Craft beer lovers will get a big boost of merry-making this holiday season when City Tap House opens. The Philadelphia-based restaurant group that brought Public House and Harrington's Pub and Kitchen to National Harbor, expects to throw open the doors sometime in the first two weeks of December. It replaces the the former 901 Restaurant and Bar near Chinatown.

Like its predecessor, the gargantuan gastropub game-changer that’s been going gangbusters on University of Pennsylvania’s campus in Philadelphia since it opened back in 2010, City Tap House here will offer a staggering selection of local and craft brews, and an equally impressive menu of scratch-cooked tavern fare that goes above and beyond the standard deep-fried pub grub.

When it debuts, the bar and restaurant will boast 40 taps, the majority of which will be constantly rotating in and out seasonal specialties from area beer makers, as wells notable nationally-distributed crafts and carefully curated imported selections. There will also be two separate lines devoted solely to cask-conditioned brews.

As far as food goes, CTH will offer a menu that runs the gamut from comfort-y bar standards like brick-oven pizzas and burgers to more refined plates like housemade pasta with rabbit bolognese and monkfish osso buco. Scott Swiderski, who earned his stripes while at the helm of restaurateur Stephen Starr’s flagship Buddakan for more than a decade, created the menu and will over see the kitchen.

The space features a modern-meets-rustic lodge vibe, fabricated with stone, rough-hewn timbers and repurposed wood reclaimed from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The space seats roughly 180 guests, with 40 stools at the bar, and a private dining area with enough room for 80 people.

City Tap House, 901 I Street NW. 202-733-5333

Photo: City Tap House