Craft Beer in Tbilisi: The Best Beer Bars and Breweries

Tbilisi is known for wine and chacha, but it also has a small, inventive craft beer scene, with about a dozen Georgian breweries and a cluster of beer bars in the old center. Here's what you need to know about the 10 bars and taprooms I'd pick, the breweries to look for on the tap list, the sours made with Georgian flavors, and what a beer costs.

Craft beer in Tbilisi at a glance

Most of the city's beer bars are tiny, run by or tied to one brewery, and full of bottles and cans from the others. Tap counts run from 4 to 14, food is usually burgers, and almost every bar keeps a fridge you can buy from to take away. Here's how my 10 picks compare.

The 10 best craft beer bars in Tbilisi, ranked

My order runs from the bar I'd send a first-time visitor to, down to the more specific picks. All 10 pour Georgian craft beer; the ranking is about who gets the most out of one evening.

1. Tsota Tsota

If I had one night for beer in Tbilisi, I'd spend it here. Tsota Tsota is the house bar of Megobrebi, the most adventurous brewery in the country, and it sits at 7/20 Geronti Kikodze Street in Sololaki under a stone vault. The name means "a little bit", which is a joke once you see 14 taps and fridges packed with bottles.

Megobrebi has brewed around 70 different beers, so the list changes often. The milk stout Tiflis Night is one of the most popular, and the kharcho sour, built on the flavors of a Georgian beef and walnut soup, is the one to try for the story. They also make their own craft liqueurs, and the kitchen does burgers and bar food.

It suits anyone who wants range in one room. Skip it if you want a quiet corner on a weekend night; it's a favorite with expats and fills up on weekends.

2. Abragi

Abragi is the bar for anyone who came to Georgia to drink Georgian. A wall inside reads "only Georgian craft beer", and the rule holds: 6 taps, many of them beers you won't find on draft anywhere else, and a big fridge of bottles and cans from Megobrebi, Underground, Svia, Otia's Ezo, Amphora and NaturAle.

It sits at 20 Shalva Dadiani Street, a few minutes' walk from Freedom Square, with tables under umbrellas outside in warm weather. The staff know the breweries well and run mini tastings if you can't choose. Some of the brands in that fridge are hard to find anywhere else in the city, so this is the easiest place to try them.

I'd go to Abragi early in the evening, before it gets busy, and ask for a mini tasting of whatever is newest on tap. It suits beer geeks and anyone shopping for bottles to drink back at the apartment. Skip it if you want a big food menu; this is a place to drink and talk, not to eat dinner.

3. Process Craft Beer Bar

Process is a tiny bar at 19 Merab Kostava Street, right opposite the Stamba hotel in Vera, and it pours the strangest beer in town. Its 4 taps rotate between its own drafts and guest beers from NaturAle, Megobrebi, Underground and Alkhanaidze, and the fridge behind the bar is packed.

This is where I'd send anyone curious about how far Georgian brewers will push a style: tomato gose, tarragon sour, cherry ale, and Megobrebi's "Khinkalien" gose, flavored like the dumplings. They also pour chacha and Georgian cider for anyone in the group who has had enough beer.

The wood panels are covered in drawings and notes from past drinkers, and you're welcome to add your own; there are bar games too. It suits small groups and adventurous drinkers. Skip it if you want space, because a few groups fill it.

4. Sma Craft Beer Bar

Sma is the house bar of Seahorse brewery, at 48 Lado Asatiani Street in Sololaki, and it's my pick when beer and dinner need to happen in the same place. It has 8 taps, several of them Seahorse beers, plus about a dozen other bottles and cans from around Georgia.

The burgers and fries are the reason people come back. The room is small and cozy, with board and card games on the shelves, lively music and a friendly bartender who will talk you through the list. Sma also brewed a tkemali sour with Number 8, which is worth asking about if it's on.

It suits couples and pairs who want a beer, a burger and a game of cards. Skip it with a big group, or arrive early: the bar is very small and fills fast.

5. Hopa Taproom

Hopa is the best place in Tbilisi to taste a lot in one sitting. This small taproom on Atoneli Street in the center runs 12 taps, keeps Georgian cans and bottles with a few Belgians among them, and sells flights of 4 draft beers, which is the easiest way I know to try a Georgian IPA, a stout and a sour side by side.

