The Local Taphouse
The first Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular was held in this pub in February 2011 with twenty new Australian beers on. It now runs in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Auckland.
Why go
Twenty taps, and the board turns over fast enough to pour more than 400 different beers a year, which the pub claims and Concrete Playground's Tom Clift states independently (Concrete Playground). That works out to roughly a whole tap wall rebuilt every week. Steve Jeffares and Guy Greenstone opened it on Carlisle Street in 2008 and went on to build Stomping Ground; they sold GABS in 2019 to concentrate on brewing (The Crafty Pint). Around the taps sit monthly Ale Star tasting sessions and brewery nights where beers debut before they reach anywhere else. The rooftop beer garden has an outdoor log fire and there is a second fireplace downstairs.
Order this / avoid
- Order: whatever went on most recently, and take it as a paddle if you want to read the board properly. The bottle list covers what the taps do not.
- Avoid: ordering something you can buy in a supermarket. Monday is comedy night, which is a reason to come and a reason to book a table elsewhere if you want quiet.
What locals & experts say
- Tom Clift, Concrete Playground:
St Kilda's Local Taphouse is a Carlisle Street institution and must-visit location for draught lovers - its 19 rotating taps go through more than 400 different beers a year.
2 - The Crafty Pint (2019), on what started here:
The original Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular took place at The Local Taphouse in St Kilda in February 2011, featuring 20 new Australian brews.
1 - Beer writer Willie Simpson, quoted in The Crafty Pint's venue listing, called it
the best beer bar in the land.
Read that listing knowing what it is: a paid directory page the business signs off, per The Crafty Pint's own How We Operate.4 - Awards, with a caveat: the pub claims RateBeer's Best Bar in Australia and second place in Beer & Brewer's 2016 Best Beer Venues. The RateBeer year is given as 2020 by the pub and 2019 by The Crafty Pint, and neither has been checked against RateBeer itself.3
Good to know
- Where: 184 Carlisle Street, St Kilda East.
- Timing: noon to 11pm Monday to Thursday and Sunday, noon to 1am Friday and Saturday.
- Booking: walk-in.
- Comedy: Local Laughs runs weekly on Mondays, hosted by Janet McLeod.
- Food safety: no entry for this business on Safe Food Victoria's register of convictions as at its 21 July 2026 update.5
- Near MCEC: no. St Kilda East, about 6km from South Wharf.
Verdict
should-visit — It is worth crossing town for if beer is why you are out. Twenty taps turn over fast enough to pour more than 400 different beers a year, which Concrete Playground's Tom Clift and the pub both put at the same number, and that is roughly a whole board rebuilt every week. The pub has been on Carlisle Street since 2008 under Steve Jeffares and Guy Greenstone, who went on to build Stomping Ground, and the piece of history that matters is this: the first Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular was held here in February 2011 with twenty new Australian brews, and it is now a festival running in four cities. Add monthly Ale Star tasting sessions, brewery showcases where beers debut, tasting paddles, a rooftop with a log fire and Melbourne's longest-running weekly comedy night on Mondays. It sits below must-visit because there is no current critical assessment of the pour and because the strongest numbers are the venue's own, corroborated once.