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| You won't find the Jug listed in the phone book under "Jug." You will,
though, if you look under "THE Jug." Nicholville Telephone Co. lists it aptly,
because in my mind there is only one Jug. To longtime patrons, The
Jug has achieved a standing singular among North Country bars. With the loss
of Ward's, Lil's, and Rufa's to fire, it is the lone surviver of the area's
venerable drinking institutions. What makes the Jug so special is it has no pretensions. No frills, no ferns, no fancy Eurobeers. It is not a "theme" bar; it excludes no one. It is inviting to everyone, young and old. It contains the barest essentials requisite for a bar room—a TV, juke box, pool table, foosball table, and shuffleboard table. Whether by accident or by design, these ingredients combine, like a masterfully crafted ale, to make the perfect atmosphere in which to enjoy one of life's cherished pleasures: drinking beer. The Irish exalt their pubs, almost deify them. So too, do North Countrymen. In nearby Lawrenceville there once stood a bar called "The Church." The sinful seductions of neon lights, clinking cocktail glasses, and the smell of stale beer and cigarette smoke is the province of the clergyman. I think I once saw one at The Jug. |
