Brick Store Pub was recently rated the number two beer bar in the world But what makes it so good? As any restaurateur will tell you, the devil is in the details. Every one of the 300-plus brews on their beer list (with countless more in the cellar) is shipped, stored and poured at the right temperature in precisely paired glassware.
Don’t like beer? There is also a tastefully-curated selection of whiskey, and Brick Store’s pitch-perfect menu feels like it came right out of a medieval inn. More importantly, at a place where the staff can afford to turn their noses up a little, they never do. It doesn’t matter if you’re an ale aficionado or a Reisdorf rookie, they will point you to the beer that is right for you. It’s the pursuit of perfection that has elevated Brick Store from local watering hole to a world-class destination for beer connoisseurs and novices alike.
But Brick Store is more than the brews in its cellars and the food in its pantries. As an old friend put it, the greatness of Brick Store is the guarantee that “somewhere past that door, there’s a beer that will change your life.” Several years ago, a friend and I visited the pub after our holiday jazz concert. Like a carefully-chosen program, we found a series of beer to match the turns of our conversation, ebullient to somber and back. Cheery Weihenstephaner Hefe-Weizens for our post concert euphoria, bitter Stone Ruination IPA’s for the doleful reflections on our recent breakups, and a Sweetwater Holiday Ale to celebrate our friendship. That night, I wandered back to my dorm in a warm haze and drifted off to sleep fully-clothed, simply happy to be alive.
“Give me wine to wash me clean from the weather-stains of care,” said Ralph Waldo Emerson, though he could have just as easily been talking about beer – beer for every mood and every memory. Beer to help us celebrate our joy, and beer to help us push through tragedy. How lucky we are to have Brick Store, a pub that stocks them all.
125 East Court Square, Decatur
The Emory Wheel was founded in 1919 and is currently the only independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University. The Wheel publishes weekly on Wednesdays during the academic year, except during University holidays and scheduled publication intermissions.
The Wheel is financially and editorially independent from the University. All of its content is generated by the Wheel’s more than 100 student staff members and contributing writers, and its printing costs are covered by profits from self-generated advertising sales.
