Dressed up for the holidays

Here's the list, with more details about the bars than USA TODAY had room for:

Cork & Kerry
Chicago, Illinois

A trip to the Cork and Kerry Pub on Chicago's Far South Side during the holidays is like a visit to the decorated department store windows in midtown Manhattan -- except the beer is better. As unlikely as it may sound, this is a bar you should take your kids to. Not late at night, and not when the cigar smokers are holding sway, but at a civilized hour when they can spend time gazing in astonishment at the hundreds of Christmas decorations.

Although the bar was gutted by a fire last December, and all its decorations were destroyed, it reopened this November in time for co-owner Chad Weiler to begin decorating for this Christmas. (Note: Our descriptions here are based on previous visits, but Weiler had many duplicates. We plan to visit just before Christmas and will provide new photos then.)

The new displays officially open to the public the day after Thanksgiving. "Christmas is a passion for me," Weiler said. He first decorated the two-room pub in 1987, starting with a snow scene above the bar. Today, visitors come from throughout the Chicago area to marvel at the displays, which include more than 80 moving figures.

Santa's elves build toys in his workshop. The pages of a Christmas coloring book open and close. A Papa Mouse nods, snowmen spin, skaters twirl. Fixtures that formerly held ceiling fans have become bases for rotating displays, one with gingerbread figures, another with the cast of "A Charlie Brown Christmas," a third with carolers and still another with a choir. Shiny metal ornaments hang from the tin ceiling and sway delicately in the breeze created by ceiling fans. Candy canes glitter from strings of gold beads that loop down from the top of the back bar. And of course, lights twinkle everywhere.

Weiler's favorite display features two skiers who sail down a hill and climb back on a chairlift, their path taking up a good portion of the ceiling. "That has to be the favorite for everybody," he said. "When it's not working, I really hear about it." Such an elaborate setup requires some skill to maneuver around. "They have everything so wired up back here, I'm afraid to touch anything for what I might turn off," a bartender once remarked.

After Weiler spends all of November decorating the bar, the spirit usually moves him to begin building more decorations for the next year. Problem is, he has run out of room, and no matter what he considers removing, it will be loved by somebody.

The bar, located in the working-class Beverly neighborhood where boys grow up dreaming of becoming Notre Dame football players, also happens to have one of the best beer gardens anywhere. When everything isn't covered with Christmas decorations, the combination of woody, Irish pub atmosphere, tin ceiling and Chicago and sports memorabilia make it a postcard tavern. The 20 draught choices include a mixture of mainstream and craft beers. In December many of the taps pour -- you guessed it -- Christmas beers.

North Star Pub
New York, New York

Nobody celebrates Boxing Day better than the North Star. First, a quick backgrounder: This isn't a celebration of pugilism, it's a British holiday that dates back to feudal times. In olden days, the feudal lords would distribute clothes and food to the tenant farmers on this day. The custom evolved and Dec. 26 became the traditional day for servants and underlings to receive boxed gifts, hence "boxing." It's also the Feast of St. Stephen.

At the North Star, the day begins at 10:30 a.m. with the Rev. Larry McCormick conducting St. Stephen's Day Mass using the bar as an altar. That lasts about an hour, and then the silliness starts. Those lucky enough to squeeze their way inside the bar are handed a Christmas cracker, a toy you crack open to receive a small prize and paper hat. You must wear the hat to order a beer.

Visitors to South Street Seaport often stop and press their noses to the windows to see what's going on inside. Revelers cheer those participating in the yard-of-ale contest and munch on free, excellent bangers and mash. While there a few years ago, we heard a patron say in a stage whisper, "I hope I don't run into anybody from Yorkshire," as he plowed into a friend obviously from Yorkshire, England.

Those who bring clothing and tinned food to be donated to a shelter receive a certificate good for a free pint of one of the eight British draughts that always seem particularly fresh here. The pub also boasts one of the nation's best single-malt whisky menus, with more than 70 to choose from.

Eccentric Cafe
Kalamazoo, Mich.

This is the taproom for Kalamazoo Brewing Co., which makes Bell's beers. Beer lovers from all over the Midwest show up annually for Eccentric Day (Dec. 8 this year), when Eccentric Ale -- a spicy, high octane beer -- is brewed for next year and the Eccentric Ale brewed one year ago goes on tap for one day only.

The doors open at 8 a.m. and close around 2 a.m. The place will be packed with people who on this day don't care how rich the person next to them is, what kind of car she drives or who he voted for. Beer gets to prove it's a truly democratic beverage.

Patrons put on makeup, dress outlandishly and eat strange food. Halloween meets Christmas.

Toronado
San Francisco, Calif.

West Coast microbreweries make a wide range of winter beers, and this is the best place to find them. Beer is the star here -- a chalkboard with the day's selections hangs high, like the toteboard in a bookie's parlor. Forty-five draft beers to choose from, great bottle selection, all in the heart of Haight-Ashbury.

Falling Rock Tap House
Denver, Colo.

If there's a special brew in Colorado, and often any place else west of the Mississippi, you'll probably find it here. It can be crowded at the bar, where there are 69 beers on tap, but cozier in couches on the other side of the room or downstairs.

Great Lost Bear
Portland, Maine

The Christmas lights never come down here, but plenty of holiday decorations are added to the flea market motif. The "12 Beers of Christmas" celebration actually includes many more then 12 holiday beers from the 65 taps, because no bar in the country does a better job of showcasing regional breweries. Decorated with old advertising, movie and magic posters, lots of Maine memorabilia, etched glass and breweriana, visiting the Bear feels like going home for the holidays.

Fred's Rivertown Ale House
Snohomish, Wash.

Santa will show up Dec. 13 at this classic storefront tavern. There'll be a Yule log video on the TV and Deschutes Brewery from Oregon will be serving two vintages of its Jubelale winter beer. Fred's, which has 32 beers on tap and an adventurous menu, fits perfectly on an old-fashioned street in a small town that's an antique shopper's paradise.

Griswold Inn
Essex, Conn.

Essex epitomizes "Christmas in Connecticut," and the Griswold Inn, once a stagecoach and steamboat stop, opened its doors for business in 1776. The beer isn't spectacular, but the taproom is even older than the bar, there's a pot-bellied stove, usually a fire in the fireplace, temperance posters on the walls and a terrific gothic steamboat bar.

Green Leafe Cafe
Williamsburg, Va.

Like the rest of Williamsburg, the Green Leafe dresses up for a colonial Christmas. The 30 beers on tap emphasize regional products, and the handpumped (cask-conditioned) ale is a throwback to less carbonated times.

Humpy's Great Alaskan Ale House
Anchorage, Alaska

The employees hang stockings on the bar here, but the focus is on the beer (40-plus on tap, mostly regional, and a large bottle menu). There will be plenty of winter warmers and barley wines to help you through those interminable hours of darkness, plus special tappings -- like three vintages of Pyramid Snow Cap Ale available at the same time. They print a new beer menu here every night, even previewing what's due up when the next keg blows.