If you hang out with the right people in Worcester, MA, one of them will inevitably recommend you visit a dive bar called The Dive Bar. And it's there you'll realize it's only kind of a dive bar. There's the beer list, for starters, from which you may decide to order Hill Farmstead's Abner Double IPA a few times in a row. There's the nautical theme. (Get it? Dive bar?) There's the odd mix of '90s pop punk and modern rap music. But perhaps most refreshing? There's nary a beer geek in sight. Just a good, diverse mix of folks—students, singles, one guy with his mom—drinking great beer. No big deal.
—Blake Tyers and Austin L. Ray