"Bar Month" at OnMilwaukee.com – brought to you by Stoli Vodka, Altos Tequila, Fireball, OR-G, Jim Beam, Plymouth Gin and 2 Gingers – is back for another round! The whole month of February, we're serving up intoxicatingly fun articles on bars and clubs – including guides, the latest trends, bar reviews, the results of our Best of Bars poll and more. Grab a designated driver and dive in!

Lately, I've been following the social media posts of a recent transplant to Milwaukee and I'm reminded a little of my own experience.

Life in Milwaukee began for me just after I graduated high school. Though I was born and raised in Brooklyn, I visited Milwaukee a number of times as a kid, so I knew a bit about it. Mostly the Domes, the Zoo, Usinger's, the Brewers, the Circus Parade and the smell of Milorganite production, which I could smell quite well, thank you, in my grandparents' backyard.

Thanks to well-connected hardcore friends, I also knew of Die Kreuzen and The Clitboys. And, of course, I knew about that band that had just released its debut record, the Violent Femmes.

What I had no idea about what the city's culture of drinking.

When I arrived, I was straight-edge. After a brief fling with $2 a bottle Wild Irish Rose in the disused Avenue N elevated F train station, I didn't smoke or drink, and I was determined to hold on. I wasn't an ideologue; drinking just held little allure for me.

However, I was unprepared for the counter-attack. I got here when Summerfest was going. I went to a Brewers game. I went to some gigs. I went to State Fair. I went to a cookout or two. Everywhere I went, it everyone had (at least one) beer in hand.

And I learned that Milwaukeeans don't like to drink alone. Folks often commented on the lack of beer in my hand. They'd offer me one and I'd decline. And they'd offer again. And again.

Over time, I caved. I'm pretty sure I'd have learned to enjoy the pleasures of wine and beer regardless of where I lived, but Milwaukee seemed to work harder than New York City ever did to get me a drink.

While everyone talks about peer pressure among schoolkids, I don't recall anyone ever pushing me to use drugs, drink alcohol and smoke when I was a kid. But the booze part would change when I finished high school and landed here.

And, though there were no billboards or TV commercials urging me to get toasted, there was enduring, more subtle pressure to join the club.

All these years later, I like beer, I like wine, I like spirits and cocktails, but I drink in moderation and the idea of purposely getting drunk isn't an alluring one for me. Still, I don't think there's anything wrong with drinking.

But it's quite easy to see how some folks in a hard drinkin' town like this one find themselves slowly, persistently being led down a path toward destruction.

So, as OnMilwaukee.com celebrates bar month, I urge you to enjoy life's pleasures, but to proceed with caution. And, above all, when someone says, "no thanks" to a tall boy, get 'em a bottle of water.