Judge’s Bench

Amazing selection of scotch whiskeys. in fact they really have 200+ scotch whiskeys and are listed on the menu with numbers. You say the number they get you the drink. They have good beer selection too. The bartender Amanda was great, full of energy. The best bartender I have ever seen. Pours your expensive Scotch whiskey carefully into the goblet to the last drop. A must visit for scotch enthusiasts.

Great food, great beer selection, great service!
The old bay wings are great.
Staff is very friendly.
Saturday nights, they have live music.
Upstairs there is a game room.

Was intrigued by the name, friendly courteous service. I had the Angus beef burger with jalapeño, bacon, onions it was outstanding my dining mate had the Reuben sandwich, also very good.

Very poor customer service. Bartender was very rude. The food and drinks were good, but not good enough to return.

Come here after dark. We went for lunch and the food was pretty poor. Good beer selection and looks like a fun vibe after dark. Definitely eat somewhere else.

There’s a lot of Single Malt Scotch Whiskey, a lot of beer, and a lot of good people.
Instead of a pool table, there’s Foosball upstairs.

Judge’s Bench is always a great hang. The beer and whiskey list is extensive and super. The regulars are helpful and friendly, always a fun-​loving crowd. Major points for all the sweet vegan grub on the menu! Nothing like starting a Friday night off with veggie wings and shoestring fries plus some special brews from all over the world. Only thing is– can you guys get some more servers/​bartenders? The service is rather slow, I think because its crowded and seems a bit understaffed. Other than that, if I was less impatient, I would say 5 stars.

I came here on a Sunday with a buddy to show him around town. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good dive bar, especially one with a great beer list, but this was confusing. Maybe it is because I am not a regular, yet. I couldn’t figure out the beer listings. There was a chalkboard that we were directed to with that contained the tap List. This did not add up. There were like 6 beers on the chalkboard and 12 taps. I couldn’t figure out what else was on tap so that was frustrating. When I did order something, it took a while to get the beer because they were definitely having some line/​keg issues with all the head pouring out. This wasn’t just one beer, it was every one that I ordered. But, the bartender was nice enough and the beer was cold so that was nice. I did not try the food so I cannot speak to it. I will return as it was a cool little spot and a nice place to veg out for a while.

Just got back from Scotland where I did a scotch tour in Edinburgh. This little place rivals the selection I had in Scotland! The bar staff was not super helpful or friendly… they kind of just ignored me for a while, helping obvious regulars first. They have a weird ordering procedure where you have to go up to the bar to order your food and drink… and wait for them to acknowledge you to even get a food & drinks menu. Table service would be nice… I would have tipped more for it. Food was pretty good for pub fare, nothing spectacular. But the prices for whiskey flights were very reasonable. If you drink scotch (or bourbon), they’ve got it… and this would be a good place to sample some new ones.

This is an awesome little place in Historic Ellicott City. I love the ambience and the variety of beers on tap. They also have vegan food on occasion, which is amazing! They also have live music sometimes on the weekends. Love this place!

I love the Judge’s Bench. I have been going weekly for about a year since I relocated to Maryland. Even right now I am pregnant, but will stop in for the veggie burger basket (always tasty and on Wednesdays $ 5.99) cry a little that I can’t have whisky.
There is a regular bartender there and I haven’t caught her name which makes me feel terrible. She is wonderful, she has long hair and glasses– super knowledgable, polite and always working hard. We try to visit when she’s in.
The revolving tap beers feature everything from Clown Shoes to pear ciders. The wine menu is way better than that yuppie travesty down the street called «Pure Wine Café». (Seriously if I wanted a clueless sorority girl to uncork my wine and tell me bullshit about acidity, I would like– go back home to Texas.)
Make no mistake, this is a dive bar, it gets busy– there might be one or two folks working. Hold on to your britches, tip well and be patient for that delicious drink. It’s a great pub with great people.

Great people. Excellent service and frequently rotating and imaginative beer selection on tap and in bottles. Also, vegetarian food :)

I’ve never seen such a large selection of scotch! Great selection of beers that change often and I’m hooked on their buffalo wings, inferno-​style. Friendly crowd and excellent service. It’s in the historic district so there’s plenty of reasons to stop by. My favorite bar in Ellicott City!

If you like craft beer and whiskey this is your place! While other spots have good beers and selection the Judge’s Bench has the most craft beers on draft and the prices are great. You cannot beat the whiskey selection, largest in the State and one to beat for the entire East Coast. I like to catch baseball or football games here. Open Mic on Tues brings out some talented and fun folks. Live music on Saturdays, too!

So many beers so little time! This place has a fabulous selection of beers on tap. I love that they always have live music and not just rock music but also jazz, open mic nights, and pop. The menu is good too! The small pizza for $ 5 with bacon and pepperoni was really great especially after a few beers! Upstairs is normally empty but a nice place to spread out and relax. Free foosball and darts. The jukebox is broken currently but was a lot fun when functioning. This is a fun hang and totally a place to check out!

