The Distillery

beer2day

North Carolina

4.4/5  rDev +3.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Wasn't sure what to expect after making the walk in the rain from River St. out to this place.

Immediately impressed, though. 21 taps, in three clusters of 7. Highlights were 21st Amendment Back in Black and Southern Tier Unearthly. They keep their website fairly up to date in terms of the draft list. Wish more places did that.

Good bottle selection visible in counter height coolers behind the bar. Guessing 75-80 selections with lots of good choices. Allagash rep was in the house my night there and lots of great bottles from that brewey present in the coolers.

Food selections are uppper-scale bar. Fish tacos were well prepared and served promptly.

Both of the bartenders were very personable and enjoyed talking beer. New their stuff and seemed genuinely interested in their work.

If in Savannah again, I'd head straight here.

10-01-2010 01:10:47 | More by beer2day

sreichgott

Pennsylvania

3.29/5  rDev -22.4%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 3.75 | food: 1 | $$

Stopped in for a beer and some food on a recent visit to Savannah. Service was great. The space is fun and easy to be in. A nice beer list, although fewer locals than I would have wished, especially on draft. The food was absolutely awful. There were four of us, so we ordered a pretty wide variety of dishes and all of them were disappointing.

Go for the beer and a snack. But don't go for dinner...

04-21-2013 20:56:41 | More by sreichgott

Redrover

Illinois

4.09/5  rDev -3.5%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4 | service: 4.25 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

The Distillery is Located on kind of the edge of the tourist area. There is some parking in front and about 4 outside tables.

The bar is on the left as you enter the rectangular room. There are tables center and to the right. There is also a small elevated area in the rear. High tin ceilings, a nice back bar, some exposed brick, sealed concrete floors and a row of pillars down the middle complete the look. They also have some beer/brewery stuff on display.

There are 4 or so TVs, so you can watch the games.

20 well thought out and diverse tap choices. Lots of bottles add to your choices. There are selections from Anderson Valley, Bells, Harpoon, Southern Tier, Victory and Terrapin among others.

Food is gastro pub style with clear Savannah influences. Try the cucumber wasabi dressing!

Service is beer savvy and friendly.

This is a must stop when visiting the area. I wish I would have had more time for a follow-up visit.

04-15-2013 14:33:47 | More by Redrover

trevorpost

Massachusetts

4.32/5  rDev +1.9%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.25 | service: 4.75 | selection: 4 | $$

Fun overall experience. The tap list didn't immediately impress but the bartender, Jared, was very direct in giving his opinion of the beer in question, with samples offered before even asking. We ended up having a surprisingly candid conversation about how their draft list was decided and how this can lead to some variability in the quality of offerings though high turnover helps a lot. The bottle list is quite long and he was knowledgeable enough to recommend beers that I would enjoy based on an idea of my palate and what I may not be able to find in New England. I would definitely go back should I visit Savannah again.

03-26-2013 19:25:56 | More by trevorpost

jerrykaufman

Texas

2.49/5  rDev -41.3%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3 | service: 1 | selection: 2.75 | food: 3.5 | $$

Has a large list of bottled beers but many are not kept in inventory. Also it has a small kitchen that can easily get overwhelmed with orders resulting in long delays for food. On the weekend at lunchtime we had to wait nearly an hour for our sandwiches. Completely unacceptable.

03-11-2013 02:47:07 | More by jerrykaufman

metter98

New York

4.13/5  rDev -2.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.25 | service: 3.75 | selection: 4.25 | food: 4.5 | $$

Vibe: Conveniently located across the street from the Savannah Visitors Center, this is a good place to stop after a trolley tour around the city. They have lots of tables and seating at the bar. The TVs play silent movies, which I found to be rather unique.

Quality: Beers were served at the correct temperature in the proper glassware. I was happy to be able to sip and savor an imperial stout from a snifter glass. Beer flights are also available.

