I admit it was on my second visit to Ghost Monkey Brewery in Mount Pleasant that I caught the joke.
Looking over the changing menu of freshly-brewed beers -- trying to remember the name of the one which I had liked so much on my first visit -- I spotted the bold sign about WATER.
Many restaurants with soft drink dispensers usually have one tap for water when you don't care for a sugary, fizzy soda.
Just didn't register until my buddy pointed at the sign and said, "That's funny."
Huh? What's laughable about knowing where to find the water?
Well, in a place that concocts its own types and tastes of craft beers, it produces a chuckle when you see what these brewers think a certain other national beer tastes like.
Actually, when I told the owner I liked his visual joke, he explained he didn't have a Bud Lite pull to sit on top of the tap.
I agreed that anything with "LITE" in its name is hardly a craft brew.
At the second stop along a recent Brewery Crawl -- centering on East Cooper -- I pulled up a stool at Two Blokes Brewery and tried to quickly slurp a Spilt Milk.
Didn't follow the physics exactly, but, similar to an Irish Car Bomb, when you combine two different elements together in a rush, there is an explosive effect.
Here you start with a tasty Milk Stout and a separate 4-ounce glass of coffee.
I was advised to sip some stout to make room to add the coffee for an interesting mixture and taste.
I also was warned there would be an overflowing surprise reaction if I added the coffee too quickly.
(The bartender stood nearby with a handful of paper napkins and a fluffy bar towel.)
He saw the look in my eye and knew there would be some soppin' up to
be done.
The final stop on this Crawl was nearby at Westbrook Brewing Co.
I had taken its excellent brewery tour a while back and remembered it as one of the largest in the area.
Several restaurants offered the Westbrook Mexican Cake, its first anniversary series, that contains aged cocoa nibs, vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks, and fresh habanero peppers.
It is a chili beer, but it is not available year-round.
Evil Twin Brewing liked its contents enough that it collaborated with Westbrook to produce the Imperial Mexican Biscotti Cake Break.
Evil Twin is a gypsy, meaning its beers are brewed at/by another brewery. In this case, Westbrook.
As it was being poured the bartender made sure I knew it was the Biscotti version.
Tasted great!
Westbrook does not sell food so a few nights later I went to Zia Taqueria on Maybank Highway in West Ashley and ordered three enchiladas with chicken, pork and steak.
I probably should have ordered the Mexican rice as a side dish or the black beans to add some variety.
The "Christmas colors" of red and green sauces, drizzled with sour cream, were the reverse of what I expected: the green was hot and the red was milder.
Oh, and no Mexican Cake or Biscotti here so I drank a Dos Equis Amber. Sorry, Westbrook.
Thanks for tagging along on this three brewery area "crawl."
Just heard a new one has opened so I will explore another area where several breweries are clustered.
I believe the number of breweries here in Charleston has quickly grown from a "Baker's Dozen," to Two Dozen!
Look out Asheville!
Chuck Boyd is a retired newspaperman, having served in executive positions for the hospitality and tourism industries in Southern California, Missouri and Florida. He returned to Charleston to serve as InfoLine Director for The Post and Courier.
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