12 Bars of Christmas

There was a dream that was 12 Bars of Christmas.  I first thought of this idea six years ago.  I'm pretty sure I was in the computer lab at the library at Notre Dame and I was IMing Vin.  He put one of my IMs as his away message with the comment "Probably why he goes to Notre Dame."  I wanted to do this for a long time, but I could never get everybody together for it.  Last year, I tried with Pete and Darryl.  We got to six bars, but we made three stops at Christopher's (all Darryl's fault).  So it was like eight stops all together.  Respectable, but well short of the goal.

This year, my friends and I finally made it happen.  It was a Sunday night.  I was a little worried about the bars closing early.  It was the night before Christmas Eve, so the fact that people didn't have to work the next day was in our favor, but still, it was a Sunday night.  I had a strategy.  First, I drank lots of water during the day to pre-hydrate.  Once we got to the bars, my plan was to start with mostly Guinness (only 4.2% alcohol and not a ton of calories), maybe mix in a Sam Adams or two, and then switch to Bud Light for the second half.  Let's go through the 12 bars:

1.  Canterbury Ales.  My brother Sean dropped Pete and I off in Huntington.  I hadn't seen Pete in almost a year.  We had a good talk.  I expected to be joined by Darryl and Molly.  Molly also brought Vin and John (I expected Vin to join us at some point, but I was not expecting John, that was a pleasant surprise).  Later John's friend Sean joined us.  I had a Guinness.

First bar of the night.  The pictures get much crazier as the night goes on.

2.  Christopher's.  Thankfully, this was our only stop at Christopher's.  I think I ordered a Sam Adams, but they were out, so I think I had another Guinness.

3.  Finnegan's.  Pete's favorite bar, but he wasn't happy about the country music playing.  I had another Guinness.  John and Sean smoked cigars outside.  Vin, Pete, and I also went outside.  At this point, time was becoming a concern.  We were moving too slowly.  I figured we were going to slow down as the night went on, so I wanted to move fast early in the night.  We actually probably moved faster later in the night.

I didn't realize Pete was in this picture.  It looks like he's throwing up.  Fortunately, that did not happen.

4.  Sapsuckers.  The beers on tap are too exotic for me, so I just had a Miller Lite.  I drank fast because I wanted to speed up the process.  I think this is where we started talking about the possibility of halftime at Little Vincent's, which was a great idea, but it didn't fit in with our route.

5.  Mary Carroll's.  They had Sam Adams Octoberfest on tap.  I was pretty excited about that.

6.  Rookies.  Now the memory starts to get fuzzy.  I think I had a Guinness.  I think this was a quick stop.

7.  Finley's.  For some reason, there was a $5 cover.  My friend Pat was bartending.  This picture is the only reason I know I had a Guinness at Finley's:

8.  Katie Mc's.  This bar is severely underrated.  I think the last time I was there was an Easter Eve with John.  He was asking the bartender about what you could float Guinness on top of.  The bartender said Bud Light would not work.  I was probably drinking Bud Light for the rest of the night at this point.

This might be my favorite picture from the night.

9.  Nag's Head.  I don't remember much about this stop.  We checked F.H. Riley's after leaving Nag's Head, but it was closed.  We were getting close, but the bars closing was becoming a concern.

10.  Tavern.  We ran into Vinny 2 and Odie.  I'm sure the story of how Vin and I were cheated out of the beer pong championship at V2's house came up.  I think V2 was unbuttoning my shirt.

It had been a long time since I had seen Vinny 2.  It was good to see him and Odie.

11.  Meehan's.  It was closing right as we got there.  The bartender was really cool and kept it open for us.  Vin told him some story (I think it was about one of biggest/smallest fears Vin's fears) and then asked what the most messed up story he ever heard as a bartender was and his response was something like, "The one you just told me."  The last bar I had on my list was Honu, but it was closed, so for the final bar we went to...

12.  J.T. Carrington's.  I had never been there.  John once told me that if I ever walked in there, it would be like one of those scenes in a movie where the music comes to a screeching stop and everybody would look at me.  It was well worth going in there to complete the 12 Bars of Christmas.

Last stop.  We did it.  Great night.

After that, we got Little Vincent's.  I had been drinking too long to appreciate it.  I would have really appreciated it if we had done halftime there, but whatever.  Vin got a pie and we got down to one slice and we talked about how many bites it would take for Vin, John, and I to finish it.  John said five and Vin said three.  Vin and John took huge bites and then I dropped the ball.  Vin finished it with the fourth bite.

Big thanks to Pete, Molly, Darryl, Vin, John, and Sean coming out.  This is one of my proudest drinking accomplishments.  Molly was really a trooper and put up with us all night even though she wasn't drinking.  She drove us all home.  I don't remember much about the ride home other than Pete falling asleep.  He fought the jet lag admirably, though.  I hope everybody had a good Christmas Eve.  I was not hungover amazingly, but I slept for a lot of the day.  I also watched The Dark Knight Rises and enjoyed Anne Hathaway's performance (so hot).  If anybody else remembers anything good from the night, leave a comment.

Merry Christmas!