Onward State is on a mission. After the success of our Wings Over bracket, where we learned that State College loves Honey Barbecue more than any reasonable human beings should, we wanted to know more. We knew the local favorite for fried chicken bits covered in sauce, but a grander mission came to us. In a moment, a conversation sparked up in our weekly meeting: “What’s your favorite bar?”

The Onward State staff is well-known for its affinity for the Phyrst and Zeno’s, as well as Cafe for our alumni. But which bar is truly State College’s favorite? The battle over where to spend your hard-earned cash and sparse weekend (or weekday) hours is a constant struggle, one that pits friends against one another like almost nothing else. The question that plagues a senior’s mind like no other goes something along the lines of, “Do I want a fish bowl, a monkey boy, or a trash can tonight?” We’d like to find out just where State College loves to drink. Not just that, but which bars are most popular with students, alums, and townies?

We’ve gone with the same basic strategy that we employed for the Wings bracket here. We have 32 establishments with liquor licenses listed (we took some liberties with those that were included, apologies in advance if you did not make the cut), and in order to seed them, you’ll select which four are your favorites. We’ve tried to keep the bars to downtown, plus the most prominent drinking holes near campus. We’ll seed them into a bracket from there, and battle them one-by-one, round-by-round, to see which bar is truly State College’s favorite. Let’s get started. Fill out the Google form below or click here.