The 50 Best College Bars in America

Even if you're not the best or the brightest, you can still enjoy the best of the college experience—having a drink in a college bar. And what makes a great college bar? Ha, trick question! The best college bar is the bar that's closest to your (current or former) college, with the cheapest drinks, that all your friends go to.

We've compiled a thorough list representing every region in the country and every type of establishment that serves suds and cocktails: fratty sports bars, nerdy popcorn-and-boardgame havens, and the finest places to have all the puke-out-your-nose fun you can handle. And, yes, we crowned the Best College Bar in the land...but let's pace ourselves here, folks.

These are the 50 Best College Bars in America. Binge responsibly.

Even if you're not the best or the brightest, you can still enjoy the best of the college experience—having a drink in a college bar. And what makes a great college bar? Ha, trick question! The best college bar is the bar that's closest to your (current or former) college, with the cheapest drinks, that all your friends go to.

We've compiled a thorough list representing every region in the country and every type of establishment that serves suds and cocktails: fratty sports bars, nerdy popcorn-and-boardgame havens, and the finest places to have all the puke-out-your-nose fun you can handle. And, yes, we crowned the Best College Bar in the land...but let's pace ourselves here, folks.

These are the 50 Best College Bars in America. Binge responsibly.

City: Washington, D.C.
School: Georgetown
Address: 1226 36th St. NW
Website: tombs.com

Tombs is like any other college bar, but with a far better menu. While they claim that you can wear anything from jeans to a tuxedo and still be welcome, everyone there seems to wear flip flops and collared shirts. Not that we could ever co-sign that combo, but just so you're not too shocked by the douchery when you go.

City: Los Angeles, Calif.
School: Southern Cal
Address: 1607 Trousdale Pkwy.
Website: n/a

A once famed drinking institution, Traddies has been relegated to the lonely corner of a campus food court while it waits for the completion of its new Student Center digs (allegedly in fall 2010). But it's cool, the whole "shriveled shadow of its former self" vibe reminds us of the USC football program... boosh! See you in 2012, suckers.

City: Princeton, N.J.
School: Princeton
Address: 248 Nassau St.
Website: ivyinnprinceton.com

Basically it's a Jersey dive bar that crashed the Ivy League party down the road. Or maybe it got kicked out and fell into a bottle. Either way, with $2 Miller Lite 24 oz. specials, the Ivy Inn will never be called pretentious.

City: Rochester, N.Y.
School: URI
Address: 666 South Ave.
Website: lux666.com

Great address, better bar. Buy a raw burger at the bar and cook it out back at the fire pit and get gritty with the locals.

City: Mesa, Ariz.
School: Arizona State
Address: 4810 East McKellips Rd.
Website: realfunbar.com

"It's like having a party in your backyard except we clean up," says the website. What they don't mention is that your backyard is in the desert next to an air field and you don't know anyone there. Which sounds about right, but you'll make friends fast enough.

City: College Park, Md.
School: Maryland
Address: 7325 Baltimore Ave.
Website: cornerstonegrillandloft.com

Command center-style TVs downstairs and pool tables upstairs, Terps flock here for cheap eats and bargain drink specials.

City: Amherst, Mass.
School: UMass
Address: 163 Sunderland Rd.
Website: theharp.com

A low-key Amherst bar with live Irish music, a great trivia night, and not a lot of pretense. Plus, you can take your weird coupon-clipping uncle because they do take the Discover Card.

City: Eugene, Ore.
School: Oregon
Address: 1214 Kincaid St.
Website: rennieslanding.com

Located in an historic house on campus, Rennie's has a dozen draught beers on tap, usually including some fine fare from the Deschutes Brewery down the road in Bend. Also, Neil Diamond appeared to us in a dream, handed us a snow white duck, and told us to put this place on the list. You don't argue with Neil Diamond, especially dream-Neil Diamond.

City: Orlando, Fla.
School: Central Florida
Address: 12289 University Blvd.
Website: knightlibrary.com

Knight Library, right across from UCF's main campus, is famous for its themed block parties where the booze starts flowing at 2pm until someone gets locked in their infamous cage. Note: The bar is staffed by local sorority girls, whose friends are known to post up for $1 drink specials.

