If You Live in The Bay Area or Are Visiting, You Need to Check Out This Bar, Immediately!

C.R. Pattison
3 min readJan 17, 2020

The Bar That Gave Me Confidence

Photo by Sérgio Alves Santos on Unsplash

When most people think about the Bay Area, they think about San Francisco, or if they are “woke.” Then they will probably think about Oakland, but this little bar is not in San Francisco or Oakland. No, this unique little-to-medium size bar is in a small-town city east of San Francisco, about 20 miles outside of Oakland, called by the quaint name Walnut Creek.

You’ve probably never heard Walnut Creek. That’s okay because all you need to know is that it is a small city with a small city feel and a kick-ass bar. The bar’s name, Bourbon Highway. Unlike most bars and clubs in the bay area, its pretty true to its name, and its not a bar run and ruined by the tech invaders of Silicone Valley. .It’s a bar for the residents and respectful visitors of the East Bay. Its duality of country hospitality and Bay Area party style, its a must go for someone looking for a good time. This bar has things for everyone: beer, cocktails, and the widely popular white claws. The bar also has an extensive array of wine and, most importantly, a massive selection of hard liquor and whiskeys.

The bar fun doesn’t there though, if you’re into some small-town fun to get away from the bustle of San Francisco, then Bourbon Highway has it! The bar is practically a two-story adult fun-land. A sizeable long bar on the first floor, and a wide-open second-floor loaded with a spacious dance floor and some damn good beer-pong tables. Bourbon Highway has things going all week and weekend long, so there is always something fun to fit in your schedule. On Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, Bourbon Highway has “free Line Dance Lessons featuring the Bourbon Babes 9:00–10:00 followed by open dance,” with one of their resident deejays. The activities don’t stop there; on Tuesdays, Bourbon Highway hosts country swing dance lessons with official dancing afterward, on top of $5 whiskey shots. Wednesdays Bourbon Highway hosts a Karaoke dance party, on top of $5 whiskey shots and $0.50 chicken wings.

For me, this bars a little bit more than just cheap wings and decent beer, this bar helped me do something, not beer, nor money could help me do. This bar showed me confidence, real confidence, not just drunk beer induced spirit that fades away within about six hours after you drink it, No real courage. Several months before writing this, I would go to Bourbon highway just for either a drink or to try my shot at some line dancing (which I was terrible at). After my friend and I started to attend the line dancing lessons more, we naturally got a little better. Still, we were not great or, by any means, able to impress anyone.

My friend and I kept going and going, then eventually after a few months we got pretty good, mostly because of the kind and helpful people a bourbon highway. The teachers and frequent attendees are a big part of this success. The teachers and loyal patrons at bourbon are super helpful and motivating, and most importantly, they build you up and make you feel welcomed. When I started to line dance, the teacher made it so simple and broke down the mechanics of the dance, and when we were practicing, the veteran dancers were always encouraging and helped you through the choreography. These small but straightforward act help gain the confidence I needed to help go further in life, and they made me feel like an integral patron of the weekly event with their actions. If it sounds too good to be true, you should try it out yourself there are weekly lessons at 9 P.M. every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

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C.R. Pattison

Bay Area-based writer and content creator. Focusing on media and politics