Big John's Tavern

Thanks for Coming

admin — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 18:34:02 +0000

Thanks to everyone who came and made the Big John’s 55th Anniversary Party a success.

Other than keeping up with the demand for 55 cent beers, I think the night went perfect!

Thanks again!

Chris and Jim

Big John’s Anniversary Party – Friday April 16 at 7:30 pm

admin — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 03:16:38 +0000

Big John’s Tavern is a favorite downtown dive bar among rowdy college kids, working folks, and carriage handlers with 55 years of wild history. Voted “Best No-Frills Watering Hole” by the City Paper readers, it lives up to the category name. Named for the a former NFL linebacker named “Big John” Canady, Big John’s celebrates the big five-five this Friday. Loyal patrons will pile past the rickety doorway in the red brick building for music, cheap suds, and pure old-school joy. The tavern will be practically giving away their draft beers (Budweiser, Bud Lite, and Miller Lie) for only 55 cents a cup (the microbrewed Victory lager might be a little more expensive). Special guest rock/funk band Gordon Leadfoot (rumored to be Whitt Algar in a wig and fake mustache with a few musician friends) will provide live entertainment all evening starting at 7 p.m. The Svedka Vodka girls will be joining the festivities to give away free T-shirts and caps, too. More than a few old-school customers from the late 1950s and early ’60s may be in attendance as well. —T. Ballard Lesemann

http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/Event?oid=1884608

Big John’s Tavern an irreplaceable part of scene

admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:55:38 +0000

BY JACK HUNTER
Special to The Post and Courier
Thursday, December 13, 2007

When one thinks of Charleston bars, for more than a half-century Big John’s Tavern has topped the list.

Claiming to be Charleston’s “best dive since 55,” Big John’s has never been anything fancy, but for generations of pub-goers there hasn’t been any comparison.

Founder “Big John” Cannady, a former linebacker with the New York Giants, opened his namesake bar in the mid-1950s on East Bay St., where hanging out at Big John’s became a right of passage for many a young Charlestonian, not to mention Citadel cadets, who quickly made the bar their home.

Cannady owned and operated the bar until the early 1990s when Lowcountry native and Citadel graduate John Gissell took over. For eight years, Gissell (a “big John” in his own right, who many assumed was the bar’s namesake) continued the Big John’s tradition until current owner Chris Condon took over the reigns in 1999.

Like the bar itself, the story behind Condon’s eventual involvement with Big John’s is quintessentially Charleston. Condon worked as a waiter on the peninsula, where after hours he spent his time between Big John’s and A.C.’s Bar & Grill on King St. As a customer, Condon had long thought about buying Big John’s, and even made an attempt to purchase it in the early 90’s, the first time it was for sale. In 1999, Condon made a phone call looking for a possible managerial position at Big John’s. When he found out it was for sale again, the waiter and loyal customer jumped at the chance to finally own one of his favorite bars.

Condon is proud to say that to this day, Big John’s is home to a healthy mix of longtime regulars, college students, food and beverage workers, and many who conduct downtown carriage tours. Citadel cadets still frequent Big John’s but not in the same numbers as decades past, due entirely to the fact that the drinking age was raised from 18 to 21 in the 1980’s.

The walls are still littered with nostalgia from Big John’s past, from photographs and news clippings of Big John Cannady in his football uniform to advertisements for 25 cent beer and political bumper stickers dating back decades. The best advertising someone can give a bar like Big John’s is to stress how much nothing’s changed. Condon, who was a customer long before he became owner, understands well that you don’t mess with success.

And so long as the legendary bar remains in good hands with people who understand it, Big John’s Tavern will remain an irreplaceable part of our city’s rich heritage.

In case you have forgotten, this is where we are

admin — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 08:56:19 +0000

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2010 Anniversary Party

admin — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 13:26:18 +0000

Please mark your calendars for Friday April 16th. Don’t miss the best anniversary party in Charleston. Big John’s is once again throwing a killer party to celebrate the anniversary of the opening of the bar in 1955.

We will have:

55 cent draft beer
$10 buckets of Bud
Live Music by Simple Possession
And tons of give-away prizes

Please join us to raise your glass and toast to “Charleston’s Best Dive Since 1955

Post Bridge Run Party

admin — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 13:22:29 +0000

March 27th, 2010

Doors open at 10am with awesome Bloody Mary’s and cool Mimosa’s both for $3 along with MAKE IT GO playing live.

