Welcome!
Some people collect autographs, some collect antiques, others collect stamps. My hobby is a little different, I collect bars. This site represents my collection, documenting each bar I visit.
This is not a review site, there's plenty of those already. Most posts in this bar diary are slice-of-life recaps of the half hour or so I spent having a beer. I hope you enjoy browsing through my collection!
--ScooterJA Few Random Favorites
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Berts Pub & Grub
09 August 2006(Afton, IA) Scooter’s 109th bar, first visited in 2006. Afton, Iowa is the former county seat of Union County, and has a nice town square to prove it. While people...
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Come Back In
13 August 2016(Downtown, Madison, WI) Scooter’s 1158th bar, first visited in 2016. A dive-ish bar that shares the same kitchen (and I believe owners) as Eseen Haus but has a different menu....
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Dean’s Place
21 June 2014(Fisk, MO) Scooter’s 1017th bar, first visited in 2014. This was a fantastic bonus bar find! I was turning the corner to go to Morgan’s Place when I spotted a...
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Dates of First Visit
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Warbird Whiskey
(Downtown, Excelsior Springs, MO) Scooter’s 1829th bar, first visited in 2024. A whiskey/cocktail bar that opened a few months ago, this one with theme honoring American military aviation history. When…
Huey’s Hidden Vault
(Downtown, Excelsior Springs, MO) Scooter’s 1828th bar, first visited in 2024. This is a new whiskey, cocktail, and cigar bar that opened this past August. Don’t worry if you don’t…
The Undertow
(Orange Beach, AL) Scooter’s 1827th bar, first visited in 2024. One of the locals suggested we go here next. We were a little let down when we saw it was…
The Sloop
(Gulf Shores, AL) Scooter’s 1826th bar, first visited in 2024. We were looking for a true dive bar among a sea of touristy bars, and we struck gold with this…
Grassroots Garden Lounge
(Downtown, Smithville, MO) Scooter’s 1825th bar, first visited in 2024. While I was circling around the block after leaving the brewery I noticed this cocktail bar and decided to check…
WelCo Brewing Project
(Smithville, MO) Scooter’s 1824th bar, first visited in 2024. I was camping nearby at Smithville Lake and got bored one afternoon so decided to head into town to check out…
Ron’s Bar
(Petoskey, MI) Scooter’s 1823rd bar, first visited in 2024. While we were at the winery my wife asked one of the servers, “If we wanted to go to a dive…
Mackinaw Trail Winery, Brewery & Bistro
(Petoskey, MI) Scooter’s 1822nd bar, first visited in 2024. This winery / brewery is a few miles south of Petoskey. I’d originally planned to do a wine tasting or have…
The Back Lot
(Downtown, Petoskey, MI) Scooter’s 1821st bar, first visited in 2024. We were looking for someplace to get lunch, and I was charged with finding a place, but no one could…
Legs Inn
(Cross Village, MI) Scooter’s 1820th bar, first visited in 2024. This historic tavern is a must-see tourist destination at the end of the Tunnel of Trees scenic highway. It was…
Petoskey Brewing
(Petoskey, MI) Scooter’s 1819th bar, first visited in 2024. This had been on my must-visit list ever since I saw a picture of the building a little over a year…
Tap30 Pourhouse
(Downtown, Petoskey, MI) Scooter’s 1818th bar, first visited in 2024. Since this was right next door we decided it was a must-visit before heading out of downtown. Most of the…
Mitchell Street Pub
(Downtown, Petoskey, MI) Scooter’s 1817th bar, first visited in 2024. We had parked a couple of blocks away and shopped and a candy shop and a clothing store. I took…
Great Turtle Brewery & Distillery
(Mackinac Island, MI) Scooter’s 1816th bar, first visited in 2024. After high tea at the Grand Hotel we went to the bar at the top of the hotel, which offers…
Mustang Lounge