The West Coast IPA has a following, and Hopa often pours Svia's Black IPA, brewed at an inn and ranch near Sighnaghi in Kakheti wine country. The front patio is the place to sit in good weather.

It suits anyone who wants to compare styles before committing to a pint. Skip the inside on a busy night if you want to talk; the room gets loud, and the patio is the better seat.

6. Number 8 Craft Beer Club

Number 8 started brewing in 2017, one of the first microbreweries in Georgia, and the Craft Beer Club at 22 Irakli Abashidze Street in Vake is where its beer tastes best. The brewery has no taproom of its own, so this bar is the closest thing: 8 taps, mostly Number 8, plus fridges with Underground and Megobrebi bottles.

It feels like a neighborhood sports bar that happens to pour very good beer. Football art covers the walls, the TVs show the matches, and the full food menu runs to messy burgers and cheese sticks. It's a little outside the center but sits right on major bus routes.

Number 8 also runs the #8 BBQ House on the top floor at 133 Davit Aghmashenebeli Avenue, with live music and events. It suits football fans and anyone staying in Vake. Skip it if you're based in the old town and only have one night.

7. Black Dog Bar

Black Dog pours the full Number 8 tap list in two very different rooms. The original, at 33 Lado Asatiani Street in Sololaki, is a dog-friendly neighborhood bar with movie posters and Big Lebowski murals. The second sits at Wine Factory N1 on Vasil Petriashvili Street, a bigger, louder space that opens up outdoors in the warm months.

Both serve burgers and grills alongside the beer and cocktails, and the bar has been around since 2016, which makes it one of the veterans of the scene. Rock, reggae and jazz evenings turn up on the calendar.

I'd pick the Sololaki branch for a pint on a beer crawl and the Wine Factory branch for a summer night with friends, since the cocktail bars and restaurants around that courtyard give you somewhere to go next. It suits dog owners and mixed groups where not everyone drinks beer. Skip the Wine Factory branch if you want to hear each other talk.

8. 2 Tona

2 Tona (you'll also see it as 2 Tons) is a Georgian brewery restaurant chain with four branches, and the one to know is the multilevel taproom on Galaktion Tabidze Street near Freedom Square, with a large patio. The others are on Vazha Pshavela Avenue in Saburtalo, on Aleko Gobronidze Street in Mukhiani, and at the brewery itself on Viktor Kupradze Street.

The beers are named after places: Vienna Street Lager, Taj-Mahal IPA, Rome Imperial Stout and a Prague Czech Pilsner. Unlike the small bars above, 2 Tona has a full menu with khachapuri and khinkali, plus foosball and sport on the TVs.

It suits groups who want dinner and beer at one table, and anyone who wants Georgian food with something other than wine. Skip it if you want the experimental side of the scene; the beers here are clean, classic styles. The brewery branch fills up quickly, so arrive early.

9. 9 Mta

9 Mta is the place for imported craft beer and a river view. The original bar sits in Dedaena Park, just below the Dry Bridge flea market, with views over the Kura River and a wood fireplace for winter evenings. It runs 9 taps, including two MTA house beers, and a bottle and can list with Brewdog, Mikkeller and Georgian craft.

It's a restaurant as much as a bar, and the prices sit a little above the small craft bars. A newer branch at 64 Zakaria Paliashvili Street in Vake leans further toward food.

I'd come here after an afternoon at the Dry Bridge market, when a cold beer by the river is the obvious next step and the fireplace earns its keep in the colder months. It suits travelers who miss a particular Scandinavian or Scottish brewery from home, and pairs who want dinner with a view. Skip it if Georgian beer is the point of your trip; the small bars in Sololaki pour far more of it.

10. Optimist Craft Bar

Optimist is the hardest bar on this list to find and one of the more rewarding. It hides at 7 Nato Vachnadze Street in the center, through a gate and down an alley, so watch for the street sign rather than a shopfront.

