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A hard day’s night: Students prefer day drinking

By Sarah Knepp, For The Miami Student

With the accessibility of Oxford's wide array of bars, Miami students have become accustomed to drinking during the day.

Bar attendance during the day is extremely high amongst a diverse group of Miami students, and many even prefer to go to bars during the day over going to them at the more traditional night time period.

One of the reasons students prefer to go out during the day is because some bars offer deals during the day that are not honored at night.

"It's cheaper to go out during the day," sophomore Bekah Yurk said. "There are better drink specials."

These drink specials are in reference to Beat the Clock and Broken Clock. Beat the Clock, a staple at Brick Street Bar & Grille, offers pitchers of beer for the same price as the hour on the clock. Broken Clock, at The Woods located across the street from Brick Street, is a competing Friday and Saturday afternoon phenomenon that offers much larger portions of its signature drink, a Redskin, for $7, the same price as the smaller portion sold at the bar at night.

Pachinko's, another popular daytime bar, is a third location for students to go to on afternoons, providing free hot dogs for hungry customers.

Day drinking at the bars also draws a large crowd of students because of the relaxed atmosphere associated with it.

"It's more casual, and because it's more casual, people are more friendly," sophomore Libby Edgar said.

This relaxed atmosphere also brings about ease for students that they might not experience at the bars during the later hours.

"It's a more cognitive atmosphere," sophomore Isabelle Schenkel said. "It's easier to talk to friends and hang out than trying to track them down in the dark and yelling over the crowd of people when you go out at night."

On the weekends, day drinking at the bars Uptown seems to be a more popular activity than going to the bars at night. Weeknights, however, are different.

With every night of the week having a theme and therefore a reason to go out, many students go to the bars. Brick Street, in particular, has a theme for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night, and all of the bars typically have something on Thursday nights that draw crowds of students.

Students can always find something that they enjoy. Both day drinking and going out at night are largely popular at Miami, and the number of students going to the bars is consistent at either time of day on the weekends, but the demographic of students seems to be different at different times of day, according to senior and Pachinko's bartender Katie Taylor.

"There are a lot more underage students out partying at night and going to the bars that come from house parties, because that's the easiest way for them to get alcohol," Taylor said. "As a result, on a busy weekend night, I'm not always making as many sales as you would think, because the unders aren't actually purchasing at the bar."

Day drinking at the bars seems to be most popular among students that are of the legal drinking age, Taylor said.

"More 21 and up students are day drinking and coming to the bars during the day and choosing not to go out at night," she said.

Day drinking traditions like Beat the Clock and Broken Clock draw attention from even the students under the age of 21 because of the low drink prices and casual atmosphere, a combination that makes day drinking at bars seem to be preferred by most students over drinking at the bars during at night.

"There's just less pressure with day drinking," Schenkel said. "It's more relaxing, which makes it more fun."