Best New Bar

Best Overall Bar

Best Bartender (Chris Clarke)

Seed Eco Lounge

During his final months as a SCAD student, Adam Hamlin wrote his thesis on "a sustainable service industry," i.e. how to run an environmentally friendly bar.

Last July, he put his project to the test and opened Seed Eco-Lounge, in the Montgomery Street storefront long-ago occupied by Peddler Jim's.

"We re-used the space that was pre-existing and adapted it to what we needed," says Hamlin, who got interested in eco-friendly design while working at a local firm that stressed "greening."

Seed utilizes LED lighting and dimmers, low-flow sinks and toilets, bamboo, cork flooring, recycled steel and tables made from recycled material. There are cushy sofas and lots of pillows, too.

The alcohol is not recycled. As the consumer, that's your department.

Hamlin previously managed Club 51 Degrees, and worked at Wild Wing, Down Under, the B&B Ale House and other places, for a total of eight years in the Savannah bar business.

So when he threw open the (recycled) doors at Seed Eco-Lounge, he knew what he was doing. "Even in the economy where we are now, we still make money," he says. "I was working other places and we were still bringing in the dough."

Live acoustic music, he hopes, is in the club's future. For now, they spin jazz records in the evening, and DJ Beanasaurus Rex (he's SCAD sound design student Richard Bean) keeps the dance mixes hot at night. - BDY

Runner-up, New Bar: Rocks on the Roof

Runner-up. Overall: Circa 1875

Runner-up: Bartender: Adam Allman (Flying Fish)

Best Outdoor Bar

Best River Street Bar

Rocks on the Roof

With its incomparable views of the river, especially as the sun sets behind the bridge, this spot at the Bohemian Hotel is a well-deserved win.

Runner-up, Outdoor: Roof Top Tavern

Runner-up: River Street: Wet Willie's

Best Daytime Bar

Wild Wing Café

Whether you want to do some people-watching in City Market, listen to live music, or catch a football game inside, Wild Wing is definitely the spot to spend a leisurely afternoon.

Runner-up: Loco's

Best Place to Nurse a Hangover

Home

Yeah, we thought you might say this, and really who could argue it?

Runner-up: J. Christopher's

Best Downtown Bar

Best Bar Staff

Best Bar to Spot a Celebrity

The Jinx

When Suzanne Warnekros opened the Jinx in the fall of 2003, she had no clue about running a nightclub. As a Savannah resident since the age of 7, she only knew what she liked.

"Velvet Elvis was my favorite bar in town," she says. "It was unique; it wasn't like anything else here. I was friends with the owner, and I knew he was looking to get out of the bar business, so we started talking about me taking it over."

She bought the lease at 127 W. Congress, Warnekros admits, for selfish reasons.

"I just didn't want Savannah to lose that spot, because in my opinion there's just nothing else in town like it," she says. "Nothing as open-minded, nothing as eclectic. There's definitely the right kind of vibe in there. For me.

"We have such a huge music and art scene here, I wanted those people to have a comfortable place to go, that they felt good about."

On any given night, the Jinx will have metal, punk, rock or Americana bands - from the local, to the regionally touring, to the nationally famous. The club's Tuesday hip hop nights have become the stuff of local legend.

The guys from Jackass partied and played Guitar Hero there, and actor James Franco stopped by to watch the annual blood wrestling event. If you like celebrities that like rock 'n' roll, they'll be hanging at the Jinx when they're in town.

The walls serve as a gallery for local art. There are DJs, and weird old movies running silently on a big TV screen. And - remember this? - a cigarette machine.

Warnekros, who keeps all her own books, handles all the band bookings and promotion and even tends bar sometimes, is proud that people of "all lifestyles and backgrounds" come to the Jinx and inter-mingle regularly.

Her staff, she says, is like a family: "We all just kind of pitch in and get done whatever needs to be done," she says. "And I think people can pick up on that vibe."

She admits that cold-opening a club was "pretty scary. But well worth it.

"It's extremely high stress, it's definitely hard work. Something's always broken - every day, something new breaks, or a band needs a special request, this or that. I don't think people really realize how demanding it is to be in charge of the party six nights a week for seven years. But as far as doing it differently? I probably wouldn't." - BDY

Runner-up, Downtown, Staff: Seed

Runner-up, Celeb: Pinkie Masters

Best Southside Bar

Tailgate

Whether you're looking to watch the big game, drown your sorrows after a hard day or celebrate just about any occasion with friends, this Southside watering hole has you covered.

Runner-up: Spanky's

Best Islands Bar

Britannia

This pub has become a staple for local drinkers, and the folks on the island do know a thing or two about drinking.

