I’m a poor college kid, where can I go to get the cheapest tap beer in town and on what nights? Overall, what is the cheapest bar that still has a fun, non-sketchy crowd?
I’m a poor college kid, where can I go to get the cheapest tap beer in town and on what nights? Overall, what is the cheapest bar that still has a fun, non-sketchy crowd?
50 thoughts on “Cheapest Tap Beer in Duluth”
If you’re a poor college kid, the cheapest tap beer is always at your local house party.
I haven’t been out bargain shopping in a while, but my guess is that the cheapest beer must still be at La Belle in Superior.
One thing I can say with certainty is that a crowd cannot be “fun” and “non-sketchy.” Fun is always sketchy.
I agree that bars are expensive, and doing stuff with friends at a house is almost always cheaper. If you are a poor college student, why go to the bars at all when you can do more or less the same things for less?
Go to your neighborhood liquor store. That’s the cheapest beer in town. The only sketchy people you’ll have to worry about are your roommates… and maybe yourself.
Whoa, why am I sketchy? I was talking about a Kozy Bar crowd for an example of sketchy people
If you do want to run into sketchy people at the liquor store, I recommend Wild West Liquor on Central Avenue.
But enough stating the obvious (beer is cheapest at liquor stores). I’m curious to find out what bar has the cheapest yellow swill these days. Let the research begin!
One method is to look for a bar with a beer buffet, which is an all-you-can-drink night. The Pioneer used to have one a few years back, and the North Star Pub had one about a year ago. I believe Player’s Sports Bar on Grand Avenue has one now — all you can drink for $8, which is a little steep (usually, it’s $5-6).
Of course, your savings in this scenario depends on how much you end up drinking. The more you drink, the cheaper it is. It’s easy to get megawasted at these things, which is probably not worth the bargain.
Old Style at Carmody. Swill in a can will get you where you want to go.
I don’t really go to bars anymore, but now that I think about it, I predict your best bet is going to be somewhere in Superior. When I think of all the places that served incredibly cheap beer, all the ones in Duluth have either shut down or changed ownership.
I second LaBelle, though it is definitely “sketchy.” I think I bought tap beer there for something ridiculous, like 50 cents a glass, but that was six or seven years ago.
Pioneer bar has 25 oz. tap beers of Bell’s Two Hearted for like $5. Guzzle 2 or 3 of those and you’ll be missing the dart board completely. No sketchy cats either. Famous Dave’s isn’t really a bar but they have $2 pints all day everyday. I had some grub and pre-bar beers there recently. Ten bucks and five beers later is pretty cheap.
Anyone remember schooners? The old roadhouse across the street from my place in Tacoma always had fifty cent schooners of Ranier (read: olympic swill) on tap.
You can get a burger and a pitcher at the Anchor for about $10 I believe. I miss my college days at Carignan’s, Ten Cent Taps on Fridays!! ugh.
I can’t bring myself to believe that there isn’t still a place in the Twin Ports where you can get a pint for under a dollar. C’mon, PDD! Somebody knows.
The Hammond in Superior has $2 Summit and New Castle pints every night of the week. Plus you kind of still feel like you are in Duluth because it’s right at the base of the bridge.
I think the Wabegon Supper Club has $1 taps for its Thirsty Thursday special.
LaBelle’s is super sketch. Make sure you say Hi to the guy with the hook arm and watch out for the pieces of falling ceiling that always end up in your drink. haha
$4 pitchers of Premium at the Capri. That’s less than $1 a pint.
Some friends and I did the stumble to the shore this summer. That is, we started at Belknap, and had a drink at every bar along Tower Ave, ending at Off The Wagon (and Tom’s Cedar Lounge … I’m told).
The cheapest beer by far was indeed at LaBelle’s: $.50 for 10oz of Old Milwaukee. I believe a pitcher was $4.
I miss when Mr. Lucky’s was in the basement of CW Chips. $2 pitchers weeknight from 9-11. Free pizza on Monday’s and $.25 pool tables all the time. You could stretch $5 into a memorable evening.
Wabegon dollar tap Thursdays. I’ll buy the first round, then tubing at the ski hill next door.
One of the best bar hops around is Wabegon and Mont du Lac (Superior Township), El Dorado (Oliver) and the Alpine and Shotz in Duluth.
(I think the Limit is closed, but if it’s open you can include that.)
The Bedrock has $3 30oz mugs of Premium and some other light beers. It also gets a huge boost in my book for having every imaginable bar game – foosball, shuffle puck, ping pong, pool, arcade, and I think even a Wii. I’m not positive if the $3 30oz is all the time or not though.
Thanks for all the responses! Might have to check some of these places out.
This is on my list.
On Thursday nights a pint of a domestic costs only one dollar at the Capri in Superior. Best deal around.
My roomate and I used to get 2 burgers, 2 orders of fries, and a pitcher for 8 bucks.