The Judge’s Bench now has the state’s largest collection of single malt whiskies, at over 240. If this isn’t enough to get you in the door, perhaps a selection of nearly 50 craft and import beers in bottle and a constantly changing rotation of 17 taps worth of micros and craft beers will. IPA and barleywine lovers will frequently find something tempting to quaff. Draft prices do vary depending on the strength and/​or rarity of the brew, but most are very reasonable and happy-​hour knocks a buck off.
Food is pretty basic pub-​grub. The burgers, wings, chicken wrap sandwich, and quesadillas are probably the tastiest things on the menu. They also do a decent grilled cheese with bacon and tomato and a grilled Reuben on buttered rye toast.
The vibe is generally pretty mellow. There is a substantial regular crowd. Impromptu conversations with your barmates are a normal thing. Noisy bros tend to look for cheap beer elsewhere, so the crowd tends to skew 25+ for the most part. The only real drawback is that most of the time a single bartender is on duty at any given time, so wait times for a pour or food order can get long when it’s really busy.
The best part though, is if you can find time to stop in when its not so crowded and take advantage their flight service for both beer and whisky. Four 4-​oz. pours are available from the tap list for about the price of a mid-​range pint, and are a great way of sampling a wide range of beers without falling off your barstool in the process. Similarly, a sampling of 4 ½-​oz. pours of single malt whiskies are offered, with prices for standard, half-​premium, and full premium flights. This covers about 80% of the whisky list, and is fantastic for someone new to quality spirits.
A mug club with a massive waiting list gets you happy hour prices and a bigger serving for a nominal annual fee ($ 35 new, $ 25 renewal). Joining the whisky club ($ 75 annually, with opportunities to gain lifetime membership) gets you discounts on premium and super-​premium pours, as well as additional whisky flight privileges.

This is your typical dark, low-​ceiling kind of bar. I did, however, enjoy the no-​nonsense bartender, especially when she took the time to look at my card and used my first name. Can’t comment on the food as I was there to drink.

Judge’s Bench had a lot of potential and mostly came through. I chalk my disappointment up to the bartender being someone who didn’t quite seem suited for the job.
I’ll start with the positives:
Scotch flights! This was coo! They have a book of maybe 200 scotches to choose from and you can pick 4 to make up a flight. They come in 3 levels from basic to premium or whatever they call it. Con: The bartender didn’t know anything about scotch except what gets ordered a lot. He recommended Balvenie, Glenfiddich and something else that was super common that I declined. In the end I had 3 very similar scotches and 1 different from the rest. It was a good deal but definitely could have been better utilized by a better, more knowledgable bartender.
The menu is extensive enough for bar food and the Reuben I had was great. The crisps (homemade Fritos essentially) were terrible for my taste but I could see people liking them (I don’t like Fritos). Again the bartender messed up here. He asked if I wanted crisps or fries. I asked what crisps were. He told me. I ordered fries. He brought crisps to the table. I said I ordered fries. He disagreed with me and made a totally benign situation a little uncomfortable. Even if I was wrong, who cares, the customer is always right, just eat the $ 0.50 cost for the frozen fries and accommodate the customer with the $ 60 tab. He said something about how he «could bring me a side of fries if I wanted», seemingly implying he was going to charge me for the fries, but I didn’t care so much and on the night went. Not a big deal but definitely detracting.
Also, the bartender was kind of rude and cold. He was aloof and unengaging. Again, didn’t hurt the night too bad but definitely missed lots of opportunities to enhance it.
The vibe was great. Total classic pub. I loved it.
Beer selection was awesome! Maybe 20 taps of great craft beers. I wish I had tried some beers instead of the scotch flight in hindsight.
Overall I’d say this is a great bar. Definitely check it out if you want great atmosphere, a great beer and amazing scotch selection, and good food all at totally reasonable prices. Just don’t be bummed out if you’re there with the bummer bartender.

I spent my birthday In Maryland this year for work. Some of the awesome people I met graciously took a co-​worker of mine and I to the Judge’s Bench for drinks and apps after a long day at work. It’s a cozy place that’s a step up above a dive bar. There’s no waiter service so you go to the bar to get your drink and put in your food order. The bartender working the night we were in was extremely friendly. He made great recommendations for beverages and was very accommodating to our group.
They have a great beer selection on tap and our group definitely made the most of trying out the different beers they had to offer. We also noshed on some awesome apps: old bay wings and veggie potstickers. It was standard bar food but pretty good.
I’ve never been to Ellicott City but it has an adorable little downtown and Judge’s Bench is definitely worth a stop if you want to have a beer in a welcoming atmosphere.

Great bar for craft beer. During football season we can go upstairs and sometimes be the only people up there. It’s like having your living room with an awesome bar downstairs. On non-​football nights it’s just a cozy bar with laid back clientele. I love to pop in on a chilly night and have a nice heavy beer and listen to the local music that’s usually offered up. Very chill place and I would say more suited for the the late 20’s and older crowd.
There is food, you know, typical bar food but with a lot of vegetarian options which is nice and the wings are pretty tasty.
Stop in, enjoy a tasty beer, and relax.