McNulty's Bier Markt is a gem of a bar, without a doubt. For the beer drinker, there are upwards of 20 handles, many of them Belgian-style whites or trappist ales of some sort in addition to your beer snob standards. For the cocktail aficionado, there's a full service bar to boot. For the trendy, the atmosphere is elegant and stylish, but not aloof or uppity. For the artsy, there's a small gallery next door with an entrance directly from the bar's main room.
Upon first entering the bar and seeing a stylishly furnished front room with no one in it, despite the several full tables on the patio out front, you might be a little puzzled. Fear not. When you get to the large room with the bar and all the fancy lights and the tin/copper/whatever ceiling, you won't want to go back either.
The bartenders are friendly and the t-shirts are cool. Not to mention the fact that many beers come served in their own special type of glass. One comes with a wooden stand and looks like it could have been a round-bottomed flask from the days of the alchemists (especially entertaining for the chemistry major in me). If you're with a group of self-proclaimed beer snobs like us, you should also know they serve PBR in a can, just so you can order one for someone in your group when he's in the bathroom to piss him off.
The Bier Markt doesn't have a kitchen snd therefore if you want food from someplace else, you can order it and have it delivered. For example, Phnom Penh, situated conveniently across the street will satisfy your craving for Cambodian and Vietnamese food, or if you want something more standard, call up Fabio's pizza (they deliver until 4am) and order a "large sausage."
Whether you're drawn there by the diverse selection of Belgian brews on tap, the adjacent art gallery, the stylized lighting fixtures, or the pleasantly long happy hour, the Bier Markt makes a great spot for a drink with friends or a night cap after a long day.
Bier. Art. Atmosphere. Fabio's "large sausage." What more could we have asked from the first OTW?
-JMS
McNulty's Bier Markt is located at 1948 W. 25th St., across from the West Side Market.