Erin Go Bragh

admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:34:28 +0000

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

Please join us for one dollar green beer to celebrate today!

Another great reason to visit Big John’s tonight!

admin — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 19:07:04 +0000

There’s a mathematical formula for the “beer goggles” effect?
by Julia Layton

Many of us have heard of the so-called “beer goggle” effect. It’s the phenomenon that occurs when someone’s had a few alcoholic drinks and suddenly, all of those people who looked semi-attractive on entering the bar look really, really appealing. Scientists have shown that it’s not just a lowering of standards — alcohol actually stimulates the part of the brain that judges facial attractiveness.

In 2002, researchers at St. Andrews University and Glasgow University in Scotland took 80 college students and had half of them drink a “moderate” amount of alcohol — between one and four servings, depending on gender and body weight. The other half, the control group, remained sober. Scientists showed each subject pictures of people of the opposite sex. In all cases — male and female alike — the experimental (tipsy) group rated each picture an average of 25 percent more attractive than the sober group did.

The effect can reportedly be traced to the nucleus accumbens. When you’re looking at another human being, the nucleus accumbens is the area of the brain that decides how attractive that human being’s face is. If you look at, say, George Clooney or Angelina Jolie, this area of your brain probably experiences increased neural firing. In other words, it’s stimulated. As it turns out, alcohol, all by itself, stimulates the nucleus accumbens. So when you’ve have a few drinks, and you look at a face you may have judged as unattractive when you were sober, your brain, under the influence of alcohol, tells you that this face is in fact somewhat attractive. And the increase in perceived attractive seems to be directly proportional to the amount of alcohol consumed.

In a more recent study, this one conducted by researchers at England’s Manchester University in 2005, scientists actually came up with a mathematical formula to calculate the extent of the “beer goggle” effect on a given individual in a given situation. Their reasoning for creating this formula is that alcohol is not really the only factor affecting the drunken perception of beauty. Other factors, according to their research, include:

How brightly lit the area is

The observer’s eye-sight quality

The amount of smoke in the air

The distance of the observer from the observed

The formula goes like this:

β = (An)² x d(S + 1)

√L x (Vo)²

where:

An is the number of servings of alcohol

S is the smokiness of the area on a scale of 0 – 10

L is the lighting level of the area, measured in candelas per square meter, in which 150 is normal room lightning

Vo is Snellen visual acuity, in which 6/6 is normal and 6/12 is the lower limit at which someone is able to drive

d is the distance between the observer and the observed, measured in meters

Source: BBC News

The formula works out a “beer goggle” score ranging from 1 to 100+. When β = 1, the observer is perceiving the same degree of beauty he or she would perceive in a sober state. At 100+, everybody in the room is a perfect 10.

For more information on beer, the drawbacks of looking for love at a bar and related topics, check out the following links:

How Alcohol Works

How Alcoholism Works

How Beer Works

How Your Brain Works

The Daily Collegian Online: Study: ‘Beer goggle’ effect a true phenomenon – Sept. 3, 2002

Popular Science: Science Confirms the Obvious! – May 2006

University of Western Ontario: Study Shows Beer Has Same Benefits As Red Wine – Sept. 14, 2004

“‘Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder’.” BBC News. Aug. 18, 2002.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/2201198.stm

“‘Beer goggles’ effect explained.” BBC News. Nov. 25, 2005.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4468884.stm

“Do ‘beer goggles’ really exist?” Ask Yahoo!. Jan. 24, 2006.
http://ask.yahoo.com/20060124.html

“Proof of “Beer Goggles” Theory.” University of St. Andrews. Aug. 18, 2002.
http://calvin.st-andrews.ac.uk/external_relations/ news_article.cfm?reference=352

Web Customer Appreciation

admin — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 12:48:35 +0000

In order to reward our web viewers, if you print out this article and bring it to Big John’s, you will get two dollars off the beverage of your choice. This is valid only for the month of February 2007 and is limited to once per customer for the month. Thank you to all our readers!

Aly and TJ

admin — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 21:47:45 +0000

Click here to see a few new pictures from the bar.