City: Lawrence, Kan.
School: Kansas
Address: 507 West 14th St.
Website: n/a

Two words: Pizza and Drunks. A must-visit if you ever find yourself in Lawerence. Want to know a secret? The pizza isn't even that good, you're just drunk.

City: Boulder, Colo.
School: Colorado
Address: 1165 13th St.
Website: thesink.com

Self-proclaimed "Boulder Burger Institution" has been serving suds and burgers for 87 years. They also have this thing where they give you honey to put on your un-eaten pizza crusts. Must be something to do with the altitude.

City: Nashville, Tenn.
School: Vanderbilt
Address: 11 10th Ave. S
Website: beerknurd.com

The Saucer can be a little pricey compared to other hooch slingers in the Music City, but it has a huge beer list, pool, and couches to kick back on if you have a little coin burning a hole in your pocket.

City: Berkeley, Calif.
School: Cal
Address: 1920 Shattuck Ave.
Website: duffyslincoln.com

Tasty craft beers and some of the best burgers in Berkeley make the Triple Rock (a.k.a. the oldest continuously running brewpub in the U.S.) a grad-level course for Cal students who've moved up from the gutter punk Telegraph Ave fare.

City: Madison, Wash.
School: Wisconsin
Address: 529 North Lake St.
Website: n/a

Basically, there's dancing and drunk people and you can probably hook up if you have a pulse. But sometimes you have to step back and ask yourself, "Where did this rash come from?" Well, if you're not sure, go walk in the snow for a few minutes and it'll freeze off, pronto.

City: South Bend, Ind.
School: Notre Dame
Address: 441 East La Salle Ave.
Website: n/a

You should go here and be the first person ever to start a "Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!" cheer. OK, so that'll probably get you carried out of the bar (and deposited on the curb), but they filmed part of that flick here and if you lay low and cover up your girl's USC tramp stamp you'll have a great time.

City: Columbia, Mo.
School: Missouri
Address: 29 South 10th St.
Website: harpos.com

There are a couple of Harpo's now that the empire has expanded, but this one was first and this one's still best. Great happy hour and a dorked-out trivia night, provided you're actually around after the happy hour.

City: State College, Pa.
School: Penn State
Address: 111 East Beaver Ave.
Website: the-phyrst.com

A Happy Valley basement institution that showcases live music, a long list of draughts, and drink specials that you can only get in nowhereville-Pennsylvania. The Phryst straddles the line between dive and decency, and occasionally gets a little wet (not that that's a bad thing in any way).

City: Chicago
School: University of Chicago
Address: 2771 North Lincoln Ave.
Website: delilahschicago.com

No red-blooded American college kid ever went wrong with rock and roll and whiskey, the two things that make this place famous. Ha! Who are we kidding?!? Tons of red-blooded American college kids have gone wrong with rock and roll and whiskey, but we had fun doing it.

City: Syracuse, N.Y.
School: Syracuse
Address: 727 South Crouse Ave.
Website: n/a

Because every college needs a crowded place right next to campus with boneless chicken wings and beer. Wait, your school doesn't have such a place? Not too late to transfer—or better yet, drop out!

City: Lawrence, Kan.
School: Kansas
Address: 946 Massachusetts St.
Website: replaylounge.com

Live music, pinball, and a nice outdoor patio make Replay a great alternative to the Greek Jayhawk chaos that can sometimes consume you at KU.

City: College Station, Texas
School: Texas A&M
Address: 307 University Dr.
Website: dixiechicken.com

Get yourself a pitcher of Shiner and saddle up to this Aggie icon. Remember you're in Texas, though, so God help you if you don't like country music.

City: Durham, N.H.
School: Dartmouth
Address: 45 Main St.
Website: n/a

At Scorps on Thursday night you'll get cheep beers and New England sports galore, but be prepared if you hit the downstairs dance floor. It turns into a passion pit that took a swim in the skank river and then showered with dicks. What you know about that poesy Mr. Ivy League?!?

