Whats the best bar/saloon you've been in?

mstem said:
Here in Virginia we don't have bars. We have restaurants that serve alcohol. I'm 61 and I can honestly say I have never been in a bar. And the last time I was drunk is when I was 28. That's when my ex-wife left!!!!!!!:D Didn't need a reason to drink anymore!:)
Click to expand...
maybe a reason to start drinking if it might work:D
 
I have never been a fan of bars, maybe because my father was an alcoholic and bars bring back bad memories. That's not to say I don't drink. I enjoy a good drink now and then and have been known to over indulge at times.

As far as bars go though, there is one in particular in my home town that's been in the same location since before I was born (I'm 70 years old). They've never expanded, renovated only to keep things looking good and the bartenders wear white aprons and ring up sales on an old cash register. They serve some of the best food with roast beef sandwiches as their specialty. The place is always packed mostly for the food. As a kid, and they still have it, they served draft birch beer. Whenever I go back to visit I make it a point to stop there.
 
The "short" list from my travels...
Ft. Worth, TX - Gilly's
New Orleans, LA - Pat O'Brians
Pensacola, FL - McGuire's Irish Pub
Nashville, TN - McNamara's Irish Pub
Great Falls, MT - Celtic Cowboy
Grand Forks, ND - O'Really's Irish Pub (anybody notice a trend?)
Little Rock, AR - Juanita's (despite the name they have Celtic music)
Orlando, FL - Howl at the Moon
Gatlinburg, TN - Gatlinburg Barrelhouse
 
We used to have a Bar here, it was right on the dock, it's where all the Comm fishermen used to go, they would get paid in cash and their wife would meet them at the boat and take the house money and leave them some for drinking, it was a small place maybe 15 feet wide, no tables just a bar, when you went in you had to duck the punches and step over the bodies, there was a small Diner across the street, they used to drag the bodies over there and stack them up like cord wood, the good old day's are long gone.:D
 
Y.O. Ranch Hotel, Kerrville, TX. Might not be the best bar to drink at, but the actual bar is probably one of the greatest around. To my understanding the Shriners paid $500K for back bar (made by Brunswick) and the front bar which came out of a Kansas city Saloon from the mid-19th century.

 
For me a bar has to have good food, I mean good food. None of that generic frozen stuff. And have a great beer selection. Doesn't have to be 500 beers but a well rounded selection.

Of the top of my head in no particular order.

-Memphis Tap Room. Fishtown section of Philadelphia. Not a big selection but a very good selection of beer and great food

-Eulogy. Center City Philadelphia. Good food. Amazing beer selection with some rare and hard to find stuff.

-Monks. Center city Philadelphia. Like Eulogy.

-The Beer Store of Bucks County. It's a 6 pack store with a giant selection of beers that also happens to have a 20 tap bar in the back. BYO food. About 2k beers rotating in and out based on the season.

-Frankford Hall. German/Belgian beer and German food all in an outdoor courtyard with community tables. Set up like the old German beer halls of their time.

-Iron Abby. Part Brazilian gastro pub, part Belgian beer tavern. Portuguese burgers with Belgian ales....mmmmm...good! Over 300 beers
 
Back when I was a drinking man I liked the Compleat Angler and the End of the World bars in Bimini. Fish all day and drink all night. The Compleat Angler burned down a while ago and I haven't had a drink or been to Bimini in a long time.
Regards,
turnerriver
 
Well the Menger has a heck of a history, but it ain't real special if you don't count that. It does have a magnetism about it though...must be the old ghosts that hang around it .
 
while more of a 'club' then pure bar in some aspects; back in the late 70's/early 80's in Madison there was a place called 'Headliners'. Saw all sorts of touring and soon-to-be major acts there such as Pat Benatar, Metallica, and so on. What was great though is on other nights you could just go slam down beers while trying to hold the foosball table all night. In retrospect; i enjoyed a lot of good live music, won a few $ on the table, and did my share to keep the beer companies in business. A lot of fun back then, sure couldn't do it now lol
 
Went to a Cubs game in Chicago. Wore my bright red Cardinals cap.

Was with some flubby fans, they wanted to go to a place called Huggy Bears. Almost got into a fight going in the front door. Got a beer, my hat caused some consternation amongst the locals. Was asked to leave.

It was the worst bar I've been thrown out of.

I don't remember the best bar I've been thrown out of.
 
This one. Although I didn't try that particular beer.
 

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The old (now closed) joints in Kansas City. The Night After Night, The Tender Trap, and Spivey's Black Hawk come to mind. There must have been 30 or 40 bars downtown in the early 70's and a hundred more out a little bit. A little something for everybody.
 
I also would say the Mint Bar in Sheridan, Wyoming is among the top spots I've spent some time in. Good drinks, interesting decor, and great people watching.

Jerry
 
Not the "best" one I've been to, but my favorite one is the Under The Hill Saloon in Natchez, MS.
 
I spent many a weekend in the White Elephant in the Ft. Worth Stockyards. Most of the time with my family (Dad, Mom, Aunts, Uncles and so on) Met a few musicians before and after the performed at Billy Bobs. Back then it was good music, good people and pretty friendly. Not sure about now since I have been gone from Texas for so long.
 
The bars in E Texas that I grew up in were not bars nor clubs nor open fronts or joints.
They were kind of just places that sold beer to drink on premise and room to dance----or fight.
You could buy beer at almost any age but you had to be 21 to run a tab.
They were by and large not reputable places to be seen so everybody just did not recognize anyone else.
I started going when I was about 17--with some adults who were 18.
Heck fire you had to drive 30 miles to find a a wet spot to by beer anyway---who was looking for class.
Cut n shoot was another place that my older cousin lived in---aptly named---real town.
How in the hell did we survive ?
Blessings
 
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