Time Out Pub Awards: Past winners

Since 2011, the Last Jar has been showing Melbourne what Irish pubs, and Irish food, are really about.

These superstars of the local craft beer scene think global and drink local.

The reborn Marquis rules wisely over this little patch of Fitzroy.

While other band rooms yield to pokies, the Rev thrives on the rock.

Bring your pooch and your team spirit to the best sports pub in town.

Fitzroy's little local delivers on music, beer and cheesesteaks.

The craft beer movement reaches a new generation on the east side.

One of Melbourne's great classic pubs doesn't need any gimmicks.

For 35 years it's been the pub where a bloke can be a bloke.

You can tell a lot about a pub from its taps. At the Terminus, they stock such a stellar line up of craft beers and punch those kegs so quickly, it’s printed-and-laminated labels instead of badges fronting half the line.

Restaurateur legend Andrew McConnell becomes a publican, and the result is every bit as good as we'd hoped.

With more than 340 craft beers, the booze list here warrants some serious beard stroking.

There are too few good old-fashioned boozers these days. The new team behind the refurbished Yarra Hotel would agree with that, as they’ve transformed the neglected local pub into a welcoming den of golden beeriness and decorative warmth.

Everyone is welcome at the Edinburgh Castle Hotel. Beneath the alpine mural in the sprawling front bar, you might find chunky, tatted rockers pushing wagyu beef burgers past their whiskers, while three year olds cruise past them on the complimentary trikes. This is a true community pub, where families feel welcomed rather than just equipped.

Until two decades worth of band posters were scraped off this corner of Bourke and Spencer Street we had clean forgotten that a pub lay beneath. Now, the Savoy Tavern stands open and party-light-filled once more.

The Reverence is a church where live music is the religion and the doors are open to any and all who seek its comfort. Because far from the fundamentalist worship of rock, the Rev plays host to a staggering variety of local, national and international acts of every flavour from tango to trance.

There was a time in Fitzroy when the men drank beer, the women drank beer, and Queenslanders weren’t allowed to play footy. The Rose Hotel is one of the few still hanging on to the good old days, surviving and thriving as a hold out of honest, old school pub awesomeness.

Let’s talk about that beer. The name taphouse is well earned, as these champions of brew pour over 400 beers a year through their constantly changing taps. There’s also a full calendar of sudsy events, unsurprising seeing as founders Steve Jeffares and Guy Greenstone also started the Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular.

Melbourne is a city that really knows how to do pubs. From beer halls with more than 50 craft beer taps to cozy locals with a great fireplace, there's a pub for every occasion.