Happy Hour

[hillvalley]

Who has the good happy hour deals? Where can I eat and drink and get the most bang for my buck?

No limits, price or location. Just looking for a variety of options.

[iamthestretch]

Careful, last time we tried this we ended up with a new eGullet term of art.

[Chef Shogun]

Froggy Bottom Pub, Foggy Bottom: Monday: Half price pizza. Tuesday: $2 Red Hook and...something else of that nature. Thursday: $2 Sam Adam's Seasonals. All these are something like 5 pm to closing.

Hamburger Hamlet, Crystal City Underground: $2 appetizers, $4.50 Guinness', $4/$2 22oz/12oz 'Premium Drafts' (then down from there). $2.50 rail drinks (unless they're on the rocks, then they're like $3.25; their rationale is they give you more booze to compensate for meltage). 4-7 pm.

Lindy's, Foggy Bottom: $9 pitchers, vary by day of week. I love Lindy's, but while $9 isn't bad for a pitcher, they always seem a little...off. Anybody notice?

Afraid that's about the extent of my Happy Hour experiance.

[NulloModo]

Newark, DE is a great drinking Town.

You can start the evening at the original Iron Hill Brewery, and have a gourmet level dinner along with some awesome craft beers, every bit as good as the more reknown and well distributed DogFishHead brewery.

Just a bit down the street is the Stone Balloon, which is dirty, always overcrowded, but has an atmosphere like no other. Enjoy $0.25 drafts of Natty Light (OK, well, you can't enjoy them, but you can become drunk as all get out from them) while you jam out to whatever local band they have on the same stage that has housed Bruce Springstein, Parliament Funkadelic, Reel Big Fish, Train, Metallica, and Snoop Doggy Dogg (not to mention others).

Just down the street a bit further is the Deer Park Tavern, which used to feature $1 Yeungling Drafts combined with all you can eat buffalo wings, not sure if they still run that promotion or not. However, the place ie beautiful inside, no matter which level or balcony you end up on, and has some sort of veiled-in-mystery connection with Edgar Allen Poe.

[JennyUptown]

You can't beat Lucky Bar and The Big Hunt for cheap beers (although I'd stick with bottles at Lucky Bar). Rotating specials.

Where NOT to go for discount drinks:

Aroma - It's one of my favorite bars, but cocktails are expensive. Draft beer in the $5 realm though.

Fahrenheit - Love this spot for interesting champagne cocktails in luxe surroundings, but expect to drop $12, $14 or more. Per drink. Great if someone else is picking up the tab.

Zola - Again, tons of atmosphere and the bartenders are usually more on the ball than the dining room waitstaff, but you're not going to escape for less than $9 a pop if memory serves.

Bardeo - I don't know how many times I've been drawn in by their detailed descriptions of a wine's flavor palette...only to have total sticker shock upon reading "$12" or $15" for a glass. On the other hand, most of their staff offers samples of wines you're 'considering' up the wazoo.

[Chef Shogun]

Where NOT to go for discount drinks:

Georgetown Waterfront.

One I forgot: Thai Coast in West End/Foggy Bottom had some sort of tropical drink special in the afternoon that I never got around to checking out before I left. Nothing special beer-wise. Does ANY Thai place in DC have a good beer list?

[misscindy]

Have to add my favorite happy hour in Baltimore--the Brewer's Art. Their house brewed Belgian style beers are only $2. All of the beers are seriously good and they pack a major punch. They also have a great bar menu that includes the legendary rosemary garlic frites, along with other tasty treats.

[mnebergall]

Oceanaire: No deals on drinks, but half price appetizers including fresh oysters, until 6.

[khart]

Heritage India in Dupont has a great happy hour from 5-7 daily: $4 martinis and house wines, $2.50 beers, and half-price Indian tapas. You can easily get a meal's worth of food and a couple of drinks for less than $20.

I also like having margaritas on the patio at Rosemary's Thyme, which are half-price during happy hour (5-7:30, I believe). They have cheap food specials as well, which are perfectly fine for a neighborhood place, but not as memorable as their margaritas.

