don’t know anything about rock climbing.
Redpoint’s signature beer, 台.P.A (Tai P.A.) is billed as Taiwan’s first American-style I.P.A. It’s a highly quaffable beer that many a beer-loving expat in Taiwan knows and loves.
Other extremely drinkable brews are their Long Dong Lager (named after the famous rock climbing and cliff diving spot on the northeast coast), Disco Macaw Pale Ale, and Rock Monkey American Stout. Explore their various beers here.
Sadly, Redpoint’s Taipei taproom, which also served top-notch American bar-style food (think burgers, steak and ale pie, Reuben sandwich, and the best wings in Taipei), permanently closed in January 2024. The city is tearing down the old building they were housed in for urban renewal. Hopefully they will reopen in a new location soon!
Here’s where you can still find Redpoint beers in Taipei:
- On Tap pub
- Crafted
- Eddy’s Cantina (Mexican restaurant in Tianmu)
- Gumgum (Neihu)
- TGI Fridays and Texas Roadhouse chains
- ABV Bar & Kitchen
- Outside Taipei: Uzo in Taichung, Salt Lick in Hualien, and Cijin Sunset Bar on Cijin Island in Kaohsiung
Others Craft Beer Spots Worth Mentioning
Here are a few bonus options if need even more beer choices in Taipei.
- ParkLife Plus+ (here) My friends in Taipei swear by this new craft beer bar with several pinball machines inside.
- Time Beer (精釀專賣) A super narrow, hole-in-the-wall craft beer bar in the middle of Raohe Night Market. They carry Taihu and other major local beers.
- Far Yeast Taiwan Craftbeer Gastropub 源流台灣餐酒館 (here) Another great little beer spot in Eastern Taipei, next to SYS Memorial Hall. Highlights are the small outdoor patio and cool tower flights. Around 16 taps at any given time, specializing at Japanese craft beers, also with some nice gins and eats. There’s another beer bar next to it called MMO Beer.
- Beer Geek Micro Pub 啤痞微型精釀啤酒吧 (here) Small beer bar 10 minutes’ walk north of Taipei City Hall MRT and a go-to for my beer-loving friends in Taipei. Usually packed on weekends, especially with expats. Opened by a Brit, I believe the new owner is an American.
- ABV Bar & Kitchen 加勒比海餐酒館 (multiple locations in Taipei and New Taipei City) Belgian beer bar with 100+ bottled beers to choose from.
- Beer Rush Taproom (here) Small but solid little craft beer bar with around a dozen local beers on tap and canned beers from Taiwan and abroad. Convenient location a few blocks north of Zhongxiao Dunhua, opens from 4:30 PM (on the early side for beer bars in Taiwan).
- GB Brewery Restaurant (Gordon Biersch) American brewery-restaurant chain with 3 locations in Taipei (near Taipei 101, Dunhua North Road, and Zhongshan). Excellent food and German-style beers (5 beers + 1 rotating) with ingredients imported from Germany. Their hefeweizen is always a winner.
- Sumai (Le Ble D’or) (金色三麥 (here, here) Sunmai was one of the first breweries to open after the Taiwan Beer monopoly ended. Like Jolly (see below), their beers can no longer compete with newer breweries, but they remain an established brand, with half a gastropubs called “Le Ble d’Or” in Taipei and New Taipei, and even a beer kiosk at Taoyuan International Airport (T1 departures area, but short walk from Gate C1 of T2 departures). Their flagship honey lager has won awards.
- Jolly Brewery & Thai Restaurant 手工釀啤酒泰食餐廳 (here and here) Another of the first breweries to open when the Taiwan Beer monopoly ended. 5 staples (pilsner, pale ale, Scotch Ale, Stout, Weizen) with a 6th seasonal. The Thai food is not super authentic but still very good. The beer can’t compare to any of the “top 10” entries in my list, but the food alone makes it worth a visit.
- Taipei Brewery 建國啤酒廠 (here) Taipei’s original Taiwan Beer Brewery (not craft beer, I know…) dates to 1919. It’s just off Jianguo Road, and also sometimes called Jianguo Brewery. It is sometimes possible to just show up here and have a cold Taiwan beer at an outdoor picnic table or indoor beer hall, but it’s often closed. Times on GoogleMaps are unreliable, so you need some luck to get in.
- On Tap (here) Taipei’s best British-style (and British-run) pub. Best for British beers, sports on the tele, and a good patio. It’s always busy.
- Revolver (here) One of the city’s best underground music venues. They have a handful of local beers on Tap (including regular old Taiwan Beer, for half the price of craft beers) and a fridge chock full of bottled craft beers. Check their website for upcoming performances or just show up and see what’s going on that night.
- 7-11, FamilyMart, and Hi-Life You can even find some excellent craft beers in Taiwan’s many convenience stores, most of which are open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. The selection is usually quite international and changes over time. 7-11 and FamilyMart often introduce some additional “summer beers” which many expats look forward to.
For truly excellent beer, check out the Lithuanian Volfas Engelmen beers at Hi-Life. Lithuania has become a growing political supporter of Taiwan in recent years. So thank you for that, and for sending us your delicious beer!
- Beer Cat (碧耳貓, here) Like Taipei’s many café cafes, this sounds so promising, but unfortunately this one was a fail for me. There’s only a couple cats and the owner was grumpy and rude when I visited. According to the reviews, many other guests felt the same, so you can give it a miss. I only mention it because, well…cats.
Hi Nick,
Thanks for this write-up about the Taipei Crafbeer scene.
I am a brewer/distiller from Scotland and I’ve been making a living in Asia since 2020 when I moved to Hong Kong as head brewer at Yardley Brothers Craft Brewery.
I met my Indonesian wife in HK and we made the switch to Bali in 2022.
We will be coming to Taipei for the first time over New Year this year and greatly looking forward to the trip.
Can’t wait to try these beers and taprooms (some of which I’ve already tasted back in HK).
Cheers!
Gordon
That’s awesome. You’re going to love it!
Preparing for my next trip to Taiwan and came across your blog. Last trip was 5 years ago. While I have been to almost all the breweries in Taipei, it was good to see some recommended craft beer bars, which I will definitely seek out. It was also nice to see a couple new brewery locations I wasn’t aware of – Taihu Gyoza and 23 Music as well as Jim & Dads now in Taipei. Now I won’t have to try and find a bus to go to their main brewery, although I imagine it’s worth the trip. Do you know if the original brewery location for Taihu is still open in the Xizhi District? It doesn’t seem like it still exists.
I’ve never been to the Taihu brewery in Xizhi, but it’s not even mentioned on their website’s list of locations, so I feel it’s probably not possible.