BEER!  I swear, if you haven’t tried it, this stuff is great.  I have been spending the last few weeks hitting the bars and restaurants in Boston pouring the best selections of beer in Boston, where the foamy stuff might as well be the city’s official drink.  So you know that the places me and my small drinking party hit are some of the best in the biz.

Deep Ellum

447 Cambridge St., Allston

Boasting “28 drafts, 80 bottles, cask beer, classic cocktails,” this place was an obvious choice for great beer joints, especially with an “A” endorsement on beeradvocate.com.  A short walk down the street from the more well-known Allston establishments, such as Sunset Grill, White Horse, and Kells, Deep Ellum is a trendy, dark, exposed-brick bar offering everything a thirsty (or hungry, for that matter) young grad student could want.  Deep Ellum attracts clientele and staff from all walks of life, from after-work yuppies to tattooed hipsters to beer snobs of all ages, though most of the guests were in the late twenty- to early thirty-something range.

My friends and I arrived at around nine to find the place mostly packed with late-eaters, despite the staff’s best efforts to help us find a table, we ended up squatting by the bar until some stools freed up, and I am glad we did.  The bartenders were knowledgeable, as expected, but more importantly, they were damn helpful even with my limited beer knowledge, I was able to make it through three of the draft selections (each coming with its distinctive glass).  Without the ‘tenders’ help, I would have been completely lost, since here, you can get everything from a PBR (yeah, PBR!) to a 15% Belgian monk-brewed quad.  And since the taps rotate daily, you’ll always find something new to savor.  At the end of the night, my eyes strayed to the cocktail menu, which boasts a Manhattan 8 ways, and my friend who ordered scotch for the evening had it served straight with a separate glass for ice.  That’s class.