He Likes the Warm Feeling but He’s Tired of all the Dehydration

So the day after the bridge run weekend I had the NCAA Championship game in which my favorite team the North Carolina Tar Heels were playing. UNC would end up losing one of the better Championship games I’ve seen on a last second shot. And being the second best team in the nation is quite an accomplishment. And as proud as I was of the team, sitting at the Upper Deck with a full keg of Holy City Pluff Mud Porter made the end result a little bit easier to swallow. A couple pints later and an Uber ride and I was tucked in bed to sleep off a solid couple days of drinking.  

My wife’s job makes her hours week to week change. So after that Monday she was working early in the morning every day. That, coupled with the long weekend of celebration, made me take some time off. But she was going to go out of town and leave me to my own devices that weekend. So Friday when she left town I was left to find activities on my own. However even by Friday staying in and watching Netflix seemed like a better idea than venturing out into the jungle that is the bar scene in Charleston on a Friday night. I instead made plans to meet with some friends Saturday afternoon at Holy City Brewing. My friend Brandon who I occasionally DJ with had grown up in New York and is a Syracuse fan. We put a bet of a couple beers on the game. My friend Amy and her children were also going to meet us out there.

Holy City is really great in that there is stuff for parents to do (eat really nice food, drink even better beer, and watch sporting events on their TV’s) while also being kid friendly where a little bit older children can enjoy themselves (corn hole, live music, and basketball games). They have a wide variety of beer, some of which you can’t find in the store, along with selling some bottles of very limited edition run beers. I made my way up to the bar and ordered a “S’more of the World”. This was an American Imperial Double Stout finished with a fire kissed marshmallow.

My friend Sarah who was working there looked at me and my friend Brandon and said “oh, what a manly beer,” and then got us our beer. And I’ll admit it, it looked really odd for two very large gentlemen (Brandon is about 6’3, I’m 6’6) drink small glasses of beer with a marshmallow in it. But do you know what, it was so delicious that we didn’t care. My friend Amy got a “Washout Wheat” for herself and got her kids a glass of the homemade pineapple soda. I then proceeded to talk a bunch of smack to Amy’s kids while playing them in corn hole and basketball. Just kidding, they were totally better than me at both events.

Over the next three hours I also tried the “Holy City Pilsner” which was also great. There were plenty of other “big” beers that I wanted to try but I had driven. I envied the customers that were being driven around on brewery tours in party buses. Still, there is no greater Saturday afternoon this time of year than spending some time with friends, supporting a local business, and being outside in just perfect weather.  

Another nice surprise was that “The Cake Farmer” was at the brewery. Apparently she reads my blog. She makes a “Salty Pluff Mud Pie” with Holy City’s Pluff Mud Porter. She gave me a small pie to try out. And wow was it fantastic. My wife is a big baker and I knew that I had to save her some of it. She was also blown away with it. Apparently Holy City and The Cake Farmer are going to start selling the pie at the brewery soon. But you can also find her at local farmers markets. Pro-tip: if you’re out and you see her selling her cakes and pies make sure to buy one. You’re significant other will be on cloud nine. And if you don’t have to share, even better!

That night I spent some time at the Night Bazaar on King St.  There I sampled food from vendors along with the bourbon from High Wire distilling.  It was a pretty interesting experience, including a really good DJ set from DJ Jeff Turner.

The rest of my weekend was pretty low key and was spent getting supplies for my daughter’s birthday party, getting ready for the Prom at the Upper Deck, and cleaning my house. But Tuesday was going to be another adventure.

Tuesday I was attending a bachelorette party for my friend Apryl. Apryl had worked at Jack’s Cafe when Jack still worked there. She became a good friend over the years with us both visiting each other’s place of employment. Eventually we would end up even taking trips together and having a lot of fun over the years. Now the group of ladies that all worked at Jack’s were all a close group. And they are also crazy people, in the best way possible. So I met up with them for Apryl’s bar crawl. I met up with them on the back porch of the Kickin’ Chicken. There we polished off a couple of Kickin’ Chickens signature cocktails and local beers.

From there we hit a couple more bars before ending up at the Recovery Room where a daylight dance party ensued. Someone along the way had given Apryl a water gun which resulted in some funny moments. It was a really fun time. I’m not sure that I stuck 100% to the local drinking challenge I must admit. When you’re picking up tabs for multiple people sometimes you go with the thrifty option. But I tried to make sure that I got at least one local beer at each bar.

The rest of the week has been pretty low key. I’ve been so busy hosting events that I haven’t had time to explore more breweries. But before this is out I’ll get to more. Much to my liver’s chagrin.