Gdańsk is a beer town before it's a beer destination
Nobody flies to Gdańsk for the beer. People come for the Motława, the amber, the brick Gothic — and then discover, usually by accident, that the Old Town has a serious tap-wall culture hiding a few streets off the tourist spine. That's the good news: you can do a proper craft beer evening here without ever walking more than ten minutes.
The bars below are real multitaps with rotating Polish craft on draught. Tap lists change constantly — most of these places publish theirs live on ontap.pl, which is worth a glance before you set off.
Where to go
Four places, roughly in the order we'd take you.
Pułapka — Old Town · Straganiarska
Craft beer and Roman-style pizza on Straganiarska, a couple of minutes from the waterfront. Fifteen-odd taps leaning heavily local, a big bottle fridge, and staff who will happily talk you through the board rather than just pointing at it. It gets busy and loud in the best way.
Order this: whatever Polish pils is freshest on the board, then something from Moon Lark or Funky Fluid if you want to see what the Polish scene does with fruit and dessert beers.
Labeerynt — Old Town
The nerd's choice. A tight, focused list that mixes Polish craft with well-chosen Czech and Belgian classics, so you can taste a Czech pils and a Polish one back to back and actually understand the difference. Smaller and calmer than Pułapka.
Order this: a Czech-style pils next to a Polish jasne pełne. Same brief, two national accents — it's the fastest beer education in the city.
The Beer Spot — Old Town · Stacja Food Hall
Thirteen taps inside the Stacja Food Hall on Kilińskiego, which makes it the easy answer when half your group wants beer and the other half wants dinner from four different kitchens. Sport on the screens most evenings.
Order this: look for a Baltic Porter on the board — Maryensztadt's classic version turns up here and it is exactly the beer Gdańsk should be famous for.
Pub Spółdzielczy — Wrzeszcz · Grunwaldzka
Worth the short tram ride out of the Old Town. Twenty taps plus hand pumps, a cellar room, a big garden in summer, and house beers from Browar Spółdzielczy — a social enterprise brewery that employs a majority of staff with disabilities. Lovely place, genuinely good beer.
Order this: one of the house Spółdzielczy pours, then ask what's on the hand pump.
How to plan the evening
Two venues is a relaxed night; three is a crawl. Start around 17:00 if you want seats — the Old Town rooms are small and fill fast on Friday and Saturday. Drink in 0.3 l pours rather than 0.5 l and you'll taste four or five beers instead of two.
Order by style, not by name. Polish tap lists are written in a mix of Polish and brewing English, and the bartender will steer you far better than the board will. "Something light and Polish, nothing fruity" is a complete and respectable sentence in any Gdańsk multitap.
One thing to try before you leave
Baltic Porter. It's Poland's national style, it was shaped in part by the Gdańsk Baltic trade in strong English porter, and the local versions are rich, dark, and dangerously smooth at 7–9%. Order it last. If you want the background, read our guide to Polish beer styles.
Rather have someone show you?
Our Gdańsk Tasting pours 6 Polish craft beers in 1.5 h at one venue; the Tour covers 2 Old Town venues, 9 beers, and a brewery talk over 2.5 h. A fun and friendly local beer guide does the choosing, the explaining, and the ordering in Polish.