I’ve covered craft beer in West Taipei and around Taipei 101, so this time let’s head into central Taipei and talk about a few more spots for beer.

Learn Bar 學吧精釀

Learn Bar is great; I’ve been here many times. It’s not a brewery, but they have a large number of taps, and they’re all pouring local beer from around Taiwan. So if you’re excited to try local beer, this is a great spot: they lay out the beers on the wall by bitterness/sweetness, hoppiness, and alcohol strength. Very helpful. The location is connected to a co-working place; however, I haven’t gone up there… why would I, when I can work downstairs while enjoying a beer?

They open at 3 pm Monday-Thursday, and 1 pm Friday-Sunday, so it's one of the few places where you can get an afternoon beer. They close at 11 pm every day. However, this list is full of places open in the afternoon! Both Zhangmen and Hit Cat also open early. They also serve some bar food, but I haven’t tried any of it yet.

When I visited this last time, I got one of my favourite beers in Taiwan of all time, the Double Happiness DIPA from Ugly Half Brewing. They tend to have it on and off at Urban Alley, too. Learn Bar also has a really good happy hour: 6-11 pm Mon-Thu, or Fri-Sun 1-6 pm. The cheaper large beers are NT$250, and the more expensive beers are NT$300. That’s anywhere from NT$20-70 off. Highly recommend checking out this spot if you’re in the Da’an area.

Zhangmen Brewing - Yongkang

Zhangmen started back in 2014, with their first taproom opening in May 2015. Zhangmen in Yongkang is across the street from Learn Bar, maybe 2 blocks away, so you can easily get to both spots from Dongmen MRT station. It’s a pretty small location, with only 4 bar-style tables inside, a tiny bar, and a couple of tables outside. It’s open from 2 pm until 12-1 am. It’s a darkly lit spot with a cool vibe. They also serve bar food, mostly deep-fried items, and some pizza.

On my last visit, I’ll admit I still get some easy things wrong. I wanted to order the #16 beer, which is 十六號Shí liù hào, but I still mix up 6 and 9 once in a while: 六liù and 九jiǔ. So I ordered 十九號Shí jiǔ hào, which was their kombucha. I don’t recall the last time I had kombucha. I’ll say it was a happy accident; despite having little to no alcohol, it was tart and refreshing. I’ll keep that in mind; maybe I should start getting kombucha at the store, or maybe even brew my own.

After finishing the kombucha, I ordered the correct 十六號Shí liù hào and received the Rye IPA. It’s not the greatest Rye IPA I’ve tried; it’s a little plain. I think it could use some more hop bitterness and hop flavour, but it’s a pretty decent IPA.

They don’t tend to rotate their tap list much; every time I’ve been, they've had the same beers. One experimental beer rotates. However, with 18 beers on tap, it’s a large selection. And the prices are on the better side for craft beer; most are under NT$300 for a glass, and many are NT$240.

Hit Cat Brewing

Hit Cat Brewing is interesting because of how they produce their beer. They are not a brewery in Taiwan; instead, they import their beers from Barossa Valley Brewing in Australia and Great State Aleworks in India. I have tried the Great State beer, it’s generally listed as Great State, but it’s not common. Most of the beer they serve at Hit Cat Brewing comes from Barossa Valley. They are also connected to an Italian restaurant. They have indoor and outdoor seating and sometimes have live music. They open at 11 am and close at 10 pm every day.

Lately, they have been running one or two “AI Generated Ales,” often a pale ale or IPA. I ordered the IPA on my last visit, and it was pretty tasty. When I’ve come in the past, I found some of the beer to be a little hit or miss, nothing bad, but nothing stood out either. But this latest one was very enjoyable, with a lot of stone fruit and citrus flavour. They also provided complimentary bread pieces tossed with a little cinnamon and sugar. They were alright. I also ordered the Taiwanese Fried chicken, which was fine; I wouldn’t be surprised if it was frozen fried chicken. They have quite a few beers on tap; you order via QR code on your phone. I would say the prices and beer sizes are very comparable to Zhangmen; beers are generally right around NT$250. They also have cans from both breweries available alongside the many beers on tap.

Taihu Da’an

This is the third Taihu location I’ve been to when putting together these guides, the previous ones being Taihu Landmark and Taihu Driftwood. This one may be my favourite - great food, great beer, and lively in the evenings. I visited on a Friday around 8 pm and had to wait a few minutes for a spot at the bar; all the tables and other seating were taken, and a line of a few small groups had formed.

This location is a bit hard to find, although they’ve made it easier recently. It’s right around the corner from exit 3 of Zhongxiao Fuxing station on the blue and brown lines. This is the 3rd or 4th time I’ve been here, and this is the first time I didn’t walk past the entrance looking for it. I believe it was darker and maybe more, um, bushes, I think, out front? I’m going off memory, but I remember it being really hard to see, especially after dark. Now it seems like they’ve removed some of the greenery out front, and they also have the Taihu tiger at the entrance. I love that tiger; I’ve had it as my tablet’s background since I visited the Driftwood location.

Photo by Kalen Johnson

The taplist is usually quite lengthy here. They have their own beers as well as some guest taps. When I visited this time, though, they had some beers in cans, but most were NT$600 (!!!) per can. Even if they’re imported from the US or another country, that’s just such a high price for any 500ml can of beer. I’m not sure who’s buying those, but apparently they do sell.

The Da’an location has some pretty awesome food, though. They specialize in smash burgers and offer plenty of variations. I got the OG burger; it’s two patties with cheese, lettuce, tomato, and their house sauce. I’m personally very ok with not having pickles; I’ve just never liked dill. Please don’t @ me. So when the dude behind the counter asked if I wanted pickles, I smiled and said, “No thanks.”

The burger is fantastic. It’s a perfect example of a smash burger: two patties, smashed thin with a deeply browned crust from the Maillard reaction; charry and delicious, and smothered with cheese. It’s a messy burger with melted cheese and a bunch of sauce on both sides of the bun. The fries are also quite nice, salty and crispy. It’s easy to see why this spot is so busy on a Friday night, as if the beer isn’t enough, right near Da’an in central Taipei.

Do I have a favourite of this round?

Taihu is, without question, where to go for a burger and beer. Zhangmen has a big selection, but regarding the best selection and pricing, as well as just being cozy and a nice spot to have a beer and do some work, I think Learn Bar is my favourite out of the bunch.

The beer list at Learn Bar is just so varied, with different beers each time you visit, from all around Taiwan. It reminds me of a lot of spots in North America that always have new beers on tap and take pride in showcasing what local breweries are brewing.