Bar Madness
One of our favorite parts of our Instagram account is doing different bracket-style tournaments with different bar-related categories. A few of our followers had the brilliant idea of doing a tournament to see who has the best rooftop bar in Charleston for our next one.
It was a little hard picking the contenders because some have an actual bar on the roof while others have just a rooftop terrace and seating. In the end we picked 28 bars across Charleston with some form of a rooftop. We divided it (roughly) between the East and West sides of Charleston county to add some extra competition.
Check out how it went down!
Round One
To start it off, Uptown easily handled Aqua Terrace 72-28(%). This was expected for one of the hotel bars going against a Charleston heavy-weight, and Aqua Terrace is a little removed on the west side of the city.
The other 1 seed Henry’s, also crushed their first round opponent Pavilion Bar by 78-22.
Snapper Jacks easily handled Ink with two thirds of the vote.
In a battle of the island bars, Islander 71 upset Coconut Joe’s in a narrow 58-42 victory.
Perhaps the most shocking upset of the first round was Citrus Club, a hotel bar, beating Ritual 56-44. Ritual is one of the newest rooftops in town and has somewhat of a cult-following being part of the group that owns Republic.
Revelry Brewing cruised past Élevé with 70% of the votes.
One of the closest first round match-ups was Loggerheads vs The Watch. It went back and forth throughout the day, but The Watch ended up on top in a shocking 52-48 upset.
Vendue Rooftop crushed Papi’s Taqueria by a whopping 85-15.
Cocktail Club beat Harold’s Cabin (& The Pickled Beat) 70-30.
The Boathouse at Breach Inlet put up some great numbers against Saltwater Cowboys but ended up losing 57-43.
Little Palm showed out against Charleston Harbour Fish House with a 60-40 victory.
Pour Taproom reminded everyone that they’re the tallest bar in Charleston with a towering 70-30 win over Fuji on Upper King (you can actually look down at the Fuji rooftop from Pour Taproom’s rooftop😂).
Fiat Lux stood no chance against Stars Rooftop who advanced with a 74-26 win.
Lastly, Red’s Ice House demolished their Shem Creek neighbor Mill Street Tavern in a staggering 87-13 win, the largest difference in votes for the first round.
Round Two
The second round started off with another major upset for The Watch over Pour Taproom, 59-41.
Vendue vs Little Palm was set to be a great match up, and Vendue pulled off the minor upset to advance to the next round with another 59-41 win.
Our Folly Beach followers rallied again to send Snapper Jacks onward (56-44) over Stars.
Red’s kept the momentum going again, rolling over Islander 71 with 76% of the vote.
Battle of the Clubs: Cocktail Club barely snuck past Citrus Club 53-47.
Somehow an even narrower matchup was Revelry beating Saltwater Cowboys by just 2% (52-48).
Elite Eight
Uptown finally ended The Watch’s Cinderella story in a 61-39 victory.
We thought this matchup would be closer, but Henry’s showed they deserve to be a 1-seed, beating Vendue 66-34.
In another surprise upset, Cocktail Club knocked out Snapper Jacks 54-46.
Lastly with a nailbiter end to the round, Red’s defeated Revelry 56-44.
Final Four
This is when these tournaments really start getting crazy. This seemed clear this would set up a final of the two one seeds (and many of you agreed). But first, Cocktail Club pulled off a miraculous upset over Uptown Social (winner of our original Bar Madness tournament) 53-47. Then, Red’s achieved another upset, winning 58-42 over Henry’s to secure their place in the final. MADNESS!!
Final
There was a lot of excitement for a final between (relative) underdogs. But it turned out to be much less captivating than the previous round. Red’s crushed Cocktail Club 72-28 to claim the crown for BEST ROOFTOP BAR IN CHARLESTON!!
Huge congratulations to Red’s for winning Bartopia’s Official Best Rooftop Bar in Charleston and shout out to all the amazing people making Red’s thrive every day. Thanks to everyone who joined in this tournament. We had a blast organizing it and there will be many more to come. Check us out on Instagram to stay tuned and let us know what our next tournament should be!
Click the Bartopia logo below to browse all the rooftop bars in Charleston, and combine other searches like happy hours all in the Bartopia app (now available on Android as well as iOS)!
