The Allen Street Pub

I stopped into The Allen Street Pub for the first time tonight and it felt like a homecoming.
There is no way of writing this review without at least mentioning Mahar’s. My beloved Mahar’s. It was the place I learned to enjoy beer. It was the place where I brought friends from out of town. Their iconic t-​shirt remains a central piece of my wardrobe. It meant a lot to me. And while no place will ever duplicate the greatness of Mahar’s, Allen Street makes a strong case in favor of just that.
My visit began by engaging in a familiar ritual — entering my old Mahar’s number on Mahar’s old computer… It took about a half an hour for that to sink in. I thought that my number and list were gone forever. Allen Street purchased the Mahar’s World Tour of Beer computer and have committed to maintaining current lists for those that are in the system. I opted for my go to beer breakdown — by country.
The beer list itself is quite impressive, with an excellent selection of drafts, bottles, and cans, both foreign and domestic. They also offer cask brews, with three currently in rotation. I opted for a Newburgh India Cream Ale and a Bell’s Porter. I’ll give an extra point to Allen Street because they offer 10oz glasses, which makes sampling an option.
They do not serve any food here, however, they did allow us to order from Anton’s, next door. They delivered it right over to us and we ate at the bar. The bartender was really cool and super personable. We watched Jeopardy as a group (there were only about 6 people at the bar tonight). It seems like Allen Street draws a lot of regulars, which gives the place a unique vibe.
The Allen Street Pub is a hole in the wall, but it is far from a dive bar. The lack of trendy signage, artisan snacks, or other amenities we’ve become accustomed to in bars does not make it a dive. This is just a place to hang out, enjoy some craft beers, and be yourself. No more, no less.

Its a bar, they serve alcohol and play music. The bartender was nice and cute from what I remeber. (many months ago). The scene is older, so if you’re young its not really a big bar to go to probably due to location.

Last weekend I heard over Facebook that the Allen Street Pub was having a Spring Cask Tap. They were bringing in a total of eight cask conditioned ales for the drinking pleasure of the community.
I’ve been meaning to make it in here for a long long time. It always looked from the outside like a place I would really enjoy. That is, a quiet, unassuming, neighborhood pub. And that was even before I heard it was the new home to the old Mahar’s computer.
Anyhow, this was the perfect excuse.
Rolling in at around four o’clock on a Saturday afternoon, the bar wasn’t particularly full. But it was clear from my time there that ASP really serves two distinct market segments. There are the old timers who are there for round after round of icy cold bottles of Budweiser and Bud Light, maybe the occasional un-​ironic pint of PBR. Then there are the beer geeks who are there to nurse ten-​ounce glasses of their precious brews, taking notes and discussing them at length with anyone who will listen.
Courtney was tending bar, and she was perfect. Tough enough to deal with anyone getting out of line, and pleasant enough to carry on a conversation with strangers who walk into the bar.
There’s a jukebox that was getting a lot of play while I was there. The Beatles got a lot of play, but there was some Stones. And a few of the old timers who had been there most of the day weren’t shy about singing along to their favorite parts of the songs (even if they may not have been sure about the words).
There are also two flat screen televisions hanging over the bar. They seemed a bit out of place. Especially in juxtaposition to the two antique easy chairs that sat in the window at the front of the bar. I may have to come back just to sit in those chairs and enjoy some great beer in the late afternoon light.
By the way, the place is cash only, which like everything else about this place is kinda perfect. I could see this becoming my favorite bar in Albany. It’s not there yet. But that’s just because I haven’t spent nearly enough time there. An error I hope to correct in the future.

Super friendly neighborhood dive-​ish bar owned by members of the military. I don’t really recall how I stumbled upon this place since there were no Unilocal reviews. My friends who live close had also never been there so it was a bit of an adventure!
We actually went because the website said advertised a free Mediterranean buffet during happy hour on Fridays … but the food was nowhere to be seen, and we felt kind of silly asking because it just didn’t seem like a place where you ask, «So… got any free food?» even though it was advertised on their website. We just figured it hadn’t been updated.
Anyway, we were only going to stay for a drink, maybe two, but ended up staying for a couple hours (also because we played a ton of songs on the digital jukebox). The bartender/​owner discussed with us the amazingness of cask-​conditioned beer, which this place has! And let me tell you, it was really, really great. Kind of hard to explain the taste, but it’s unlike any beer I’ve ever tried. We wished we had been told about the cask ales before we had two other drinks because we all agreed we would’ve stuck with the cask ales.
Definitely worth stopping by to try a cask ale.