Service: Although the restaurant was crowded and we ended up sitting at the bar, the bartender was friendly and conversed with us when he had some spare time. The beers and food arrived rather quickly.

Selection: The Distillery only carries craft beers (no Bud, Coors or Miller) so with 21 beers on-tap you are bound to find something that interests your palate. They also have a rather extensive bottle list, which is organized by style. I was happy to find local Georgia beers from Red Brick.

Food: I was very impressed with the quality of the food. I tried the Bootlegger burger and found it to be very tasting and unique (I never had a burger with goat cheese before).

03-07-2013 03:42:47 | More by metter98

goatsby

Florida

4.73/5  rDev +11.6%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 5 | $$

Found this place through BA on my last night in Savannah, heard they had FBS on tap and had to go. This is the place I was looking for! After dining / drinking at the Crystal Beer Parlor (pass), and the Mellow Mushroom (great pizza, so-so beer selection) I wish I had found this sooner; great selection, draft and bottle, prices were reasonable and the staff was knowledgeable and courteous. Did not try the food but the menu looked good. Will certainly make this a place to stop on future adventures in Savannah.

11-14-2012 01:24:52 | More by goatsby

iamwill935

Georgia

4.6/5  rDev +8.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $

I live in Savannah and try to come to the distillery at least once a week. They rotate their draft beers very regularly so don't get used to drinking the same old beers over and over. This was the first bar/restaurant i've ever been to that actually had Sam Adams Norse Legend, so that was a plus. The prices are very reasonable, plus they also have a ton of different bottled beers to choose from. If you get hungry try the alligator basket and for dessert a deep fried moon pie. Anyone beer lover passing through this town needs to stop in and have a drink. Cheers.

07-01-2012 23:24:25 | More by iamwill935

DoubleSimcoe

New York

3.38/5  rDev -20.3%
vibe: 2.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | $$

I dragged my weary and wary wife and friend over to The Distillery after a night of drinking, sightseeing and general looting in beautiful Savannah, Georgia.

This joint is a bit out of the way, a couple of blocks away from all the action of downtown bars. There's really not much going on around it... or inside it! We got there at 11:00 pm on a Saturday night, SCAD graduation day. They were CLOSING! All of the tables were done, chairs up and ready for tomorrow and seating at the bar only. I was told that "we are more of a restaurant than a bar", hence the early closing. Seriously.

Let me tell ya, if you're a restaurant, then you should have good/exciting food. Don't call yourself a "gastropub" when you're serving the same fried bar fare I can find in every pub in America.

Besides that, their beer selection was also a letdown. Nothing really amazing or rare or must-have, besides maybe Dogfish Urkontinent and Sam Adams Norse Legend. I had a Founders Porter and the wife had a Uinta Dubhe. Lots of low-ABV brews and stuff like Bell's Oberon, Allagash White, Guinness, Magic Hat #9, Southern Tier IPA, Founders Dirty Bastard.... not exactly impressive for a beer bar, right?

Their printed draft menu says: "Please recognize that we rotate all 21 taps so that no one gets bored with the selection". Yawn. I got bored just reading this.

Service was good and ambience/atmosphere was rather lame. Pretty dead for a Saturday night, closing, average interior with beer signs and stuff... you've seen it before.

I enjoyed their house-infused drinks, rooibos tea with vanilla rum, yum!

Hopefully The Distillery is better than what I encountered. Savannah sure does deserve some craft quality!

06-13-2012 05:01:36 | More by DoubleSimcoe

Susanna

4.95/5  rDev +16.7%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5 | $$

I live right around the corner and this has been my go to spot since i moved here 2 years ago. I go at least once a week and have never had a bad experience. The Volen family is amazing and they have made a great place to enjoy craft beer, eat good food and enjoy great conversation. We have made great friends with the staff and have the best time.
I highly recommend if you are in town and if you live in Savannah the Beer club is soooo worth it.
AS for the beer selection there is not enough good words. There is always something new for me to try.

06-11-2012 17:25:41 | More by Susanna