Runner-up: Flying Fish

Best Tybee Bar

Doc's Bar

There's always a party at Doc's Bar on Tybee Island, winner of Best Tybee Bar for the fifth straight year. Known as "The Pinkie Master's of Tybee," the 62-year-old establishment on Tybrisa Street has long been the watering hole of choice for generations of beach bums.

"This is Tybee's local color," says Doc's owner Peggy Stone.

Sylvia Gott, aka ‘Miss Sylvia" is the most famous regular of Doc's. A Tybee resident and Doc's fixture since age 90, the now-101-year-old makes almost daily appearances, occasionally sitting in on tambourine with the house band, Roy and the Circuitbreakers.

Front man Roy Swindell handles Shag and Beach Music on Sundays, an open Acoustic Jam Session on Tuesdays, blues on Thursdays, and rock standards and originals on Fridays and Saturdays.

Miss Sylvia's birthday party is a Doc's institution, held the first Saturday in February. In 2008, she was crowned the queen of the Beach Bum Parade, Tybee Island's late May celebration kicking off the summer busy season.

Three weeks ago, longtime Doc's bartender Pam Smith followed in Sylvia's footsteps when she was announced as 2010's Beach Bum Queen. At press time, scheduled pre-Beach Bum parade celebrations at Doc's included a coronation after-party last Wednesday, the "Pam DamNation: All Hell to the Queen" Luau last Saturday, and a kid-friendly Water Gun Workshop last Sunday afternoon.

Other Doc's regulars include a group of eight men that come in daily at noon to play bumper pool, and a bar cat named Sammy that took up residence a couple of years ago.

"We have people that drive in every weekend from Brunswick, from Statesboro," says Stone.

Celebrities have been known to stop in, but the folks at Doc's aren't naming names.

"What happens at Doc's doesn't get past Lazaretto Creek" says their website.

Recently a national gossip magazine called to confirm a celebrity visit.

"Sandra [the bartender] told him ‘IF she was even in here I wouldn't EVEN tell you,' and then click-she hung up on him," says Stone.

Doc's routinely hosts Bumper Pool Tournaments, Happy Hour Crab Races, and theme nights ranging from toga parties to wig nights. Each July 25, the bar celebrates Christmas in July, complete with turkey and dressing, gifts delivered by Santa, a decorated Christmas tree, and fake snow.

Wear your green to Doc's for Halfway to Saint Patrick's Day is September 17, featuring Irish drink specials and a Celtic band.

"We have one Theme Night a month," says Stone. "Like on Good Friday, our drink special is always the Rusty Nail.

"I know. I'm going to Hell."

Monday is Darts Night, and this year Doc's is working hard to secure the last place trophy in the Tybee Darts League.

"We always lose. But we are the most fun group," says darts team captain Mimi Pinner.

"At Doc's there's more characters per square inch than any place else in the whole world." -- RWG

Runner-up: Huc-a-Poo's

Best Westside Bar

Robin's Nest

This Pooler bar is all about simple pleasures - cold beer, a pool table and pub grub to soak up the liquor. No wonder it's a success.

Runner-up: Dizzy Dean's

Best College Bar

Hangfire

Chalkboard bathroom walls, an ever changing selection of rock n roll-centric art, and cheap PBR: That's the recipe for attracting art school kids. Since opening up the floor plan and extending the length of the bar, even more college kids love it now.

Runner-up: Seed

Best Neighborhood Bar

bar food

This demure watering hole finally gave residents at the southern end of Ardsley a place to stumble home from.

Runner-up: Tailgate

Best Happy Hour

Mellow Mushroom

$2 drafts, a great selection of craft beers and the central Liberty Street location make this a solid place to start your evening.

Runner-up: Jalapenos

Best Signature Drink

The Decepticon (B&B Alehouse)

We're not sure what they put in that thing, but maybe it's better that way. More than one could have you waking up someplace weird with a lot of unanswered questions.

Runner-up: Cucumber martini (Seed)

Best Martini

Best Mixed Drinks

Jazz'd Tapas Bar

You might think it's not hard to mix a good drink, but that's because the folks at Jazz'd make it look easy.

Runner-up, Mixed: Seed

Runner-up, Martini: Jen's & Friends

Best Wine Selection (Retail)

Habersham Beverage

You could get lost in the wine section of their Southside location and not find your way out for days. It's a good thing they have little cards explaining some highlights from their vast international offerings.

Runner-up: Johnny Ganem's

Best Wine Selection (Bar or Restaurant)

Bacchus

Moving to Congress Street might have upped the amount of mixed drinks they serve, but their wine list is sure to please even the pickiest of palates.

Runner-up: Eos

Best Beer Selection (Retail)

Habersham Beverage

If you are an equal opportunity lover of beers of all colors, nationalities, shapes and sizes, then you'll find what you're looking for with them.