(Mackinac Island, MI) Scooter’s 1815th bar, first visited in 2024. While we were at the Pink Pony we heard about the oldest bar on the island, so headed over there…
Pink Pony Bar & Grill
(Mackinac Island, MI) Scooter’s 1814th bar, first visited in 2024. Our visit to Mackinac Island was kind of a spur of the moment decision. Upon arrival we had a great…
Vue Wine Bar
(Downtown, Charlevoix, MI) Scooter’s 1813th bar, first visited in 2024. It was too windy and choppy to put our kayaks into Lake Michigan, so we decided to drive down to…
New Holland Brewing – Holland Tap Room
(Downtown, Holland, MI) Scooter’s 1812th bar, first visited in 2024. This brewery has been on my bucket list for a few years, and today our driving route just happened to…
Barley & Vine
(Downtown, Platte City, MO) Scooter’s 1811th bar, first visited in 2024. Half brewery, half wine bar, this place opened (I believe) around the end of last year. I opted for…
Willcott Brewing Company
(Downtown, Leavenworth, KS) Scooter’s 1810th bar, first visited in 2024. As we walked in the door we were stopped by a lady who said “Here’s even more people I don’t…
VFW Post # 56
(Downtown, Leavenworth, KS) Scooter’s 1809th bar, first visited in 2024. We were walking from Fluffy’s to Willcott Brewing when we found ourselves in front of an open VFW that we…
Fluffy’s Swedish Pub
(Downtown, Leavenworth, KS) Scooter’s 1808th bar, first visited in 2024. I was hoping to find some sport of crazy Swedish beer here, but it turns out the owner spent quite…
11Worth Station Brew House
(Downtown, Leavenworth, KS) Scooter’s 1807th bar, first visited in 2024. Came here as the first stop on a belated birthday bar crawl for my youngest brother. They do brew their…
Republic Bar
(MSP Airport, St. Paul, MN) Scooter’s 1806th bar, first visited in 2024. Though I had another long layover at MSP, this time I decided to not leave the airport and…
Fernson Brewing Company
(Downtown, Sioux Falls, SD) Scooter’s 1805th bar, first visited in 2024. The next morning I woke up to dense but rapidly-lifting fog and I first walked a block north to…
The Hello Hi
(Downtown, Sioux Falls, SD) Scooter’s 1804th bar, first visited in 2024. Just kidding about being in for the night! After an hour lying on my bed watching a tornado documentary,…
Severance Brewing Company
(North End East, Sioux Falls, SD) Scooter’s 1803rd bar, first visited in 2024. After I left Silver Moon Bar I began walking to Severance Brewing by way of the walking…
Silver Moon Bar
(North End East, Sioux Falls, SD) Scooter’s 1802nd bar, first visited in 2024. The ride to Silver Moon would be my last Uber ride of this vacation apart from tomorrow’s…
Hi Ho Tavern
(Whittier, Sioux Falls, SD) Scooter’s 1801st bar, first visited in 2024. Hi-Ho Tavern (also listed as Walter’s Hi-Ho Casino) is a cash-only, beer-only dive bar located just a little bit…
Look’s Beer Company
(Look’s Marketplace, Sioux Falls, SD) Scooter’s 1800th bar, first visited in 2024. This was the one brewery on my list that I considered cutting because it was so far away…
Latest Posts
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#926: Tuck’s Bar
Posted on September 2011 | No Comments(St. Joseph, MO) Scooter’s 926th bar, first visited in 2011. This was a bonus, unexpected find. Tuck’s Bar is a biker-friendly bar attached to the front of Belt Bowl. It... -
#925: Hammer Heads
Posted on September 2011 | No Comments(St. Joseph, MO) Scooter’s 925th bar, first visited in 2011. This was a fantastic little bar located right on one of the busiest corners in St. Joseph. The U-shaped bar... -
#924: Uncle D’s Sports Bar & Grill
Posted on September 2011 | No Comments(St. Joseph, MO) Scooter’s 924th bar, first visited in 2011. Just barely off the beaten path, this is a pretty good sports bar that was pretty busy with people watching... -
#923: Bullseye Bar
Posted on August 2011 | No Comments(Lee’s Summit, MO) Scooter’s 923rd bar, first visited in 2011. Your basic strip mall sports bar, with pool tables and several dart boards. Some of the signs say “Bar and... -
