Garden & Gun Taps a Couple Decatur Bars as “Best”
Decatur Metro | January 22, 2012
A reader was good enough to transcribe the write up for two Decatur bars that recently made Garden & Gun’s list of the “The 50 Best Southern Bars”, since none of the text is apparently online yet.
Atlanta:
- H. Harper Station (Cocktail Lounge)
- Clermont Lounge (“My Favorite Bar” sidebar)
- Euclid Ave. Yatch Club (Snack Bars)
- El Bar (Speakeasies)
Decatur:
Brick Store (Draft Houses)
“The Brick Store earns its reputation as one of the country’s prime beer meccas. At the expansive bar on the ground floor, explore a world of American craft beers, English and German specialty ales and pilsners, and a selection of vintage and reserve bottles you won’t likely see elsewhere. Or head upstairs for a gorgeously curated selection of draft and bottled Belgian and Belgian-style brews, well paired with a plate of farmstead cheeses. brickstorepub.com
Mac McGee (Whiskey Bar)
“The appealingly grungy Decatur Square bar calls itself an Irish pub, but whiskey knows no nationality here. The glorious list meanders from Ireland to Scotland, with a lengthy detour through the South, Canada and elsewhere. Order a flight of three so you can compare the smoky powerhouses of the Scottish islands, or taste your first Welsh and Japanese whiskeys alongside a single-malt Michael Collins from Ireland. macmcgeeirishpub.com”
I really need to start working the term “draft house” into my daily lexicon more often.
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Garden and Gun? Here’s an article idea for the urban version: Make your hoes work harder… threaten them with a slug.
Wow…that works on so many levels. Bravo!
J_T, Scott and Steve walk into a bar…
Ouch.
Who is Walmartian? Is it Stu?
Rodney?
A publication called “Garden and Gun” calls Mac McGee’s “gritty”? Really? Clearly, these journalists have never actually visited a truly gritty bar. Sounds like they’re more ‘Garden’ than ‘Gun’.
Garden & Gun…. that has to be one of the more intriguing magazine titles I’ve heard in a while! A magazine subscription site describes it thusly: “Garden & Gun Magazine: A celebration of Southern lifestyle at its best, featuring the great outdoors, food, style, history & travel.”
I would have named it “Grits, Gumbo & Cowpies”, but who am I?
Garden & Gun is a great magazine. Sort of like a more hip Southern Living.
If country clubs and hunting lodges are hip, I guess so.
G&G is really not much more than an younger, more upscale Southern Living with deeper articles and beautiful photography. I enjoy G&G for several reasons but especially look forward to the dog stories.
Their recipes are usually pretty good and their travel-related info, I’ve found, is spot on.
Our neighbor works for Garden and Gun and gave us copy. Thought it was a fun mag.
I work in the magazine biz and G&G is certainly one of the industry darlings. I also think they are spot on with their picks. There are many bars/pubs in this town for which I have great affection, but the two chosen are the ones that really impress on a national scale (for the reasons cited). I miiiight add Leon’s for its cocktails, but of course it’s not exactly a pure bar, with an equal focus on food.
H.Harper Station is not exactly a pure bar either…and it sure hasn’t been around very long, in my opinion, to rate like it is. That said, I have been there and do like the place.
i think you hit on a truly sad fact for any bar here that wants to open on sunday. being forced to divert so much resource to the kitchen. it really makes for unfair comparison to bars in a city like new orleans, where they may focus solely on the artisanship of libation without burden of food prep.
Leon’s and Miles got a shout out in this month’s Bon Appetit. I suppose it is no G&G…
Cakes and Ale’s saddle of lamb was one of the 50 Best Southern Foods in the November Garden and Gun. H. Harper Station deserves to be on the list due to the quality of the cocktails. Nothing beats a Manhattan on the great patio there, which somehow transcends the location on Memorial Drive.
MacMcGee’s is “grungy”? I would have characterized is more like cozy.
My thoughts too. “Gardens and Guns” must cater to a pretty high-falutin crowd if they think Mac McGee’s is “grungy”.
Agree. (Although I first read the sentence as meaning “grungy Decatur Square” and started to get all hissy.)
I’d argue Mac McGees is the least “grungy” bar in Decatur.And in what sense is the bottom half of Brick Store “expansive.”? Lazy writing here, with too many adjectives and adverbs, at least in these excerpts.
Ha…I think the Decatur Square truly is grungier that Mac McGees.
Grungy might, indeed, be the wrong term. But what I think that they meant is that Mac Gee’s has been very successful in recreating a real Irish pub feel. I remember one if the first times I went to the place remarking how it seems like the place had been there forever – even though it had only been open a few months.
Regarding the use of the term “expansive” as to the Brick Store, it was referring to the “expansive bar on the ground floor.” It is a very large bar with its uhorn shape – I cannot think of a larger bar at any other place in Decatur
“I cannot think of a larger bar at any other place in Decatur”
I’m pretty sure Twain’s main bar has more seats. BTW, anyone experienced Twain’s revamped brewery program?