Hot weather, skimpy clothing, sunburns and a town that is light on students; during summer, Athens is a little different. But as skin turns bright red and the hot bricks melt sandals, cooling off with a cocktail or pint is just a little cheaper.
So to save money this summer and to keep the local taverns afloat, The Summer Post unveils its 2007 daily summer bar guide.
Drinking one-dollar Keystones at the north end of Court Street grows tiresome and probably makes one a little too sick after a night or two, so without further delay here's this year guide to summer specials.
The Summer hangover
So when the students are gone, how do the bars actually fare? Aside from offering more specials, including the huge jugs of domestic drafts at The Pub and Red Brick Tavern every night for $2, others depend on their regulars and trim the overhead.
But the business lull seems to differ between local and student bars. Bars at the fringes of the Union Street bar district depend on their regulars to keep the drinks flowing.
Business definitely does decline
said Kevin Smith, bartender at the Oak Room. But he added that at his bar, people can sit here and actually talk at a bar instead of fighting shoulder to shoulder.
Up the street at Skipper's Bar and Grill, Nicole Icker, general manager, said the bar anticipates the decline, so they shrink the staff and find ways to keep the cost down.
The bar has endured several summers and been fine before, it will be fine this summer, she added.
Around the corner in the student bar district on Court Street, bartenders said they too are fine with the lack of students.
We're probably operating at about 35 or 40 percent said John Metzger, senior bartender at Red Brick Tavern.
He added that in the summer there are some advantages. A bartender becomes better acquainted with patrons and the staff at Red Brick tends to hang out more.
But he said, I'd love to have students here all year round.
Day by day
Monday - Get your peanuts
Pawpurrs: prime time from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. with half price on all drinks. This special runs Monday to Saturday.
Jackie O's: $6 pitchers of their microbrew beers all night and it is open stage, so bring that guitar and some awful Dashboard Confessional to cover.
Tony's: Free peanuts all night ' need more be said?
Tuesday - Too much to choose
Cat's Den: $1 shots all night, except for premium liquor
Smiling Skull: $1.75 Black and Tans
Jackie O's: $2 Guinness pints
Union: $2 Long Islands
Skipper's: 25 cent Pabst Blue Ribbon drafts
Broney's: $2 premium drafts
Wednesday - Whiskey and tequilla
Union: $1.00 bottom-shelf whiskey shots
Casa Cantina: $3.00 margaritas
The CI: $1.50 bottle domestics
Thursday - Wednesday-lite
Union: $2 margaritas
Broney's: $3 design a pint of Guinness pint night
The weekend - Where the beer's always cheap
Red Brick Tavern: $2.00 mega mugs (just under 3 beers)
The Pub: $2.00 aquariums (again, just under 3 beers)
Jackie O's: $2.00 specialty night on Friday
Tony's: $1.00 Miller High Life bottles on Sunday
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Sean Gaffney
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