There's nothing quite like working hard from 9 to 5, then heading out to a bar and blowing half your day's pay on booze and mozzarella sticks. You can't put a price on mental health, though, which must be why they call it "Happy Hour.”

According to the Wikipedia entry on Happy Hour, the tradition comes from the Prohibition Era, when people would go get super drunk at speakeasies before having dinner at restaurants that were barred from serving alcohol. Thus the term "pre-gaming" was born. 

But that's it for your history lesson.

Maybe we don't have it quite as tough as they did back then, but we still deserve to treat ourselves every once in a while, responsibly of course. Let's just be thankful that we don't have to worry about going to prison if our waiter smells beer on our breath. 

So whether you're happy to be out with friends, happy to finally be off work after a tough day, or just happy to even have a job from which to be off, here are the five best places to celebrate Happy Hour in Lutherville-Timonium:

5) Hightopps Backstage Grille

This Timonium staple doesn't offer much in the way of happy hour specials, specifically, but it makes up for it by running an awesome deal every Friday until 7pm: $1 domestic drafts. That alone is worth a spot on this list.

4) Piv's Pub

Every week day from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Piv's serves up $2 domestic bottles, $2.25 drafts, $4.25 house wines and $3.25 rail drinks.

3) FiVe

This place likes to keep things fresh by running a different special every day, though you'll find $2 domestic bottles are a permanent fixture. Happy Hour here runs Monday through Friday, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., and features diverse deals such as half-priced appetizers on Mondays and a $5 "Martini of the Day" on Thursdays, for example.

2) Chili's

To get the best happy hour deals, you really have to go corporate. Chili's offers $2.25 draft beers, $3.99 margaritas and a host of app specials including $2.99 fried cheese and $4.99 burger bites. Drink specials run all day Monday through Thursday and until 6 p.m. on Friday. Appetizer specials run from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. every weekday, and again from 9 p.m. to close Monday to Thursday.

1) Applebee's

Applebee's takes the cake for running its happy hour specials seven days a week, 3 p.m to 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. to close. The early happy hour features $3 drafts, $3 margaritas, $3 Long Islands and discounted appetizers. The real draw, though, lies in the late night happy hour, which includes specials on basically everything behind the bar: $5  Jaeger bombs, $3 tequila shots, $2.50 domestic bottles, just to name a few. It may not be the cheapest place on the list, but the variety of specials should make just about everyone happy.