By Jim Owczarski Sports Editor Published Feb 07, 2013 at 7:03 PM Photography: Andy Tarnoff

"Bar Month" at OnMilwaukee.com 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 and more. Grab a designated driver and dive in!

Molly Snyder may be a "disgrace to Milwaukee" but even she admits I take the cake on this one – I hate beer.

Always have, and presumably, always will.

Why? Three words – unexpected Old Style.

It ruined beer forever for me, though judging by the hangovers of those I drive around, I'm not missing much.

Here's the story:

As a kid, junior high aged (maybe younger), we had the "garage fridge" that housed the extra gallon of milk, pop and of course, beer. The garage fridge had a certain order – extra milk and juice top shelf, beer bottom shelf, soda on the door.

On a hot summer day me and my buddies were playing basketball in the yard and I needed some cool refreshment – so I opened the garage fridge and blindly reached for a can on the door. I assume I was talking trash to someone because I never actually looked at what I taking – or opening – or taking a huge swig of – until the most awful taste I could ever imagine washed down my throat.

Ever since then, every beer I've ever tasted takes me back to that moment. And trust me, I've tried – everything from Miller Lite to Spotted Cow to assorted Leinenkugel's to Guinness.

All of it tastes like liquid garbage.

Now I tend to avoid it altogether. I'll occasionally try one if it's strongly recommended, but I've sort of moved to the point that I expect awfulness, so that's what I taste.

So, don't worry Molly – I'll trade you a brat for any beer, ever.

Jim Owczarski is an award-winning sports journalist and comes to Milwaukee by way of the Chicago Sun-Times Media Network.

A three-year Wisconsin resident who has considered Milwaukee a second home for the better part of seven years, he brings to the market experience covering nearly all major and college sports.

To this point in his career, he has been awarded six national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, breaking news and projects. He is also a four-time nominee for the prestigious Peter J. Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, presented by the Chicago Headline Club, and is a two-time winner for Best Sports Story. He has also won numerous other Illinois Press Association, Illinois Associated Press and Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awards.

Jim's career started in earnest as a North Central College (Naperville, Ill.) senior in 2002 when he received a Richter Fellowship to cover the Chicago White Sox in spring training. He was hired by the Naperville Sun in 2003 and moved on to the Aurora Beacon News in 2007 before joining OnMilwaukee.com.

In that time, he has covered the events, news and personalities that make up the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, NCAA football, baseball and men's and women's basketball as well as boxing, mixed martial arts and various U.S. Olympic teams.

Golf aficionados who venture into Illinois have also read Jim in GOLF Chicago Magazine as well as the Chicago District Golfer and Illinois Golfer magazines.