"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!

For some, there's a stigma attached to drinking during daylight hours. Somehow, 5 p.m. became the "acceptable" time to begin the cocktail hour. However, brunch, sporting events and a general penchant for early boozing have made the practice more popular. 

The editors at OnMilwaukee.com are no strangers to day drinking (only on days off, of course, we're not talking about desk flasks) and, as always, have stories to share. How about you? Is day drinking a part of your routine?

Dave Begel
Columnist
I have an incredible history of day drinking. And I say this from experience, the key to surviving day drinking is to carry it over into night drinking. You need to change drinks, from beer to something like Wild Turkey. If you stop at sundown you are guaranteed to miss out on a lot of excitement. If you keep going, usually by 9:30 p.m., you are both invisible and invincible. Can you say "bar fights?"

Carolynn Buser
Social media & content manager
Day drinking is something I – like most Milwaukeeans – am proud of. You can test that by heading out to any bar on a Sunday afternoon. Sure, summers you will find more people out and about, but any given weekend there is hardly a shortage of people bellied up to the bar. I love a good "Sunday Funday" and it is rare you wouldn't find me out at the beach on a summery Saturday – which of course involves cocktails. Even if I'm on a golf course I'll enjoy a shandy or lemonade and vodka. I guess I have no problem with day drinking at all! 

Colton Dunham
Staff writer
Typically, I like to enjoy a drink or two on weekends when I'm out with friends. That's if I have time to go out, however. For me, day drinking is usually saved for family cookouts during the summer months or finals week at the end of the semester when taking a few swigs of a beer in between studying helps ease the pain. Nothing beats a nice, cold Summer Shandy outdoors with a grill doing what it does best. 

Matt Mueller
Staff writer / film critic

Unfortunately, save for maybe baseball afternoon games during the summer, I don't go drink much during the day – much less "day drink." But I wish I did. It sounds delightful: just relaxing, drinking a tasty brew with friends, soaking in some sun (or, if it's winter, just more alcohol). Sadly, I'm just too busy. Damn life getting in the way of my drinking.

Jim Owczarski

Sports editor

To me, "day drinking" means tailgating, when the alcohol starts flowing at 8 a.m. (or earlier) for a Noon kick on Sunday or the first can of beer is popped once the baseball team opens the gates to the lot for a Saturday afternoon first pitch. I get that's not what this is really about, but day drinking in Milwaukee still centers around sporting events. So in that case, hanging out at Steny's is the place to go. Whether it's spring for tournament basketball or summer Brewers games, enjoying that "tailgate" atmosphere at a bar is a must, and Steny's cozy back patio provides just that.

Molly Snyder

Senior writer
I used to have strong rules against drinking during the day – I saved my debauchery for after hours – but then one Sunday afternoon I decided to break my own rule and have a Bloody Mary. Why didn’t anyone clue me in sooner? It’s like a massive door made of cheese and olives and pickles and bacon strips and vodka suddenly opened and I frolicked into the land of delicious day drinking forever. 

Bobby Tanzilo
Managing editor
I don't personally have any specific rules about when I drink, though typically it rarely happens before dinner (unless I'm in England, in which case it rarely happens much before lunch). But that's different in summer, when an afternoon beer has been consumed on the patio or porch. Once in a while I'll have a drink with lunch, but not often, and Brewers day games seem appropriate for a tipple. I don't think when one drinks is as important as what and how much one drinks.