By Chris Tait
Crunchy, crunchy peanuts. They’re enough to make a bar experience in themselves, served in ceaseless wicker baskets and crunched haphazardly under stumbling student feet. Keep them coming and keep them free, at the venerable Moose McGuire’s.
Named posthumously after a courageous fire fighter, and less than fifteen minutes south of campus at the Stadium Shopping Centre, Moose McGuire’s stands together with the Kilkenny and Den in the unstoppable triumvirate of campus drinking. There are few establishments closer, C-Train notwithstanding, when you’re craving a tap-drawn pint.
Large portions complement a good selection of favourite beers on tap with average prices. But it is the endless stream of free peanuts which truly tops it all off, adorning the floor like the crunchy turf in a drinking stadium. It’s the sport of champions, you can be sure of that.
Vaulted, wooden beams rise high above Moose’s ample tables and well-conditioned bar. Spacious and open, the interior is great for hiding from that pesky sun. However, should you feel the perverse need to bake your sun in the golden sun, its patio is very nice for the non-vampiric folk in the crowd, complete with a summery bouquet of potted flowers and hand-painted peanut shell buckets to liven things up.
It’s a usual stop for business lunches and football games, thus catering to an older crowd than most venues appealing to students. This also makes the menu and atmosphere best suited for times from lunch through early evening. Make no mistake, however, for inside this brick pub lays one of only two pool hall destinations anywhere nearabouts our campus.
Other than the Cove, Moose’s happens to be the closest venue to campus for pool tables, with a choice of full-sized and pay tables. And, of course, drinking is not only allowed at Moose’s tables, it’s virtually encouraged. Now just you try telling that to those uptight campus security folk when you crack a mickey of vodka in the Cove’s hall.
So if you’re too lazy to head anywhere further (because, after all, isn’t that what good campus drinking is all about?), or if your Dumbo complex takes over, Moose’s might just be the place for you. Because, after all, it’s all about the peanuts.