I’m sitting in the early-evening chill on the outdoor patio of Maxwell’s Plum at the corner of Grafton and Sackville.

This pub, like many others, is notched into mercilessly hilly Halifax, a beautiful Nova Scotia city, where, for some etymological reason, natives of the city are called Haligonians.

I’m here to explore this harbour city for the very first time. What better way to get a sense of Halifax than checking out its many, many pubs?

Maxwell’s Plum

Nothing is a long walk in this compact city. A hard walk, sure, owing to the steepish slope from the breathtaking Citadel section, sweeping down to Halifax Harbour.

And a hard walk engenders thirst, so what better place to slake it than Maxwell’s Plum, a classic English pub of dark, woody design.

Immediately, a decision must be made: Maxwell’s is home to 60 choices of draft beer and more than 120 bottled varieties.

I go with a Garrison Irish Red, sipping the cold froth while looking over the Halifax skyline and noticing there are no less than a dozen watering holes all within easy staggering distance.

I realize this story will mean tough, liver-quaking research. But hey, somebody’s gotta do it.

Funnies at the Foggy Goggle

Another great local bar is the Foggy Goggle on bar-intensive Argyle Street, dark, decidedly low key and respectably full on a Monday night with comics making funny: some very much so, some falling completely flat.

But they are all appreciated, never heckled. It's my first (but certainly not the last) bits of proof that Halifax really is polite.

I enjoy the Goggle signature drink, the Bitter Apple, which was accidentally concocted one day when someone spilled Propeller Bitter into some McAuslan Bitter Cider. Tasty accident, that.

More Laughs

In search of more yuks with my liquor, I head over to Jokers on Spring Garden Road, which I’d heard about in a typical bit of Halifax serendipity that I only believe because it actually happened to me.

Earlier in the day, I’d stopped by My Nova Scotia Heart, a lovely gift shop/café in Glen Haven and happened across Anthony Smith working there. He co-owns Jokers, and invited me to check out his joint.

So I go, enjoying some beers and laughs at this comedy club, including from one guy I’d seen the other night at Foggy Goggle who wasn’t as funny then but is killing them here with the same routine.

Different audiences are like living, breathing organisms, it seems, each blessedly unique.

Bearly’s House of Blues and Ribs is also not to be missed. It was here on my third night in town, I saw the same comic I’d seen two nights in a row earlier.

Amazing coincidence, but not in small-town/big-city Halifax, it seems.

Bearly’s is a fabled blues bar and on weekends, it hosts the best of the province’s blues talent. And the beer’s fantastic.

Another can’t miss is the more upscale Durty Nelly’s, which has a franchise feel but not in an off-putting way. It’s a half city-block big, wide open, woody, with gargantuan bar fashioned in two giant segments.

They’re quick and heavy on the pour here, a terrific place to hoist a pint of Guinness and listen to the fiddler and guitar players I enjoy this night.

Live Music Everywhere You Go

Everyone, it seems, is a musician in Halifax, and I find a handful of great ones at the Old Triangle Alehouse on Prince Street.

I’ve been advised that the Old Triange as a place of older folks where conversation and music can be enjoyed in consort.

It is a place of Celtic bent; signs tout Guinness, Jameson, Bushmills, and banners abound of the Belfast Giants and Omagh Town Football Club. It is a glorious place of green ceilings and amber pints.

Impromptu is the musical order this night, with five musicians beautifully brandishing Irish instruments, including the tin whistle, button accordion and fiddle.

The Celtic cadence they create is a happy accompaniment to the conversational din throughout the pub.

Halifax’s Evening Energy

After all this, I realize Halifax by night is a mix of good booze, great music and tremendous kinship, a magical mingling that is the heart of one of Canada’s great cities.

This eminently elegant city’s nocturnal energy is fueled by the mostly young. Middle-agers like me can only feed from it as best we can, marvelling at the boundless levels we once enjoyed at their age.

As I leave the Old Triangle, I’m filled with a mix of melancholy and exhaustion, but I sleep well that night (at the superb Four Points Sheraton).

Perhaps it’s best to leave the late nights to others better equipped chronologically to handle it.

Stay tuned for Part Two of Paul's chronicles, as he checks out Halifax's art scene.