Seven Daysies Awards: Best dive bar, 2024

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Vermont's Independent Voice

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Best dive bar 

Charlie-O's World Famous

Charlie-O's World Famous - JEB WALLACE-BRODEUR
  • Jeb Wallace-Brodeur
  • Charlie-O's World Famous

Charlie-O's World Famous — Charlie-O's has had a hell of a year.

In business since 1976, the grizzled veteran of Vermont dive bars is located in a Montpelier building that's hosted a bar since the Civil War. In the past 12 months, it was hit by twin disasters of fire and water.

First came the July 2023 flooding that devastated the Capital City. Having already survived the Great Flood of 1927, the bar refused to capitulate. Charlie-O's bartenders served drinks outside on the veranda while the old dive was cleaned up by staff and dedicated patrons. By early October, the bar reopened. Then, in the middle of a Halloween show, a fire spread from a neighboring building and the bar was evacuated, closing its doors for seven months.

Like an indefatigable prizefighter, Charlie-O's picked itself up off the mat, bloodied but unbowed. In May, the doors opened once again, welcoming back faithful denizens who missed the pool tables and pinball, the live music and gloriously gritty vibes.

Are there swankier spots to get a drink in town? Sure. But the self-styled "dive for nice people" packs plenty of charm to go with its timeless durability. Come floods, fire or future apocalypse, locals look to Charlie-O's for cold drinks to take the edge off these wild times.

Other Finalists

  • Finnigan's Pub
  • Last Stop Sports Bar
  • The Other Place
  • T. Rugg's Tavern

Previous Winners

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