City: Syracuse, N.Y.
School: Syracuse
Address: 734 South Crouse Ave.
Website: n/a

They didn't invent flip night here, but it's still a great idea. Wednesdays you flip a quarter and if you call it right, the beer is free. If you don't you still get the beer, just have to pay for it. Really, a win-win.

City: Gainesville, Fla.
School: Florida
Address: 1642 West University Ave.
Website: swamprestaurant.com

The Swamp is the cold, beating heart of Gator Nation, a reptilian nation of warriors hell-bent on taking over the world. Wait, we must be thinking of something else. The Swamp is actually a great spot right in the thick of campus to get some good grub and talk about what a sensitive Christian Tim Tebow is. And maybe agitate for world domination, too.

City: Burlington, Vt.
School: Vermont
Address: 207 College St.
Website: n/a

We're not sure what your three needs are, but if they're beer, food and The Simpsons (famed Simpsons watching parties happen most afternoons at TN) then you're in the right place.

City: Raleigh, N.C.
School: North Carolina State
Address: 2426 Hillsborough St.
Website: mitchstavern.com

Located a brick's throw away from NCSU's red-brick lined campus, Mitch's is a tavern's tavern with a twist (it's got gumbo and a veggie chili). Just be sure to pace yourself—it's on the second floor, and its narrow staircase is an unforgiving sobriety test.

City: Stillwater, Okla.
School: Oklahoma State
Address: 501 West Elm Ave.
Website: eskimojoes.com

Don't let the cartoon eskimo and kids menu fool you, this place is one of the biggest College Gameday bars in the country. If you stay late enough, Eskimo Joe pukes and his cartoon dog, Buffy, eats it.

City: Pittsburgh
School: Pitt
Address: 3911 Forbes Ave.
Website: hemingways-cafe.com

The always-packed Hem's serves up bar food and cheep beer fit for a student budget. Not the place to go if you're looking for a foie gras martini, but if you're looking for a foie gras martini we don't even want to be in the same zip code with you.

City: Clemson, S.C.
School: Clemson
Address: 368 College Ave.
Website: tigertowntavern.com

Great bro haven for game day, and cheap & tasty food & brews the rest of the time. You might even catch a tigress by the tail; just check to see if her nails are clipped first.

City: Pittsburgh
School: CMU
Address: 5802 Forbes Ave.
Website: n/a

Those in the know call it the Squirrel Cage, or The Cage for short. The smoky, well-stocked near-corner spot attracts the artsy, bohemian types from nearby Carnegie Mellon. You'll find few computer geeks here; they're too busy having LAN tournaments. If you're passing through Pittsburgh, you'll want to muscle up to the bar here and shoot the shit, i.e. talk about Derrida, with cutely tattooed writers and actors.

City: Tallahassee, Fla.
School: Florida State
Address: 620 West Tennessee St.
Website: bullwinklessaloon.com

As far as we can tell, Tallahassee is a Muskogean Indian word that means "The Place of the Groping, Drunken Moose." Which is cool. You know, culturally.

City: South Bend, Ind.
School: Notre Dame
Address: 1631 South Bend Ave.
Website: backer-nd.com

The 'Backer is the place for anything pre, post, and (if you don't have a ticket) during Notre Dame sporting events. You know the drill: don't wear flip flops; don't expect to remember anything; have fun.

City: Madison, Wis.
School: Wisconsin
Address: 603 State St.
Website: statestreetbrats.com

Cheese curds, brats, brews. This is it, people. That is, as long as you're wearing red and there's a game on.

City: Miami
School: University of Miami
Address: 6030 Dixie Hwy. South
Website: n/a

Fox's Sherron is a great little spot that draws as much of a crowd from the beach as it does from the U. A local institution with $1 PBRs and great eats.

City: Pittsburgh
School: Pitt/Carnegie Mellon
Address: 3525 Liberty Ave.
Website: churchbrew.com

This is the kind of place you go to for your birthday in College. It's a converted church that they make beer in—which is about the coolest thing anyone could ever think of. At least when you're in college.

City: State College, Pa.
School: Penn State
Address: 108 South Pugh St.
Website: site.theskeller.com

Established in 1933, the 'Skellar's wood-panelled beer labyrinth offers a little bit of everything: a trough-tub urinal; a back bar with occasional entertainment; and a popular...well, mostly they offer beer.

