If you’ve been a student at SUNY Cortland, for more than 2 semesters, chances are you have celebrated your birthday here, but if you’ve been here for a few years chances are you have already or will be celebrating your 21st birthday here! If so, here’s everything you need to know to ensure you make the most of your 21st.
First and foremost, you want to make sure that on the night of your 21st, you clear your schedule, grab some friends and go to the bars. Whether it be the Red Jug Pub, Woody’s Pub or Dark Horse Tavern, you want to make it to at least one out of the three bars on Main street for your first legal night out!
If you are looking for a casual fun night, I’d recommend Woody’s Pub since they’re outdoor lounge area and seating options make it a much more comfortable place to drink and talk with friends. On the other hand, if you prefer to dance while drinking with friends, Dark horse is the bar for you! Yet if you and your friends are looking to make the most of your birthday, I’d highly recommend Red Jug Pub (my personal favorite bar here!)
If you are fortunate enough to be able to go to Red Jug on your 21st birthday, be prepared to be spoiled because Red Jug celebrates birthdays a little differently than the other bars do. Firstly, you get a free birthday shot (which has sprinkles in it) along with a free drink in a reusable cup you get to keep. You also get a necklace with the Jug Logo on it as well as their iconic mascot’s devil horns! The bartenders also announce your birthday to the whole bar, so everyone can cheer for you and some locals may even feel inclined to send you a shot/drink as a birthday gift.
Red Jug Pub also offers a shuttle service from Thursdays until Saturdays, 8pm-2pm. This ‘Jug Bus’ offers to drive people from the bar to their homes and is an especially appreciated service during the winter months when it is far too cold to walk home. In case you find yourself in a situation that calls for it, the number for the Jug shuttle is (607)423-3459.
Red Jug, Woody’s and Dark Horse also all offer t-shirt ‘challenges’ where you have to finish a certain number of drinks within an hour to earn a t-shirt of your choosing. At Red Jug the t-shirts are $35, and you have to drink either 4 vodka lemonades or beers within an hour to earn any of the 10 shirts they have posted on the wall each with a unique and fun design. Woody’s does the same kind of thing for $35, except instead of 4 drinks it is 2 bigger sized drinks that in my mind equal 4 regular sized drinks. At Dark however they give out huge Las Vegas style drinks that are enough to last you the entire night!
On my 21st birthday, which was September 2nd of this year (labor day), I was lucky enough to have had the day off from classes and work allowing me to spend my night in Red Jug and in addition to the birthday drinks, the cup, devil horns, and the necklace, I also received 2 shots and a drink from different locals who happened to also be in the bar when I went in. I wasn’t expecting anything else for free since I already got my birthday things from Red Jug, but the kindness of the locals made my birthday feel so much more special than it already was. I was so grateful for the night I had at Red Jug because it truly was the best birthday I have ever had, especially here at SUNY Cortland.