Best Happy Hours in Atlanta

There are five different Peachtrees in Atlanta's top ten happy hour streets, which is the first thing to sort out before you go anywhere. Peachtree Street NE runs through Midtown, West Peachtree Street NW parallels it one block over, Peachtree Road NE and NW carry Buckhead, and Peachtree Boulevard is out in Brookhaven. Getting the suffix wrong costs you a fifteen-minute drive in traffic that is already the point of leaving work at 4.

Oysters are the value play in a landlocked city. The Optimist on Howell Mill Road lists $1 oysters with $10 sips from 5 to 6, and Steamhouse Lounge on West Peachtree Street NW lists them at $1.50 with a dollar off drinks from 3 to 6. Neither is a price you would expect three hundred miles inland.

Buckhead runs on wine and tapas: Postino on Roswell Road lists $6 wine and $6 beer daily from noon to 5, Gypsy Kitchen on Peachtree Road NE lists $5 tapas, and Barcelona on the Westside lists half-off bottles from 4 to 6. Midtown's long window belongs to Lumen Bar on Peachtree Street NE at $5 beer and cocktails from 2:30 until close.

Wells and drafts at $5 and a flat dollar off split the city's default pricing almost evenly. Roughly one listing in eleven covers a weekend day, and most windows are shut by 6.