Late-night happy hours for when you want to keep on drinking

In its simplest, most commonly understood definition, happy hour is a post-workday period when sweaty, middle-aged guys with loosened ties and rolled-up sleeves drink cheap Mai Tais in the fading light of some rundown tiki bar. Okay, even if that’s not entirely true, there are some assumptions baked into the phrase “happy hour.” One is that it almost always lasts two hours, not one. Another is that it takes place immediately after 9-to-5 work hours. However ubiquitous, happy hour has wide-ranging philosophical and political implications. There’s a bourgeois haughtiness to the idea that the standard workday lasts eight hours, from morning until early evening, and that only workers in such positions — frequently white-collar and relatively well compensated — deserve happiness. Until 2024, Pennsylvania law capped happy hour at 14 hours per week, per bar. In July of that year, Governor Josh Shapiro signed a bill extending that to 24 hours, nearly doubling the amount of time people are legally allowed to be happy. This meant that bars and restaurants could offer longer happy hours during the standard window. For the more revolutionarily minded establishments, it also meant they could offer additional happy hours later in the evening, effectively democratizing happiness. I don’t actually know if any of the places below changed their happy hour offerings when the bill passed two years ago. In fact, I know some of them have served discounted late-night drinks for many years. But you aren’t reading this for a well-researched history of how Pittsburgh’s happy hour culture has developed. You’re reading this to learn where you can get a little drunk for a little less money, a little deeper into the evening. Applebee’s 1601 South Braddock Ave., Edgewood. restaurants.applebees.com Daily, 9-11 p.m. As is not uncommon with national chains, Applebee’s has a history of labor violations . But as one 2022 TV ad proves, Pittsburghers have a sof