Not to be outdone by Center City Sips, Fishtown launches its own summer happy hour series
The 18 bars participating in the new Tuesday happy hour series include neighborhood watering holes and sleek newcomers alike.
When it comes to going out in Philly, this city of neighborhoods has near-endless options. But if we’re being honest, for a night on the town, two neighborhoods can’t be beat: Center City and Fishtown. They’re chockful of so many award-winning restaurants and bars, you’ll never get to everything on your list.
So it’s only right that Fishtown is launching its own summer happy hour series to showcase the breadth of its bar scene. Its pricing scheme bears remarkable resemblance — $5 beers, $6 wines, $7 cocktails — to Center City Sips, the long-running, much-bemoaned downtown summer happy hour series.
Eighteen bars will participate in Fishtown Taps, observed 5 to 7 p.m. every Tuesday between June 13 and Labor Day. Besides cheap drinks, you’ll find discounted appetizers and small plates. (If two hours on a Tuesday just aren’t enough, fear not. You can head to Sips on Wednesday.)
The new series is organized by Fishtown District in tandem with FYND, a Philly-based app that aggregates drink specials and events. Several neighborhood institutions and a short list of sleek newcomers have signed on to Fishtown Taps, but you might notice some of the highest-profile restaurants in Fishtown are missing (think Middle Child Clubhouse, Kalaya, Laser Wolf). That’s not surprising given the series is meant to boost business on a slow day during the Shore season. Still, organizers expect to onboard more participants in the coming weeks.
There are plenty of good deals to be had on food and drink, including $3 draft beers at Five Iron Golf; $5 Southern fried frog legs at Cedar Point; $10 wine flights at Fishtown Social; $5 jalapeño & bacon sliders at Lloyd Whiskey Bar; $4 imperial pints of Reading Premium and $7 “swimmo” cocktails at Interstate Drafthouse; and $8 black pepper beef dumplings, corn-cheese rangoon, and black garlic wings at Cheu Fishtown.
The full list of participants is: Bottle Bar East, Cedar Point, Cheu Fishtown, Evil Genius Beer Co., Fishtown Social, Fishtown Tavern, Five Iron Golf, Garage, Interstate Drafthouse, Izakaya Fishtown, Johnny Brenda’s, Kraftwork, Lloyd Whiskey Bar, Philadelphia Brewing Co., Sancho Pistola’s, the International Bar, Saint Lazarus Bar, and Two Robbers Fishtown.