The Brick Store Pub has a formidable reputation, and I had expected it to be large, cover a whole block perhaps. Instead, it’s a rather small and compact bar in downtown Decatur, with a modest downstairs and a small upstairs. The famed red brick is on the left; the wall on the right of the pub is a dark grey. There aren’t many seats and this place is known to be hard to get into. I was lucky to scoot into the bar seating downstairs.

The downstairs bar is shaped like a ‘U’ and there are 15 beers on tap. It isn’t the beers on tap though, that this place is famed for. It’s the enormous beer list, categorized by region of origin and seemingly endless. And it doesn’t come cheap; a $30 beer isn’t that hard to find in this pub. I stuck to the beers on tap, starting with a Smuttynose brown ale.

The food? I had a couple plates, a smoked turkey sandwich, with a side salad, and their shepherd’s daughter’s pie, with a pasta salad. The turkey sandwich was a little small, but tasty. The greens were excellent, mixed in with some yellow raisins and sunflower seeds. The shepherd’s daughter’s pie was a strip of mixed meats, covered with thinly sliced potatoes. It did not have the distinct lamb flavor I’ve had in other shepherd’s pies, but it was good tasting nonetheless. The pasta salad wasn’t bad, but paled compared to the other three dishes.

The bartenders are friendly, unpretentious, know their beers, and seem to know their customer’s names. Service is slow to seat people, but pretty good once seated.  The people in the bar were exceptionally friendly that night.  I shook my share of hands, spoke with out of town visitors. I ended the stay with a hefeweizen, the glass so large I felt I was looking up at it. In short, I had a great time here.

Verdict: Good food, phenomenal beer selection, totally deserving of its reputation. Very highly recommended.

Brick Store Pub
125 East Court Square
Decatur, GA 30030
(404) 687-0990

Brick Store Pub on Urbanspoon

Notes: To get to the pub from Snellville, take 78 until it becomes Scott, Scott to Clairmont, south on Clairmont to Ponce De Leon (turn left onto Ponce). The little ‘U’ shaped road that Brick Store Pub is found on is immediately on your right after the turn. If you wish to park nearby, plan on looking for parking at least a couple blocks before you get to Ponce. Free parking is hard to come by in downtown Decatur.