City: Ann Arbor, Mich.
School: Michigan
Address: 1140 South University Ave.
Website: good-time-charleys.com

With midnight beer specials and the longest laundry list of shots we've ever seen, you will have no idea how much of a good time you had at Charley's. But memory is overrated, right?

City: Chapel Hill, N.C.
School: North Carolina
Address: 120 East Franklin St.
Website: libraryrocks.com

Who said libraries need books? Forget a Dewey Decimal, how about 120-inch projection screens, live music and DJ nights, endless drink specials, topped off with foosball, pool, and beer pong? It's clear this is where life's lessons are really learned.

City: Columbus, Ohio
School: Ohio State
Address: 20 East Frambes Ave.
Website: n/a

Five words: dollar beers on Sunday nights. Because nothing good ever happened in Columbus on a Monday morning.

City: Austin, Texas
School: Texas
Address: 1016 East 6th St.
Website: shangrilaaustin.com

The alter ego to Hook 'Em Horns frat-mania, Shangri-La is to hipsters what Rush Week is to Greeks. Get yourself a High Life tallboy and take your little dog with the fedora that matches yours out to the patio to look good.

City: Durham, N.C.
School: Duke
Address: 754 9th St.
Website: dainsplace.com

For such a small place, Dain's really has a lot going for it, including a not unfounded claim to having the best burgers in Durham. Almost makes us wish we went to Duke. Almost.

City: Evanston, Ill.
School: Northwestern
Address: 810 Grove St.
Website: n/a

Be sure to visit this notorious Northwestern institution on a weekend night so you can see how much of a beer-soaked, early-twenties sweat-hole it is. And if that sounds like we're praising it with a faint damnation, it's 'cause we are.

City: Berkeley, Calif.
School: Cal
Address: 1822 San Pablo Ave.
Website: albatrosspub.com

Located off the campus beaten path in West Berkeley, the Albatross is more of a grad student hangout. But boardgames and bottomless popcorn make the oldest pub in Berkeley an undergrad favorite as well.

City: New York
School: NYU
Address: 179 West 4th St.
Website: nycbestbar.com

It's tough to find a genuine college bar in NYC, but this is it. It's an underground West Village dive that runs on wings and beer. Enough said.

City: Tuscaloosa, Ala.
School: Alabama
Address: 1300 University Blvd.
Website: houndstoothsportsbar.com

Since 1988 this bar has been the place to be for pre-gaming all things Crimson Tide. Football? Obviously. Basketball? Sure. Exams? Why not?

City: Bloomington, Ind.
School: Indiana
Address: 502 East Kirkwood Ave.
Website: kilroyskirkwood.com

Classic video games and a special that makes just about everything on Wednesdays cost two dollars? If we didn't know any better, we'd accuse Kilroy's of targeting 12-year-olds on allowance day. Which would be highly illegal, but kind of gangster all the same.

City: Philadelphia
School: Penn
Address: 208 South 40th St.
Website: smokeyjoes.com

Their "Dog Day" afternoon special, $1 hot dogs and $2 draughts, is perfect for two things: a) unwinding after a hard morning of classes, and b) taking some years off your life. Which is OK; the late years are all forgetty and wrinkly anyway.

City: Boston
School: BC/BU/Harvard/MIT
Address: 149 Charles St.
Website: n/a

Pop a shot (basketball) and have a shot (probably Jameson) at this dingy dive on the backside of Beacon Hill. It's not really claimed by any of the city's many schools because no one really wants it. Nevertheless, an institution.

City: Boulder, Colo.
School: Colorado
Address: 2115 13th St.
Website: boulderado.com/catacombs

Beneath the Bolderado Hotel and out of the buzz of Pearl Street there's a subterranean bar with tasty cheap brews and a big-ass dance floor. That should be enough to pique your interest.

City: Lincoln, Neb.
School: Nebraska
Address: 1412 East O St.
Website: duffyslincoln.com

Duffy's has a fire pit, live music (Nirvana played there once), fishbowl-sized cocktails and it's...in Nebraska? Wait, we'd better double check this... yep. It rules.