Richmond restaurant again wins national craft beer vote

A Richmond restaurant has been named the nation’s top bar for craft beers for the second consecutive time.

Mekong Restaurant won first place on the “Great American Beer Bar” list, determined by an online vote on the website CraftBeer.com. The vote was begun by the Brewers Association last year to recognize bars serving craft beer.

The restaurant, founded in 1995, keeps more than 50 beers on tap and offers more than 200 beers in bottles. “Richmond has one of the best craft beer cultures in the U.S. and continually tries to cultivate the beer religion in the area,” An Bui, the restaurant’s beer director, said in a statement.

CraftBeer.com received more than 5,000 nominations in this year, an increase of 117 percent from last year. The finalists were picked from the 10 most nominated bars in each of five regions around the country.

More than 37,000 votes were cast during voting, conducted from  Aug. 19 until Aug. 30.

Nationally, the second and third place bars were the HopCat in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Cloverleaf Tavern in Caldwell, N.J.

Trailing Mekong in the South were The Thirsty Monk in Asheville, N.C., and Oak St. Drafthouse in Denton, Texas.