At the Anchor I mean.
I was just thinking about Schooners “Beach Club!” I was at a Hot Toddy Valentine’s show and I remember him doing Happy Hours there, occasionally I would run sound, usually I would just sit there and try to get wasted for cheap before we went out with whatever we picked up at the bar … rarely women, usually a bored businessman staying in the hotel looking for a “sketchy” time with some locals. It’s been awhile for me, but I remember Grandma’s Sports Garden had $2 strong long island teas if you went there early enough. That would get even me pretty looped for ten bucks. But maybe that’s still too much for a poor college student.
These are based on the past, so may have gone away, but worst case scenario, you end up checking out some weird bars you wouldn’t have otherwise:
+ Seconding wildgoose’s Sports Garden recommendation. Pitchers of Kamikaze or Long Islands used to be $5.
+ 32 oz. frosty mugs at the Rustic out by Beaner’s used to be $3.25.
+ Charlie Brown’s beer buffet was Wednesday’s, all-you-could drink for $5 (and the bartenders would keep you refilled, even if you didn’t want it.)
+ It’s not there anymore, but the place where Lord Stanley’s in Superior is used to have four beers for a dollar. C’mon, Lundgren, you went there with me and Hotrod one afternoon in 2003.
Upon re-reading my comment, let me rephrase: “Back in my day, the girls were prettier, jobs paid better and a beer cost a nickel …”
Lord Stanley’s used to be Carignan’s. (Before that it was called O2. Before that it was CC Tap. Before that it was Willie’s Pub.)
When it was Carignan’s, tap beers in small plastic cups were 10 cents on … I think Fridays. It was very much normal to give the bartender $1 and get 10 cups of beer on a tray.
Go to the Warehouse on Monday nights for $.25 taps.
Oh, sorry. I was temporarily transported to 1990.
While I’m sure they could get you looped, I don’t think the Sports Garden made a “true” Long Island Tea. I think they used some kind of mix. A real Long Island made from scratch were way stronger than the ones at Grandma’s. Becky, the bartender at Sneakers, made the best. Two of them would usually get you pretty far gone.
Oh for the love of – WTF? A non-sketchy crowd? Fail on so many levels.
The Capri has dollar pints on Thursdays, O’Niells has dollar pints on Wednesdays, Shultz’s has $1.25 domestic 12 oz during happy hour and the Androy has dollar domestic Mondays and buy-one-get-one-free happy hour Tuesday-Thursday. I love Superior.
I agree Paul!! Though my Hwy 23 runs usually start out in Kerrik at Lobo’s where they used to have (IMHO) awesome Bloody Mary’s and then we’d work our way back toward Gary, making sure to hit the Duquette River Inn (before it burned down), the Nickerson Bar, the Hitching Post (before it burned … I see a pattern here), The Boneyard, then on to the Wab, the Alpine and Shotz. Man I miss the days of being an irresponsible adult with weekdays off.
Come on people… Charlie Browns in Superior is by far the best for cheap tap beer. Wednesday nights $7 for all you can drink … Yes, all you can drink! They have Summit too! Be careful and enjoy!
c-freak, your post fails on so many levels
I hate to share my secret “happy” place, but Grandma’s happy hour in Canal Park (the restaurant one) is half-off everything (3-6 M-F). Beer’s a really good deal at 1/2 off, and the mixed drinks are crazy cheap.
Matt, if you’re so set on drinking with “non-sketchy” people, I’d have to say you should go drink at the gitch. I guess the rest of us are too slummy for ya.
*lowers monocle*
That would be the KITCH, my deah.
The eight PDD posts above (newer to) this one have an average of .2 comments each. This beer-focused post has 40 comments. I love Duluth!
Bad Cat I didn’t call ya sketchy! Basically, a little sketchiness is good at a bar, but I don’t want to walk into a place with clientele like the Kozy.
Try Curly’s Bar in the West End.
Matt, that kind of stereotyping is sketchy behavior.
It’s OK to, for example, say that everyone at Old Chicago is a jackwad, but watch your mouth when you’re talking about the Kozy, buster!
Hey Adam, see you at Curly’s.
Old Style at the Copesetic is always a cold cheap pint.
One solid evening of painting the town red with C-Freak and I’m guessing you would eat those words, Matt. Just guessing. Now the trick will be getting to agree to show you what you’ve been missing.
Let’s meet at Curly’s, Sunday night at ten?
Now don’t forget, Matt, you owe us for all this great advice. Don’t forget to come back and tell us how your night went.
I seriously regret my sketchiness statement. Can I retract it? And I will have to get back to you on that sometime next week, I definitely owe you for some great advice!
Friday night’s at Round Up pitcher+burger=$8. Also, if you’re adventurous, the Hi Banks Bar on Fish Lake is a set up bar. Bring a handle of Beam (or your choice of booze) and you can pour your own for $1.25. Damn good people there, too.