Its 10 taps pour beer, cider and mead, which makes it the pick for a group where one person has had enough hops, and the cans in the fridge are a good way to meet Georgian breweries you haven't tried yet.

It suits second-night visitors who have done Sololaki and want somewhere new. Skip it if you're short on time or patience with maps; it takes a little hunting the first time.

Georgian craft breweries to look for

Around a dozen good craft breweries work in and around Tbilisi, and most of them have no bar of their own. You'll meet their names on tap lists and fridge doors, so here's who makes what.

Underground's founders trained as geologists, which explains the beer names. Otia's Ezo and Amphora turn up in bottles at Abragi too.

Georgian flavors in the glass

The thing that sets Tbilisi's craft beer apart is how often brewers reach for the Georgian kitchen. Megobrebi makes a gose spiced like khinkali and a sour built on kharcho, the walnut and beef soup. Underground and the Sma and Number 8 team have brewed sours with tkemali, the sour plum sauce served with grilled meat. Process pours tomato gose, tarragon sour and cherry ale.

If those names mean nothing yet, an evening of Georgian food before the beer bar makes the joke land: you taste the khinkali gose and recognize the dumpling in the glass straight away.

Craft beer vs Georgian lager

Outside the craft bars, Georgians drink lager. The everyday bottles come from big brewers: Natakhtari, Karvi and Taati from EFES Georgia, Zedazeni from the Georgian Beer Company, plus Kazbegi and Argo. These are what you get at a khinkali house, a supra or a corner shop, and they're cold, cheap and fine with food.

On a restaurant menu, Georgian beer usually means one of these lagers, and Natakhtari is the name you'll see most. The rule is simple: if the menu only lists Natakhtari and Zedazeni, you're in a restaurant, not a beer bar, and that's fine. Save the craft for the bars above. And remember that wine is still what most Georgians reach for first, with chacha close behind, so a beer bar is a break from the local drinking culture rather than the heart of it.

What beer costs in Tbilisi

Beer is cheap by Western European standards, and the price depends more on the street than the beer. Here's what to expect in 2026.

Most bars take cards, so a beer night needs little cash, but clubs prefer it, so carry some Georgian lari if the night ends on a dance floor. 9 Mta, with its imported list, prices a little above the small craft bars.

A Sololaki craft beer crawl

Four of the bars on this list sit in Sololaki and the streets off Freedom Square, which makes it the best neighborhood in Tbilisi for a beer crawl. Here's the evening I'd plan:

1. Abragi, 20 Shalva Dadiani Street: start around 6pm with a mini tasting of Georgian-only drafts.
2. Tsota Tsota, Geronti Kikodze Street: the tasting plate, then a pint of whatever Megobrebi beer won you over.
3. Sma, 48 Lado Asatiani Street: dinner, which means a burger and a Seahorse beer.
4. Black Dog, 33 Lado Asatiani Street, on the same street: a last Number 8 pint.

If you still have energy, the 2 Tona taproom on Galaktion Tabidze Street has a big patio and a full kitchen. For a wider night out with cocktails and wine in the mix, my best bars in Tbilisi list covers the same few streets.

For a second night, take the other side of the river. Process on Kostava Street pairs with the cocktail bar in the Stamba hotel across the street, and Black Dog's Wine Factory N1 branch sits among cocktail and wine bars in the old winery courtyard. Number 8 in Vake works as a stand-alone evening with dinner and a match.

Which craft beer bar suits you

• First night, one bar: Tsota Tsota, for 14 taps of Megobrebi under a stone vault.
• Georgian beer only: Abragi, where nothing foreign makes the list.
• Strange styles: Process, for tomato gose, tarragon sour and khinkali gose.
• Beer with dinner: Sma for burgers, 2 Tona for a full Georgian menu.
• Tasting a lot at once: Hopa Taproom and its flights of 4 drafts.

Where craft beer bars are the wrong call:

• A night of dancing: these are sit-down bars with stools and board games, and Tbilisi's nightlife after midnight belongs to the clubs.
• A traditional Georgian evening: go for wine and a supra-style dinner, and save the beer bars for another night.
• A big group with no booking: most of these bars are tiny, so pick 2 Tona or Black Dog at Wine Factory N1.