Feature

Happy Hour Specials

Put this on your refrigerator so you'll know where to drink.

It's here! - You're guide to economical drinking, compliments of the Oregon Commentator. We apologize for not getting this article - and more importantly, the ensuing bar information - to you sooner. We understand that the strains and trials of university life get you down, and occasionally (perhaps often) you need to throw back a few pints of cold dark porter. So I dutifully accepted my charge and have, over the last couple weeks, hit the trenches and investigated some of the drinking establishments in the surrounding area. We at the OC hope to add pleasure to your leisure with this often difficult-to-gather information. The craven OLCC makes this info next to impossible to find by prohibiting bars from advertising their drink specials and happ(y)ier hours. The persecuted bars can't even give these goodies out over the phone, making my job all the more strenuous.

I started with the campus bars. Not much new, although I must mention the excellent lunch men at Taylor's; great food, lots of it, for a reasonable price - always a plus in my book. Moving on down 13th Street, we come across Max's which deserves a hearty commendation. Shannon, one of the bartenders at Max's, was very helpful in facilitating this article (read: she gave me free booze). Cheers Shannon!

Bars off campus were a little more foreign, but sill good fun. The McMenamin's bars received high marks with their comfortable atmosphere, tasty food (much speedier on the go than the campus bars), and thirst quenching house ales. This writer of humble taste must acknowledge the quality of McMenamin's Terminator Stout and Ruby brews. Another favorable bar-restaurant combination is Jo Federigo's restaurant $ Jazz Club. Jo Federigo's hosts a variety of jazz musicians nightly, usually playing after 9:30 p.m. This jazzy hang-out requests a modest minimum of $5 (not a cover) toward food or drink during performances, a small price to pay for the Seattle-esque feel, palatable pasta, and great jazz. Jo Fed's hosts a mature crowd and setting.

Doc's Pad deserves an honorable mention for its variety of drink specials. These satisfying specials vary nightly (see attached schedule). Other bars in the area feature nowhere near the same generosity in their F.O.S. (Frequency of Specials). The OC suggests they take note. Doc's also features an interesting tool for anyone striving for alcoholism: the 1/2 yard. The 1/2 yard is a long glass drinking receptacle devoted to your good time. The glass guzzler holds about two pints and costs $10, which includes the glass and a stiff fluid fill up of your choice. Subsequent refills are priced anywhere from $3-$5 depending on the evening's special.

These are merely a few of the establishments in the area. Of course there are more which must be investigated, but that is for another day and another article or perhaps for a little bit of research on your own time. More important, however, is the fact that you have been gifted with a schedule of cheaper drinks and happy hours. Use this intelligence wisely when considering your class schedules for the upcoming term. This is our personal challenge to you: mix classes strategically with nightly events and specials. Perhaps classes will have to end early on Mondays so you can march into Rennie's during happy hour and watch a game. Maybe Thursdays will start late and end early so you can partake in Taylor's Wednesday night $1 mirrors and still be able to make a smooth transition to Jo Fed's Jazz Jam Thursday evening. Or perhaps you are little like me and hear East 19th's Captain neon Burger and Terminator calling seductively throughout Tuesday afternoon's lecture. Whatever your heart's desire, the noble bartenders of Eugene ask that you consider them when planning next term's classes.

Cheers!