Project K-Bar: Info and FAQ

Project K-Bar was originally devised with the purpose of documenting 1,000 bars where I have had a drink. Having completed that phase, the next goals for Project K-Bar are to:

• Have a drink in 1,000 different bars within Seattle (the original 1,000 included 340 or so outside of Seattle city limits)
• Have a drink in every existing bar in Seattle
• Document 2,000 bars where I have had a drink

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How long have you been doing this project?
A: I started Feb 28, 2006. However, when I started I listed every bar I could clearly recall already having a drink in. My memory is pretty terrible, so this included very few bars outside Seattle, but it did give me a starting point of 466 bars.

Q: What's your favorite bar?
A: That's hard for me to answer because it's hard to compare, say, a great dive bar to a great swanky bar. But I ranked my favorites in a few key categories for me on the K-Bar Favorites page.

Q: What kind of places count as a bar for your list.
A: Well, this is kinda arbitrary. I count any business with an on premises liquor license where a fair number of people go primarily to have a drink, but I also include nightclubs where people can have a drink while attending primarily for music. I do not count restaurants that may have a bar, but which few people go to except while waiting for food (e.g. no Red Robin, no Applebees). I do not count airport bars, but I do count hotel bars. I don't usually count private clubs, such as yacht clubs or legion halls, but I do count places like Mercury.

Q: Do you always take pictures of the bar? Do you always write about the bar?
A: No. I do when I feel like it, which is fairly often, but I didn't want to change this into work.

Q: Your current goals include 1,000 Seattle bars. Are there really a thousand bars in Seattle?
A: That's really hard to tell. As of December 2009 there were 2,125 on-premises liquor licenses issued to businesses within Seattle. But this includes many places that I would not consider a bar -- e.g. restaurants where people really never go just for a drink, as well as retailers like WalMart who have on-premises licenses for whatever reason. After eliminating licenses I could rule out just be the name, there were 1,526 potential bars left on my list. So my guess is that there are about a thousand bars in Seattle; and even if there are not, turn-over of new places starting and old places closing should make the Seattle 1,000 possible.

Q: How will you know when you've been to every bar in Seattle?
A: I probably won't. But my methodology involves keeping a list of bars that I already know I want to check out. If/when I get to all the Seattle bars on that list, I will re-download the latest list of on-premises licenses from the state liquor control board (available here), and slowly elminate any possible bars -- e.g. by going there and checking them out, if necessary. I also keep up fairly well with new openings and closings, thanks to the various foodie and neighborhood blogs now available.

Q: What is your rate of hitting new bars?
A: In 2009, I had a drink at 217 bars for the first time. My average is closer to 150/year. I eat out pretty much daily, and will generally check my list of to-do bars while deciding where to go for dinner. On vacations, especially when I am staying somewhere with many bars in walking distance (e.g. the French Quarter or Old Town Scottsdale), I often go at a much faster pace.

Q: What are the two numbers in your blog post titles?
A: The first number is the count of total bars I've been to and blogged. The second number (the one beginning with S#) is the count of bars within the Seattle city limits.

Q: Is there a standard drink that you order?
A: Not really. If I am in a place that I know has a reputation for good cocktails, or just a place that actually has a cocktail menu or perhaps just a bartender that seems quite knowledgeable, I'll usually ask the bartender what their favorite is. If I'm in dive bar and don't feel like a beer, or a bar that caters to people in their 20s (and thus will typically serve terrible, overly-sweet, utterly unbalanced cocktails), I'll usually have just a gin and tonic. It's pretty hard to really mess up a gin and tonic.

Q: How's your liver?
A: Just fine so far, thanks. I did not want this project to lead me to have more drinks than I otherwise would; just drinks at more different places. The main exception is that now when I eat out (which is quite often), I often consult my to-do list of bars I haven't yet tried.

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