#922: Hammerjack’s Rock’n'Roll Sports Bar
Posted on July 2011 | No Comments(Downtown, St. Joseph, MO) Scooter’s 922nd bar, first visited in 2011. I wasn’t planning on coming here, but for some reason we would up here instead of the more-our-speed Felix... -
#921: Shaft Nightclub
Posted on July 2011 | No Comments(Downtown, St. Joseph, MO) Scooter’s 921st bar, first visited in 2011. My exterior photo did not turn out, so I stole this photo from Google Street View. This is technically... -
#920: Rendezvous Bar & Grill
Posted on July 2011 | No Comments(Downtown, St. Joseph, MO) Scooter’s 920th bar, first visited in 2011. This dive is located a block down the street from Foster’s. Another responsible bartender working here. B had water... -
#919: Foster’s
Posted on July 2011 | No Comments(Downtown, St. Joseph, MO) Scooter’s 919th bar, first visited in 2011. Fosters is a martini & wine bar primarily. We got here pretty late and they were preparing to close.... -
#918: Long Branch Tavern
Posted on July 2011 | No Comments(St. Joseph, MO) Scooter’s 918th bar, first visited in 2011. As expected from the outside appearance, this was a good old-school dive. There were two rooms, with the smaller side... -
#917: Norty’s Bar & Grill
Posted on July 2011 | No Comments(St. Joseph, MO) Scooter’s 917th bar, first visited in 2011. This is the second location for Norty’s. It used to be located on Messanie, but it burned down in 2007.... -
#916: Kelly’s Pub
Posted on July 2011 | No Comments(St. Joseph, MO) Scooter’s 916th bar, first visited in 2011. We started out about to go the the Frederick Inn, but when we looked inside we decided it looked too... -
#915: Big Shots
Posted on July 2011 | No Comments(St. Joseph, MO) Scooter’s 915th bar, first visited in 2011. We had no idea what kind of place this was going to be, as we could find absolutely NO information... -
#914: Hi-Ho Bar & Grill
Posted on July 2011 | No Comments(St. Joseph, MO) Scooter’s 914th bar, first visited in 2011. This is a great little bar with a really nice semi-covered patio. I saw Golden Tee and lots of flatscreens,... -
#913: Pop A Top Tavern
Posted on July 2011 | No Comments(St. Joseph, MO) Formerly Family Tavern Scooter’s 913th bar, first visited in 2011. A dive bar does not get more divey than this. A dive in its purest form, not... -
#912: Peterman’s Shamrock
Posted on July 2011 | No Comments(St. Joseph, MO) Formerly Shamrock Inn Scooter’s 912th bar, first visited in 2011. As far as I can tell this bar has been called the Shamrock for a very long... -
#911: Brown Bear Tavern
Posted on July 2011 | No Comments(St. Joseph, MO) Scooter’s 911th bar, first visited in 2011. This is another really old bar, having opened in either 1898 or 1899 depending on your source. And it’s another... -
#910: First Ward House
Posted on July 2011 | No Comments(St. Joseph, MO) Scooter’s 910th bar, first visited in 2011. The First Ward House opened in 1878 and is one of the contenders for Oldest Bar West of the Mississippi.... -
#909: Bottoms Up Bar & Grill
Posted on July 2011 | No Comments(St. Joseph, MO) Scooter’s 909th bar, first visited in 2011. I’ve seen this place off and on for the past 15 years or so but never stopped in until now.... -
#908: Jumpin Jack’s
Posted on July 2011 | No Comments(St. Joseph, MO) Formerly Old Lamplighter Inn Scooter’s 908th bar, first visited in 2011. Every barhopping trip includes one bar that is so far beyond our expectations that it ends... -
#907: American Tavern
Posted on July 2011 | No Comments(St. Joseph, MO) Scooter’s 907th bar, first visited in 2011. American Tavern is a beautifl, timeless, classic example of a dive bar all-around. It is rustic, dirty, and charming. This... -
#906: VFW #1668
Posted on July 2011 | No Comments(St. Joseph, MO) Scooter’s 906th bar, first visited in 2011. This is one of the busiest VFW bars I have been to on a day that wasn’t a holiday! Almost...