What is the perfect Duluth-area drinking establishment?
The time is almost upon us for a poll about something most Duluthians are practiced in: drinking.
We know Duluthians like to drink. In fact, St. Louis County rates among the top counties in the country for binge drinking, with a rate of 26.7 percent (though surely some Iron Rangers are skewing the percentage).
Though it’s not a statistic to be proud of, we certainly understand the inclination. And we’d like to pinpoint where the people prefer to imbibe. The poll isn’t scientific. How you choose the “perfect” drinking establishment is purely subjective. You can nominate a craft brewery, a swanky joint with handcrafted cocktails or a crusty dive bar with the cheapest swill and shots of whiskey. It’s up to you. Name your favorite bar, pub, saloon, nightclub, watering hole or whatever you call it in the comments to this post.
Once we compile an ample list of nominees, we’ll post the poll and the people will decide. It will be a runoff vote where the list of options will be whittled down during the voting process as favorites become apparent.
Any drinking establishment in Duluth or 10 miles of its border is eligible for nomination. Bars in Superior, Hermantown, Proctor and the many bordering townships qualify for nomination, but more distant places like Two Harbors and Cloquet do not.
Vikre Distillery!
Spirit Room
St. Louis County may rank near the top, but Douglas County in Wisconsin is the clear winner in the binge drinking category, with 31.9 percent of county residents reported binge drinking. I don’t want to put any flames toward our friends in “Souptown,” but they have held that distinction from time immemorial.
I can’t comment as I no longer live in Duluth, but crossed the bridges to Souptown and Oliver many, many times in the past. Relatives in Souptown owned Taverns back in the day, so I’ll not vote.
The intersection of First Street and First Avenue East, or any of the nearby alleys.
What Wendy said.
Rathskeller for ambiance. Zeitgeist and Lake Avenue Restaurant for quality cocktails.
Zeitgeist, if I have the money.
The Zeitgeist, Rathskeller, Vikre tour if I have guests in town.
I tend to like just about any bar, whether it’s swank cocktail lounge, hipster craft beer warehouse, Superior dive or backwoods hick joint. The only thing I can’t tolerate is when a beer costs something like $5.26. For the love of Satan, just charge $6. Isn’t rounded off drink prices guaranteed in the Constitution? But I digress.
I’ll resist the urge to nominate 50 places and limit myself to a dozen: Kom-on-Inn, Mitch’s, Red Herring, Carmody, Steel Toe, Dugout, Wabegon, Thirsty Pagan, Owl’s Club, Duluth Flame, Sir Benedict’s, Breeze Inn.
If you’re looking for a bar that’s in convenient proximity to City Hall, you can’t beat Roscoe’s.
Red Herring for sure, Bent Paddle has hosted some fun events and has great beer, and the Brewhouse is still one of the go-to places to meet out of towners – great beer and food and great location.
Vikre for the coolest space and most fun drinks.
Landmark Lanes
Skyline Lounge
Castle Danger Brewpub
Earthwood Inn
El Toro
Roscoe’s Pioneer Bar!
Silos at Pier B, best waterfront patio hands down.
I feel the need to point out that nearly all of Cloquet is within 10 miles of Duluth city limits.
Oh, shit. Back to the gerrymandering bunker! There’s work to do.
Well, here is the best I can do for a proposed PDD Awards boundary map.
Obviously Superior and places that share a boundary with Duluth needed to be included. The Carlton and Lake County borders seemed like a good place to draw the east/west lines. There is a sense that Twig and Munger should be included, but then the western border would have to get all jagged. So I’ll just present this and see who has a better idea for going forward. Clearly the “10 miles” guideline won’t work because including half of Cloquet is just silly. But if we included Cloquet in its entirety it would be hard to justify leaving Two Harbors out and then the whole thing would get out of control.
That’s the best you can do, Lundgren? For someone who has a gerrymandering BUNKER!?!?!?
What you want is a 16 mile radius around the Aerial Lift Bridge. That distance includes what you want and conveniently excludes Cloquet.
Done.
Naturally, all of this will be hotly debated in the PDD House and Senate.