Brooklyn Beer Bar Guide: Mission Dolores
This cavernous Park Slope spot is perhaps the flagship bar of the Wiley Brothers, who also own Bar Great Harry, The Owl Farm and Glorietta Baldy. It’s been around long enough to have solidified its status in the local beer scene as a must-visit. Let’s take a closer look…
Mission Dolores 249 Fourth Avenue
www.missiondolorebar.org
Number of taps: 20, with plenty of options for nerds and non-nerds alike. On tap right now, you’ll find easy-drinking options like Stone’s Pale Ale, Full Sail Amber, and Narragansett Lager alongside more advanced offerings like Belgian tripel Bregagne Celtika, Wild Beer’s Somerset Saison, Thirsty Dog’s Berliner Weiss, and Other Half’s Green Diamonds.
Bottle Selection: Weirdly, they only have one, a special Bottle of the Month, which, this month, is the very awesome, very expensive, and usually very hard to find (especially now that the brewery announced that they won’t be selling beer on the internet anymore on account of it being super illegal) Cascade Apricot Ale, a sour aged in oak barrels. It’ll run you $35 for 750mL, but it’s worth it. Perfect to split with a friend.
Vibes: Super relaxed. A good place for groups out for a post-brunch drink on the weekend, or for the self-employed among us to sneak out for a workday quick one.
Music: Bartender’s choice… nothing too intrusive.
Seating: Plenty. Though the bar itself is pretty small, probably only seating 10 or so.
Food: None, but on a recent visit, the bartender was about to eat a Reeces Peanut Butter cup, which she sadly dropped to the floor. Moments later, a regular went out to buy her a new one. That’s the kind of place Mission Dolores is, basically.
Price: Totally fair. Most beers are $6, with a few of the fancier options fetching $7 or even $9. Yuengling and Narragansett Lagers are $4 and $5 respectively. Some beers are also available by the pitcher, for $20 each. Drafts are $1 off during happy hour. (4pm – 7pm Mon-Fri). Visa and Mastercard are accepted (no AmEx), but there’s a $20 minimum.
Outdoor Space: Sort of? The bar is separated into three different areas. The front section is open to the street, and the middle section is still pretty airy. Even the backroom, where the bar is, has skylights, so you never reallyget that “sad, dark bar” vibe. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Dog Friendly? Yep.
Follow Mike Conklin on Twitter @MikeConklin.