Annapolis On The Cheap is a series of posts where we, Nathan and Casey, attempt to have an evening of food and craft beer in Annapolis for less than $30. Our goal is to find the best happy hour deals across Naptown so that you don’t have to!

If you’ve never been to West Kitchen and Tavern, you’re missing out on a great Annapolis restaurant.  But if you’re like me, you may find it a little pricey to always hit their regular menu.

West runs a discount program for locals called, “Hey Neighbor!”  If you live in Annapolis, save some money and sign up for the program.  The discounts change every month, but you generally get a 10% discount, free drinks, and/or buy one get one free deals.

The food at West is always delicious, but the craft beer selection is lacking. On draft they always have Dogfish 90 Minute and Heavy Seas Loose Cannon IPAs, as well as Fat Tire and Flying Dog’s In Heat Wheat. The bottle selection has a few more options and we’ve found other local options from Heavy Seas, Fordham, and Evolution. The craft beer selection isn’t the best, but the delicious food more than makes up for the lack of beer variety.

We decided to attempt this Happy Hour challenge during our next to last March snow day.  We’re in the Hey Neighbor program, so we both received a deliciously free Irish Coffee, and got a 10% discount on our bill.  So your Happy Hour experience could be more expensive…

Even without the discounts, West offers a great Happy Hour.  All “share” plates and pizzas are half off, and draft beer is $4.  We each started off with our free Irish Coffee (hey, it was really cold and snowy outside!), then we each ordered a $4 Loose Cannon IPA.

West also offers a daily pizza special for $15.  Today it was a delicious asparagus, goat cheese, prosciutto and garlic remoulade pizza…and at happy hour it only cost $7.50.  They cook their pizzas in a brick oven, and they’re some of the best in Annapolis!

Andrea, our bartender, was on top of everything. The bar filled up and she never missed a beat. She also had some great stories and was able to take care of other customers up and down the bar while popping in and out of conversation with us like she had never left to take care of someone else.

To wash it all down, we each ordered a $4 Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA, and our total came to $23.50! We could have even ordered a share plate or bar snacks and still have been under our limit.

Once again we stayed well under $30 and the food was fantastic.  A wider craft beer selection would have been great, but the craft beer that’s on hand is good stuff and any complaining with these happy hour prices almost seems too critical. If you haven’t been to West then check them out.

Want to plan your own Annapolis happy hour? Check out The Beer Spy’s Annapolis Happy Hour calendar, with details on all the best craft beer happy hours in Naptown (I recommend agenda view).