Most sports bars try to lure fans with happy-hour specials and gigantic TV screens, but West Philly's Top Shelf goes so far as to organize away-game road trips for its Eagles fans.
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Top Shelf's regulars understand that while watching spandex-clad men ram into one another in high definition is awesome, watching them do it in person is better. So every year, green-blooded drinkers travel by bus and plane to cheer on their team, then celebrate or commiserate in some other town's sports bar. They're good ambassadors, too: Last season, the regulars at Washington, D.C.'s Hangtime returned the favor and visited Top Shelf when the Redskins played the Linc.
True to the bar's name, Top Shelf features almost any fancy liqueur, from Asti to Sambuca. But it's the camaraderie that draws drinkers from as far away as Jersey and Delaware County. "I went to Africa and I still missed this place," says regular Derrick Fletcher. "I couldn't wait to get back."
For nonsports fanatics who can't travel without their drinking buddies, the barflies also organize trips to destinations like Cancun, the Poconos and even a "party" train to Atlanta.
Hear that, SEPTA? Turn the El into a party train and that looming budget shortfall will disappear. Never say Watering Hole didn't try to help.