Bar Hygge

Bar Hygge has traded in Fairmount since 2016, run by Stew and Julie Keener with Tom Baker and Peggy Zwerver. The name is the Danish word for cosy contentment — pronounced roughly huu-guh — and the room is built to it. Inside is Brewery Techne, a ten-barrel brewhouse pouring rotating house draft and cask beers alongside contemporary American boards and comfort food.

Cask beer is worth pausing on, because it is rare in American brewpubs and it tells you something about the house. Cask ale is unfiltered, unpasteurised and naturally carbonated in the vessel it is served from, poured at cellar temperature by hand pump rather than pushed with gas. It is more work, it spoils faster, and it is done by people who care about beer as a craft rather than as a product.

That same disposition shows in how the bar treats people who are not drinking. Visit Philadelphia's zero-proof guide describes it as a beloved neighbourhood bar known for creating an inclusive atmosphere for all guests, and the stock backs that up: alcohol-removed wine, a zero-proof amaro, and signature non-alcoholic cocktails alongside the beer. A zero-proof amaro is the notable item — amaro is the bitter Italian digestif category, and having a genuine bitter option means a non-drinker can end a meal the way everyone else does rather than switching to something sweet.

The named drinks are Amateur Jazz and Spice Up Your Life, plus a Lavender Lemonade and an NA Spritz. Four builds is a real list for a brewpub, where one non-alcoholic beer is more typically the whole answer.

A brewpub is also a forgiving format socially: people order at their own pace, the beer is the topic of conversation rather than the intoxication, and a cask-ale bar attracts people who want to taste rather than to drink volume. Open Tuesday to Friday from four, and from ten in the morning at weekends, closing at eleven.