vienna pubs: the 11 best craft beer bars in vienna

Welcome to the Drink in the Sights guide to the best pubs in Vienna. This is your guide to the ultimate Vienna pub crawl featuring all the best pubs for ale and craft beer in Vienna. While Vienna might be most famous for its wonderful palaces and rich cultural heritage, which you can read about in my Vienna travel guide, it's also home to some fantastic beer halls serving great ales and craft beers in nice big steins. There's just something about drinking from a stein that's seriously satisfying isn't there? You certainly won't be going thirsty in the Austrian capital so lets begin this guide to the best bars in Vienna.

Vienna Pubs

7Stern Brau

If you're looking for a proper Austrian beer hall with brewed on site ales aplenty 7Stern Brau is the place for you. Their Dunkel is excellent, as is their Marzen, while the Chilli Beer certainly has a kick. Everything comes in steins, and you can even get take away beers from their beer vending machine. As if the beers alone weren't enough of a pull you'll also find a nice beer garden and a bright yellow interior covered in beer related pictures, jugs, and brewing equipment proudly displayed. One of the best pubs in Vienna.

Salm Brau

The interior is a gorgeous bar with their brewing equipment on show, wooden floors, bare brick walls, and tiled floors, while the exterior has an excellent beer garden next to one of Vienna's great palaces. Their beers are top class and come in steins which is just how I like them, but if you can't choose which one to have don't worry they do a taster platter so you wont feel like you're missing out. Sadly this doesn't come in stein form. This really is one of the best bars in Vienna.

1516 Brewing Company

I think by now anyone who reads these pages will know I love brew pubs, so I was always going to love 1516 brewing. You'll find 10 excellent beers brewed on premises including a very nice wheat beer. 1516 Brewing is one of those places that's always busy yet the bar staff manage to keep the beers flowing at an impressive rate, while still finding time to make sure you're having a great time. There's a really nice outside area while the inside has bare brick walls and brewing equipment on show, both of which I think should happen in every pub in every country. The food comprises of meat and more meat, there's probably a vegetarian option, but I was more than happy to have the meat. You just can't go wrong with a brew pub and this is one of the best pubs in Vienna.

Beaver Brewing Company

When it comes to Vienna pubs that are all about the beer Beaver Brewing Company should be high on anyone's list of places to drink in Vienna. Sure the building is gorgeous, as most buildings in Vienna are, and I do love the back to basics stripped down look, with wooden flooring and bare brick walls, but really beer is where Beaver Brewing excels. You'll find 14 of their own beers on tap along with a good selection of guest bottles and cans from around Vienna, and I think that's enough for a pretty good session. You can order 1.5 liter beers here but why not try one of the flights and taste a few of their excellent offerings. You just can't go wrong with a proper brew pub. This really is one of the best pubs in Vienna. Just as a quick note this is the main Beaver Brewing Company bar, there is another right in the center which is also very good, but for sheer selection it's worth the walk here.

Ammutson Craft Beer Dive

In a land of beer halls and steins it's nice to visit a proper little craft beer bar with 12 on tap from around the world as well as two fridges over flowing with more beer goodness. While Ammutson is one of the smaller Vienna bars on this list it's got more than enough character to compete with the rest. The proper old wooden bar area is a nice touch as are the bare brick walls featuring some pretty cool artwork. The staff are also excellent and more than happy to help you choose the right beer for you.

Mel's Craft Beer Diner

Like a few of the excellent Vienna bars on this list Mel's Craft Beer Diner is really all about two things, great burgers, and a great beer selection, and what a beer selection it is with around 25 beers on tap and a huge selection of cans and bottles behind the bar. This really is the perfect place for a good tasting session, plus you can get a burger and small beer for 10 euros which is pretty cheap these days. The staff are excellent, the area is nice, and the roof is absolutely gorgeous so don't forget to look up occasionally. Certainly one of the best bars in Vienna

Das Loft

Usually I fill these guides with the best places to drink beer, but in this case you have to visit Das Loft for the stunning views. Try to make sure you get here just before sunset when the ceiling lights up casting its glow over the city making it look like the sky is on fire. I've gone up a lot of sky bars in my time but this one is by far the best. It's not just the view that makes it special either, the whole interior is gorgeous, and the drinks are surprisingly reasonably priced with several nice Belgium offerings. This really is the bar that epitomises the idea of drinking in the sights.

Vienna Bars

Craftmuhle

With 6 beers brewed onsite, including an excellent imperial stout for those who enjoy a 10% offering, and a selection of other local ales Craftmuhle is a must visit for any serious beer drinker in Vienna. It's not all about the beer though as this is a stunning building with wooden floorboards, funky lighting, a cool mural, and bare brick walls aplenty, all of which I forgot to photograph while I was there. It really does feel like you're drinking in style in Craftmuhle so make sure you don't miss it. One of the best bars in Vienna

Brauhund Bar

An array of beer choices, friendly, fun staff, cool artwork and posters on the walls, and a laid back atmosphere. What's not to like about Brauhund? Well the answer is nothing. There's nothing not to like about this excellent Vienna pub. The moto on the bar says 'in beer we trust', and I'm more than happy to go along with that. You'll find 6 beers on tap here featuring most beer styles and another dozen or so in bottles and cans from around Europe. Brauhund will be on most lists of the best places to drink craft beer in Vienna.

Hawidere Bier und Burger

Hawidere Bier and Burger does exactly what it says on the tin with a selection of 14 craft beers on tap and an array of tasty burgers so you really can't go far wrong here. Don't worry though if you don't fancy a burger you're still more than welcome to come in, take a seat and just sample the beer selection. As usual in Vienna the staff are polite, efficient, and know enough about the beers they're serving to guide you in the right direction. One of the very best pubs in Vienna.

Bierteufl

I just think Bierteufl is beautiful. I mean really it's what a proper old pub should look like. I love everything from the bare brick flooring to the wooden bar area with beer jugs hanging above, and the wooden ceiling. To be honest other than the floor pretty much everything here looks like it could be a converted shed, and I mean that in a good way. There's beer memorabilia on the walls, around about a dozen beers on tap, and fun bar staff. Really this is probably more a restaurant than most of the Vienna pubs on this list, but they were more than happy for us to come in just for drinks. A very nice place for craft beer in Vienna.

I hope you found this guide to the best pubs in Vienna useful. I hope you enjoy your Vienna pub crawl.