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Happy hour 2.0: Mashups get smashed

Find drink deals at local bars without even leaving your seat.

Tim Moynihan

"Nerds!"
--Ogre, Revenge of the Nerds

Since the dawn of time (or at least the 1980s), avid computer users have been ridiculed for lacking social skills and an ability to party.

But anyone who has seen the documentary Real Genius or seen the schools featured on this list of top college pranks knows otherwise.

Nerds do party. They just party efficiently. That's why these drink-deal locators exist: to help us find cheap drinks between here and the nearest library.

Nationwide sites

UnThirsty: This is a Google Maps mashup that lets you search for happy hours, food specials, and drink specials in real time. It also tells you which places have outdoor seating and Wi-Fi hot spots.

MappyHour: Here is another Google Maps mashup, which lists drink specials and happy hour info for bars across the United States.

Regional sites

DrinkDeal.com: A bar-special finder for New York City and Brooklyn. I tried searching for local specials in San Francisco, but it didn't work out so well.

DrinkGuru: Has a lot of information for Washington D.C. bars, and it appears to be expanding to include other big cities as well.

CheaperDrinker.com: Helping Minnesota's Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, and St. Cloud areas stay warm through creative uses of Jagermeister specials.

Thrifty Hipster: Another fine resource for Minnesotans, especially in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

Canadian sites

The Ontario Beer Hunter: For our friends up north, a site that gives icon-based locations for all beer stores, wine retailers, and independent microbreweries throughout Ontario.