Description: Ballard's the Sexton is a lounge and restaurant in the spot formerly occupied by Madame K's, a pizzeria outfitted with universal signifiers of aimless lust: dusky red color schemes, feather boas. (According to legend, the space was a brothel in the 1800s, though it's probably bullshit: There are no real source citations, and the building wasn't even constructed until 1906.) The Sexton's interior is whitewashed and gorgeously beat up, with hewn wood, glass jars, and wallpaper patterned with stark birch tree. A sculpture blends antlers and boom-box parts, and the bar top is an arrangement of cassette tapes floating in a thick plastic glaze.

What else: Sexton is owner Amber's surname, but it's also a church-appointed cemetery caretaker whose solemn chore list includes grave digging, bell ringing, song chanting, and body burying, which sounds like the perfect gig for lone-wandering, heavy-metal stoner types.

Happy hours: Tues–Sun 5–7 pm.

Happy-hour drink specials: $1 off drafts ($4 Georgetown Porter, $4 Hale's Ales Kölsch); $2 off wine ($4 Duck Pond Cellars chardonnay); $2 off cocktails (the $6 Veiled Wheel has currant-and-coriander-infused vodka, Lillet, and lime cordial).

Worth noting: Tons of bourbon, including Four Roses, Buffalo Trace, and a dozen other choices.

Happy-hour food specials: $1 off each item on the menu of small-plate, Southern-inspired wonderments ($10 pan-fried pork chops and applesauce, $7 buttermilk-fried chicken, $5 hush puppies with roasted-red-pepper aioli).