The Best Craft Beer Bars in Rome

Birra Più’s staff is full of Anglo-American beer aficionados, so expect British and American brewers to be heavily represented in the fridges and on tap. There are also plenty of IPA and APA-inspired beers from Italian microbreweries like Lazio’s Ventoforte, and sour ales from Piedmont’s LoverBeer are a regular fixture on draught. Birra Più also has a constantly evolving list of whiskeys and bourbons.

Ma Che Siete Venuti a Fà (Macchè for short), which opened in 2001, has become a beacon for the Italian craft beer movement. A diehard beer enthusiast—his catchphrase is quanno moro vojo esse fermentato (“when I die I want to be fermented”)—owner Manuele Colonna and his crew were among the first to reject European industrial brews, providing craft alternatives and cultivating a beer-drinking subculture. Macchè’s location in Trastevere, a center of Roman nightlife, has allowed them to bring their message to a wide audience.

Teo Musso, of the Baladin Brewing Company, and Leonardo Di Vincenzo, of Birra del Borgo, opened Open Baladin in Rome’s historical center in late 2009, broadening the city’s love affair with craft beer. While the original menu was exclusively Italian, imported beers have crept onto the tap list, especially Belgian sours and Delaware’s Dog Fish Head (brewer Sam Calagione is partners with Musso and Di Vincenzo at Eataly’s Birrerias). Open Baladin does a brisk lunch business and is packed every night, so if you turn up in the late evening, expect to line-up before being rewarded with one of Rome’s best craft beer menus.

The venue’s name is the phonetic Italian spelling of the English phrase “know how,” as well as the acronym of naturale organico alimento umano ("natural, organic human food"). This gastro pub is the product of a collaboration between Italian brewers Teo Musso, of Baladin, and Leonardo Di Vincenzo, of Birra del Borgo, and celebrity baker and chef Gabriele Bonci. The craft beer list is designed to pair with Bonci’s sandwiches, tartares and cheese plates.

Brasserie 4:20 serves more than 40 beers on draft in their main hall, as well as another six upstairs on the year-round roof terrace. The big draw, however, is the extensive list of vintage Belgian beers. The pub menu is inspired by American BBQ and burger joints and many dishes incorporate beer or hops.