This article appears in the January 2011 issue of Louisville Magazine. To subscribe, please visit loumag.com.

Don’t know about you, but we could really use a drink right about now. So we’ve scoured the city to find our 21 favorite bars — from upscale jazz joints to dives where your beer bottle sticks to the table. We’ve also tossed in some personalities familiar with local nightlife and quotes we overheard while out on the town.

Don’t expect Captain Jack Sparrow, bottle of rum in hand, to stumble down the long flight of stairs that descends from the Village Anchor restaurant into its basement bar called the Sea Hag (11507 Park Road, Anchorage). Framed black-and-white photos of weathered men and the fish they’ve caught may decorate the walls, but this is not the place to come and sing drunken sea chanteys. Journey’s “Faithfully” or some Phil Collins, however? Yeah, don’t be surprised to find somebody shouting the lyrics into a microphone, which is actually a detached beer tap.

On Wednesdays, an acoustic guitarist sets up near the stone fireplace. And on ladies’ night each Thursday, bartenders mix plenty of Allen Wrenches, which include grapefruit-flavored vodka.

Photo: John Nation