[WoodleyGrrl]

Toledo Lounge in Adams Morgan is a great spot.

Also Madams Organ has wing specials as well and they are TASTY

[liamdc]

I also like having margaritas on the patio at Rosemary's Thyme, which are half-price during happy hour (5-7:30, I believe). They have cheap food specials as well, which are perfectly fine for a neighborhood place, but not as memorable as their margaritas.

Rosemary's offers half-priced bottles of wine every day during Happy Hour. Its wine list is workaday, perfectly adequate for happy hour purposes. They do have a nice area of outdoor seating as well. I've never eaten the food there beyond some bread and hummus, I believe.

[liamdc]

Here are a few Happy Hour ideas from the Post:

Bethesda Happy Hour

DC Happy Hour

[morela]

If you like Chimay and the like, check out L'Enfant (up hill from Rosemary's) on Tuesdays for half price Belgian beer. They have a hearty selection and it ends up being a sweet deal when there's more than just you drinking...

And Saint-Ex does the same thing at some regular happy time on some happy days of the week.

I'm sort of the nite-cap type, myself, and that tends to take place at a somewhat less happy hour.

[morela]

And then, there's always Stoney's, where they have many many many happy hours, all day and all night...

[cjsadler]

The Belgian Beer happy hour at the Bohemian Caverns every Tues is a good time. Interesting surroundings (preserved like that since 1926) and about 15 or so Belgians at 1/2 price. It runs from 6 until 11pm, which can be very dangerous. "I'm drunk and I'm in a cave". Can't say much for the food, but Ben's is around the corner.

[VenerableBede]

hotel helix has half priced burgers and beer until 7, i think (good burgers and $2 PBR). . .mccormick and schmicks has a $2.00 food menu, but drinks are not on special. . .andale is half priced wine and margaritas. . .that's all i can think of right now.

[hannnah]

Maybe I'm just getting old, but I have real trouble seeing $2 PBR as a good deal, seeing as how a six-pack only costs around $4. And if their "regular" price is $4, that's approaching highway robbery. Now, $2 pints at Brewer's Art, or half-price Belgians - that's value for money.

Along those lines, Busara in Tyson's does $1.75 domestic drafts/$2.50 imports (including, last time I was there, Duvel), along with $2.50 house wine/margaritas. Even if they don't do a discount on appetizers, the hae kuen (shrimp, chicken and water-chestnut dumplingish things wrapped in yuba bean curd) are very, very good and reasonably priced. I assume the specials are the same at the DC branch, since they don't make a distinction between the two on their website.

[VenerableBede]

Maybe I'm just getting old, but I have real trouble seeing $2 PBR as a good deal, seeing as how a six-pack only costs around $4. And if their "regular" price is $4, that's approaching highway robbery. Now, $2 pints at Brewer's Art, or half-price Belgians - that's value for money.

hmmm, good point. . perhaps i need to return and double check on those prices. black cat sells pbr for $3.50 for drafts . .. but the indie kids like their pbr, at least until schlitz or black label make their triumphant return.

[KHT20]

a very comprehensive list of each day of the week's specials, sorted by neighborhood, can be found at On Tap

[eunny jang]

Is it Morton's that does a $7 martini-and-steak-sandwich during happy hour?

[evilcartman]

If memory serves, the PBR at the Helix is always 2$, not just during happy hour. The Coronitas are two bucks a piece, sold in a bucket of seven...but there's less beer...they're ponies. Black's in Bethesda is a great choice as mentioned before...Sierra Nevada and other beers half price...and Sapphire down the street has good specials and half price burgers three days a week til seven, one of which is Saturday...the burger is 3.50 or something crazy, cheaper than Mickey D's and tastier, plus Mickey D's don't serve no bruskies. Sapphire has a pretty chill bar they built on the patio, a bonus for smokers in Mo Co, but get there early to avoid the pseudo jeune doree crowd.