Drinking on a dime

We all need to let loose once in a while or have a drink after an exhausting day at work. Since it is no fun to drink alone, we often entice friends to join us. During this economic downturn, it is actually pretty easy to find deals or BYOB restaurants, thereby allowing us to have fun without busting the budget.

Drink deals: There are two easy ways to get drink deals: 1) ask the bar/restaurant you are in what is on special that night, or 2) figure out what you are in the mood for and then find out which bars/restaurants have it on special that night. You probably don’t need any advice on the first, but I can provide some info about the second.

There are a lot of Web sites, blogs, and twitterers out there commenting about deals for this and deals for that. This includes bar deals. My favorite is SmallTabs (this one is a little north-side focused).

I’ve recently found two bars that have $3 Guinness on Friday nights! (Something tells me they weren’t offering this two years ago…)

BYOB: Another way to keep the alcohol budget low when eating out is to find BYOBs. As we all know, they are springing up all over the place right now. Most of you probably are familiar with the ones in your neighborhood, but what about when you are meeting up with people in another neighborhood? Lots of easy ways to find a BYOB, just remember to find out about corkage fees before you go (do I need to say that no corkage fee is best?).

YELP
metromix (searching for BYOB is very easy)