Drinks
By Vikki Kratz

In these troubled economic times, let us turn to our vices for comfort. Fortunately, Madison hosts not only a sublime selection of pubs and coffeehouses, but those establishments still offer a buzz in a sweet location for a reasonable price. Here are your favorite places to indulge in a little bar-stool escapism.

Coffeehouse

1. Mother Fool’s
2. Escape Java Joint
3. Ancora

What makes Mother Fool’s the superior coffee house is not just its cool, ever-changing graffiti wall or its location in the heart of eclectic Willy Street. It’s the live music! When co-owner Stephanie Rearick doesn’t take the mike herself, she and husband Jon Hain specialize in bringing in top folk and blues artists for live shows every weekend.

Local microbrewery

1. Great Dane
2. Capital Brewery
3. Ale Asylum

Beer drinkers rejoice — microbrewers are thriving in Madison. Sure, you have the perennial favorite Great Dane, but there’s also Capital Brewery and new kid on the block Ale Asylum. So many great tastes, so few wedges of lemon.

Happy hour

1. TIE: Genna’s and The Shamrock
2. High Noon Saloon
3. Pedro’s

If you want to bar hop after work, there is no better spot for it than the 100 block of West Main Street. Start at Genna’s for a cheap but satisfying buzz, then head down to the Shamrock, whose fans love it whether it’s open for business this week or not.

Tap selection

1. Great Dane
2. Old Chicago
3. Brasserie V

Okay, we didn’t ask whether your favorite beer is Spotted Cow or Island Wheat, but thanks to all those who told us anyway. We did ask which local bar has the best selection on tap, and you chose...drum roll, please...the Great Dane. Madison’s patriarch of brewpubs smokes the competition, garnering more votes than Old Chicago or Brasserie V combined.

Wine bar

1. Barriques
2. Cafe Montmartre
3. Eno Vino

Barriques narrowly squeaks past Café Momo to win the top spot this year. These two wine bars have been duking it out for years, while Eno Vino keeps a stately hold on third place. Really though, it’s wine. It’s all good.

Cocktail lounge

1. Opus Lounge
2. Genna’s
3. Jade Monkey

Ryan’s Baby or Smurfette’s Revenge? Choosing between the two can be a delicious conundrum, of the sort you only find at the Opus Lounge, Madison’s favorite cocktail bar. The Opus offers tasty twists on the martini, the mojito and the cosmo. The cocktails’ creative names, some inspired by customers, are almost as much fun as the drinking. Almost.

Dive bar

1. Mickey’s
2. The Caribou
3. The Paradise

Aw, Mickey’s, you’re so fine! You’re so fine you blow past the Caribou and the Paradise to take No. 1. With funky rooms and arguably the nicest smoking patio in town, Mickey’s is almost too pleasant to be considered a "dive."