Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) to go from bar to bar, drinking and investigating the social possibilities; thus barhopper n., one who bar hops; barhop n., the act of moving from bar to bar.

1950		Waterloo (IA) Daily Courier 2/4: At midnight, the clock of St. Louis cathedral tolled the official end of a crazy-gay day of multi-hued parades, gay and whirling waltzes, indiscriminate kissing, and plain bar-hopping.
1954		Chronicle-Telegram (Elyria, OH) 22/2: The latest ‘spectacular’ plans at NBC-TV include a program titled ‘The Wide, Wide World’, a 90-minute spread that will pick up scenes from all over the country, including [...] bar hopping in New Orleans’ famous French Quarter and various other pursuits in various other interesting spots.
1963		M. Spillane Return of the Hood 8: The tourists kept to the Gay White Way [...] clubbing, bar-hopping or taking in a show.
1974		V.E. Smith Jones Men 61: I’m just bar-hopping, you know.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 150: Servicemen in civvies beginning an evening of barhopping.
1987		S. King Misery (1988) 233: It’s sort of hard to go bar-hopping when you’ve a couple of broken legs.
1998		L. Stringer Grand Central Winter (1999) 156: Sodden barhoppers slouching along everywhere else.
1998		P. Cornwell Point of Origin (1999) 152: One minute a zombie and bar-hopping the next.
2002		‘Bar Hop List’ at AngelesCity.com 🌐 A number of us decided to go out to the Club Rio for the afternoon barhop.
2008		R. Price Lush Life 39: Three whites males, after a couple of hours barhopping, last stop Cafe Berkmann on Rivington and Norfolk .