Josh Dickey

Sunday’s late afternoon sun illuminated two more liters of Leinenkugel’s Honey Weiss — with lemons — to grace the green, beer-spattered plastic table outside of Sally’s Saloon and Eatery.
“We were supposed to just come here for a burger,” said Ryan McNamara, “and instead we had about six or seven 25-ouncers.”
The jocular McNamara, a Brooklyn Park resident, and his grinning friend, computer science junior Peter Moore, wiled away Sunday afternoon with a lighter beer choice than normal.
“I ordered up a Killian’s Red,” Moore said, and then pointed to McNamara. “And he says, I’ll get a Honey Weiss. It’s a good Sunday beer.'”
The sunshine not only drives summer revelers onto University-area bar patios, but affects their behaviors and beverage choices.
Servers agreed that Moore and McNamara’s early run at the bar is not unusual when school is not such a factor.
“You get the day off, what else are you going to do, right?” said Jon Landers, a server at Stub and Herb’s for about six months. “People go and sit out on the patio in the sun.”
To compensate for the heat, breweries and bars roll out lighter summer beers and other less-heavy alternatives.
“All year, you don’t get rid of any damn cider,” Landers said. “And then in the summer, people want something cold.”
On the West Bank, Sgt. Preston’s offers 100-ounce tropical drinks served in fishbowls, with as many straws as valid IDs that customers can produce.
“We seriously card everyone who looks under 35 right now,” said Kirsten Bunker, a patio waitress at Sgt. Preston’s, noting that underage attempts to buy alcohol increase in the summer.
Landers pointed out patron’s behavior gets a little more wily in the summer. He said he had to throw as many as 10 people out of Stub and Herb’s in the last two weeks.
He also recalled the story of one drinker who was already inebriated before he entered the bar. The man wandered from table to table, sharing stories about Vietnam with unwilling listeners.
“He was freaking people out and I had to throw him out,” Landers said.
And although patronage rises in the warmer months, especially at bars with patios, tipping percentages remain constant, said Raphael Lavine, a bartender at Sgt. Preston’s.
“I think people are either good tippers or bad tippers,” Lavine said, “and it doesn’t matter what season it is.”