Anyone who religiously reads my column in this rag and checks out our blog Spew (weeklyvolcanospew.com) knows that I have found myself in a few bars in my day. It is my job, after all. I actually don’t drink much. But bills need to get paid, so I find myself in bars several times a week for one reason or another. It got even a bit more complicated recently when I found myself giving up beer for Lent. I found myself paying more attention to tavern atmospheres than what was on tap in the back wall of the bar.



So I started going to bars to do more than drink beer. I rocked out on trivia at the Ale House (2122 Mildred St. W., Tacoma), winning five of six games in less than two hours. I took home vouchers for nachos, beer and well drinks and had a time much more interesting than watching another rerun of Matlock.



Then there are places like the Acme Grub Cage (1310 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma), which is home to the Tacoma Cult Movie night, when the worst of the B movies takes to the screen every second Monday night. There are biker movies and chicks in leather and big hair and everything in between.



The joint offers no cover and free popcorn to bring the beer chuggers through the door on a traditionally slow night in the bar business.



Next month will feature women in prison movies.



Not to be outdone, Olympia offers its own movie-in-a-bar night. The Brotherhood Lounge (19 Capitol Way N., Olympia) offers up movies every Sunday at 7 p.m. Don’t except the blockbusters of the day or anything in surround sound and 3-D. These are all the best the 1980s had to offer the world of cinema.



The tavern does have a nine-foot screen and a concert quality sound system as well as the saltiest free popcorn ever stuffed into a mouth. Good times are had by all.



These sorts of events are fun when patrons want something to do other than hit on each other or listen to loud music.



But there are other ways bars try to offer their patrons an escape from their ordinary lives after the work day is done. Masters of the bar scene are those darn Irish folks, since they are also largely the masters of drinking beer.



Luckily there are some great Irish bars in the South Sound, namely three bars in Tacoma that are virtually down the street from each other.



There’s Paddy Coynes (815 Pacific Ave., Tacoma) in the renovated Hotel Olympus, complete with dark wood, carved figures and stained glass cabinet doors as if it were transported from its foundation in the land of the leprechauns to the City of Destiny. Its menu of meat and potato fair and Guinness, Smithwicks, Harp, Lazy Boy IPA, Hoegaarden, Carlsberg, Tetley’s, Black Butte Porter and Stella Artois make for great conversation fuels if patrons are owners of the gift of gab.



Doyle’s Public House (208 Saint Helens Ave., Tacoma)  just up the hill has that Irish neighborhood bar feel. One could envision some writer taking pen to paper in the back booth with empty glasses of Guinness covering the table.



It is a place for people to go after work and just chat and unwind before heading back to their ordinary lives.



Last, O’Malley’s Irish Pub (2403 Sixth Ave., Tacoma) — the glorious lowbrow option — has recently added booze and a bunch of nightly specials including Texas Hold ‘Em Thursdays and Danny Ray’s Whiskey Wednesday karaoke night.