Setting the bar high or low

You enjoy the finer things in life. You want your beer like you want your women: foreign and stout. When you have more than 70 of these beauties on tap, then surely you’ve stumbled into heaven (or where your GSI holds office hours). Ashley’s is undoubtedly the beer-snob watering hole – its plug is “Friends don’t let friends drink cheap beer.” A frequenter of Ashley’s won’t buy bricks of PBR or be caught near a frat keg, and drinks beer at room temperature (because it’s supposed to be served that way, not because it’s been left out for days). If you find yourself drinking beer that’s darker and heavier than coffee, you’re a philosophy major and your beard is unintentionally ironic, you might just be at Ashley’s.

CONOR O’NEILL’S
318 S. Main St.

If Conor O’Neill’s is your regular stomping ground, you’re obviously the type of person who strives to get something more out of your weekday nights. Whether you like the crooning voice of guitar player Jerry Sprague on Tuesday nights, need of a good pint, a drunken Monday night game of trivia or are simply trying to get in touch with your Irish roots, Conor O’Neill’s is worth the ice-cold trek to Main Street. Just don’t be the guy who orders Guinness and fish’n’chips just to fit into your surroundings – they all know you’re not Irish.

LEOPOLD BROS.
523 S. Main Street

If your idea of a wild night at the bar includes board games, then Leopold Bros. is your bar. This spacious Main Street pub, with its high, vaulted ceiling and long wooden benches, is reminiscent of a summer camp dining hall more than anything else. Leopold Bros. distills its own whiskey, gin, vodka and various liqueurs – a major draw for connoisseurs. But if you’re looking for action, you’d better try something a little less snobby and a whole lot cheaper.

GOODNIGHT GRACIES
301 W. Huron St.

You are over the college bar scene. You are ripe and ready to move to New York City, chain smoke in jazz clubs and have a lover 10 years your senior who will buy you pricey martinis. But beware: Gracies is not for the thin-wallet college kid with little appreciation for live music. If you roll into this classy joint without the proper bills and skills, the posh crowd will immediately recognize you don’t belong here.

RICK’s AMERICAN CAF