Bar Review

South Baltimore's had a prolific year in nightlife. Barfly's, Barracudas and the Park Bench are just a few of the bars that have popped up. The latest is the Feisty Goat, a sports bar on Key Highway that is as low-key as those other new bars. Open since last month, Feisty Goat is an agreeable sports bar, adequate for sports fans looking for a no-frills atmosphere to watch a game. But, it could use some improvements in service, atmosphere and variety. Located on the first floor of a rowhouse on Key Highway, the bar has the feeling of someone's basement rec room.

After a bar has been around for a while, it's easy to take it for granted. This year, three Baltimore bars that have been in business for over a decade marked major anniversaries: Brewer's Art turned 15 and Max's 25. These two bars are hardly taken for granted; they are universally praised by wildly different constituencies. The third, though, which turned 15 in September, doesn't get nearly enough love. Holy Frijoles deserves recognition. It has excellent, under-rated cocktails - the margaritas are poured by the dozen - and a menu that is stuffed with guilty pleasures.

The bar at 1439 S. Charles St. has gone by different names over the past couple of years. Until 2008, it was the Fort Charles Pub. Then, it was Taps. When they started renovating it in November, its new owners were going to call it Catherine's Pub. But a month later, they switched permanently to Delia Foley's. What kind of bar is it? What else could it be but an Irish pub? As a concept bar, it works. From its name to its decor, it plays the Irish pub role so well it practically belongs in a Jim Sheridan movie.

How do you solve a problem like Baltimore's new Irish pubs? The last two I've reviewed — Delia Foley's and Finnegan's Wake — have disappointed. They have all the bells and whistles of a Chuck E. Cheese's: Wings! Arcade games! Delirious young people running around! And just as much originality. They are rudderless, exhibiting none of the rich character and history their neighborhoods are known for. Liam Flynn's Ale House has found a way to do the Irish pub right. This new bar from the former manager of the Pint-Size Pub is everything these other bars are not: original, personable, chill and, most notably, respectful of its city's long and rich nightlife history.

On Sunday night, Looney's Pub was surprisingly low-key. You kind of always expect a Looney's, which has had a flagship home in O'Donnell Square for over a decade, to be packed with young, screaming sports fans, beer mugs flying across the room, the music turned up so loud you can barely make out the lyrics. But I was at the new Looney's in College Park, the latest bar in the company's growing stable, which now includes locations in Bel Air and Maple Lawn. The crowd at the bar, which opened in October, wasn't swaying woozily, but intently watching the Giants put up what seemed like a losing fight against the Cowboys.

Mount Vernon is teeming with lounges and bars that cater to young professionals. The stretch of Eager Street between Charles and Cathedral has Eden's Lounge and City Cafe. Right around the corner, there's Red Maple. And now, there's E-Villa, which has more in common than just a neighborhood with Eden's. The two lounges share a kitchen, which puts out an Ethiopian-flavored menu; an owner - Harold Edwards - and some decor. It also has a purely decorative velvet rope, which seems like an aspirational affectation.

Don't Know Tavern in South Baltimore has always been a reliably quiet neighborhood bar, especially appreciated by Red Sox and Patriots fans. But in the past year, Don't Know has gone through more upheaval than it has in all the four years it's been in business. In June, its longtime owner, Jason Zink, sold the business , partly to deal with the expense of a lawsuit that had been filed against him by five of the bar's former employees. In July, Zink settled the lawsuit, and soon after, new management took over.

When Wild Willy's Rock House & Sports Saloon opened in Annapolis last year, it promised to be the wildest party in town. In the promo pictures, waitresses wore microscopic tops and jean shorts, holding on to pool cues and flashing come-hither looks. Called the Wild Girls, they sometimes performed choreographed dance routines on the bar's two stages. Willy's looked like it came out of "Coyote Ugly," or in a more familiar analogy for Baltimore readers, like the spawn of PBR Baltimore and Angels Rock Bar. I've been dying to go. Vampy waitresses and dance routines?

On a recent Wednesday night, the Old Town district in Gaithersburg was sleepy. McCormick's Paints was closed. The fire museum on Diamond Avenue looked abandoned. The only sign of life in the neighborhood was coming from a red-brick brewpub at Diamond and Summit avenues. Growlers, spread out over two vast stories and an outdoor deck, was brimming with young and old patrons, overlapping conversation and the clinks of scores of beer mugs. Baltimoreans who think of Gaithersburg as a sleepy suburb might want to reconsider, if only for this excellent brewpub and its great beer.

Federal Hill already has Metropolitan, the Abbey Burger Bistro and Bluegrass - bars that are known for their ample beer lists. Even the Don't Know Tavern has 30 draft lines. Until last summer, there had also been Muggsy's, Danny Young's cozy beer outpost on Light Street. But because of the competition and a limiting six-day liquor license, Muggsy's closed. To replace it, there's now Brewer's Cask, which if you couldn't tell from its name, has the slogan, "Love Thy Beer" to let you know exactly what kind of bar it is. Leave it to a beer bar to beget another beer bar. If you hadn't been to Muggsy's, this new bar looks deceptively small from the outside.