Runner-up: The Distillery

Best Bottled Beer Selection (Bar or Restaurant)

Best Beer on Tap

The Distillery

We thought we knew everything about beer until we stopped at the Distillery.

Runner-up, Bottle: Crystal Beer Parlor

Runner-up, Tap: Moon River

Best British Pub

Churchill's

All the charms of an English watering hole with better weather. An easy choice if you're looking to down a pint or two and watch some football (soccer).

Runner-up: Six Pence

Best Irish Pub

Kevin Barry's

Kevin Barry was 18 years old when he was hanged in 1920. The Dublin medical student was also a covert member of the IRA, and when he was captured and executed by the British, he became one of the first contemporary martyrs for Irish freedom, celebrated in poems, songs and sprawling works of literature.

As a teenager in New York City, Vic Power's favorite drinking songs were the ones about Kevin Barry.

"When we were underage in New York - the legal age was 18 - we used to get six-packs and go down and sing Irish songs," Power says. "Now, people go and beat the shit out of old ladies, but we didn't do that. We sang Irish songs."

Whenever the gang managed to sneak into a bar, Power would seek out the jukebox and play the Clancy Brothers' recording of "Kevin Barry":

Lads like Barry are no cowards.

From the foe they will not fly.

Lads like Barry will free Ireland,

For her sake they'll live and die.

"I loved him because he didn't snitch," Power explains. "He wasn't a cheese-eater, sir. You can do a lot of things, but you can't eat cheese. Around the guys that I grew up with, you can't be a rat."

It was only natural, then, that when Power opened an Irish pub in Savannah, in October of 1980, he would name it after the symbol of the Irish struggles.

He'd worked in New York's Irish bars in the 1960s, when the great Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem folk explosion made them popular tourist spots, and for 13 years before coming to Georgia he'd had his own place in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, called Rosie O'Grady's.

For nearly 30 years, the three-level building at 117 W. River St. has been known as Kevin Barry's Irish Pub.

"I worked it myself," Power says. "The rent was so cheap, and there was nothing else going on. I figured I could work the bar myself. I planned on building it up and then getting out of here, but it didn't work that way. I lived in the building for 14 years.

"That's what you gotta do if you don't have money."

Seven nights of live entertainment, in the separate room designated for such things, has been part of the Kevin Barry's experience since the beginning.

"The first guy I had down here, I went up to New York and got. He was a narrowback - meaning his parents were born in Ireland and he was born here. They call that a narrowback because they couldn't do the work that the old man did."

Soon troubadours Frank Emerson and Harry O'Donoghue arrived, and to this day they're still regular - and extremely popular - performers.

In the beginning, Power says, "Guys would come in and play for next to nothing, just to do Dixieland.

"But the thing is, when they were doing ‘The Saints' and they marched out the door, some of the people kept marching without paying a tab! They used to march out the bar door and come back in the dining room door. And there'd be half the people.
"When the saints go robbin' your check." -- BDY

Runner-up: Murphy's Law

Best Pool Hall

B&B Alehouse

Even if you can't hold a cue, their signature drink will make you think you're a lot better at pool than you really are.

Runner-up: Capone's

Best Dance Club

Best Gay Club

Club One

They may host the infamous Lady Chablis, but the dance floor is what's made this spot a downtown icon.

Runner-up, Dance: 51 Degrees

Runner-up, Gay: Venus De Milo

Best Latin Dancing

Tantra

Two nights of Salsa dancing during the week have made Tantra the hub for Savannah's Latin dance scene since Tropicana went south.

Runner-up: Hangfire

Best Hook Up Spot

Bar Bar

This is a perennial favorite for locals and tourists alike looking to make out with strangers.

Runner-up: B&B Alehouse

Best No Frills Bar

The Rail

Still the only place in town where the floor is covered in peanut shells, so you know the Rail keeps it real.

Runner-up: Pinkie Master's

Best Sports Bar

Coach's Corner

This Thunderbolt favorite is one of the best sports bars in the Southeast.

Runner-up: Wild Wing Café

Best Adult Entertainment

The Gold Club

The Gold Club won against some stiff competition.

Runner-up: Uncle Harry's

Best Margarita

Jalapeno's

We went to try one of Jalapeno's monster margaritas and must have enjoyed it because we have no recollection of how we got home.

Runner-up: Carlito's

Best Bar for Live Music

Live Wire Music Hall

With a steady stream of jam bands, electronica, dub, rock and acoustic acts the Live Wire has something for everyone. For a small club, they've also done a good job of attracting national touring acts.

Runner-up: The Jinx

Best Karaoke

McDonough's

For the rest of our lives we're going to be telling the story of how Counting Crows front man Adam Duritz got turned down from singing there during the film festival - especially considering some of the awful performances we vaguely remember giving around last call.

Runner-up: Club One