More to life than just craft breweries....
And, that, of course, would be
fine dining.
Actually, at the Piccolo Finale in Hampton Park last Saturday, I opted to stand in line for two hotdogs.
Naturally, I saw the bacon sign and did head toward that food truck.
But, instead, I was swayed by the other sign that said $5 for a hot dog, chips and a cola.
I am aware that a hot dog has never topped the list of healthy foods so I instead got two BRATS, packets of mustard and sweet pickle relish and some Fritter Corn Chips.
I didn't need a beverage.
My small cache of cold beer sat at my feet as I relaxed in my folding chair.
I looked around and straight ahead was a fellow wearing not only a
Holy City Brewing Company t-shirt but one that featured the very beer I was sipping.
I tried to get MY beer in the same shot with the
Chucktown Follicle Brown design he had on his back.
But, my arm wasn't long enough to include both items, zoom in and keep all of it in focus.
So I snapped this and resumed concentrating on my beer.
And enjoyed scanning the crowd sprawled on blankets, in chairs, and wandering all around me.
It appeared that each lady tending to a baby was also very pregnant.
That would be having twins the hard way.
Some childhood memories flooded my brain.
Children were tossing pieces of white bread to the gathered ducks in a nearby pond.
We have photos of my younger brother at Hampton Park doing that when he was about 7 or 8 years old.
I can't recall but Mom must have brought along a half-filled loaf of stale bread in its wrapper for just that purpose.
Nice memory.
Overhead, I saw half a dozen confused seagulls flapping and circling us overhead.
Guess they are not limited to the beaches or the last few K-Mart shopping centers parking lots, fighting over discarded bags of French fries.
This starry-eyed youngster was in line for some hot dogs.
I think she was giving me the eye as I raised my camera to snap this scene.
Hard to tell for sure though with her sunglasses covering her eyes.
I believe the Mom bought the $5 Special, aware that she would have to share.
Or, maybe she bought two Specials.
That's what I would have done, with leftovers for each.
My brats tasted good and two was about right for me.
Well, for now.
We were in the back of most of the crowd, facing the large tent that was the main stage.
The opening group played as we were getting settled and then, a large band - from Louisiana - started setting up.
To my right, by the pond and bridge, I saw a young man and his date. sitting on two of the 250 MUSC colorful rental bikes.
They had been recently donated to the city and proudly nicknamed
Holy Spokes.
These are really high-tech and apparently, you use your SmartPhone to log into an onboard computer to open your two-wheeler account.
Believe I read it's $8 for an hour (hope they aren't paying that all afternoon!) but also can be rented for 15-days or even a month at a time.
The best part - if needed - is it can be located and recovered using its GPS chip.
Handy for the police or for a forgetful rider/renter.
There WAS a booth selling beer which surprised me at a city function.
But I had brought a few cans of a beer I liked just in case.
The sun was shining, the shade was provided by the ample trees, and there was a nice steady cooling breeze (no bugs!).
I eased on back, enjoying the Cajun Indie band singing in French with at least 5 or 6 band members on stage.
Speaking of the band
Sweet Crude, here is a photo I snapped of the two leaders, Alexis Marceaux and Sam Craft, as they were performing.
Agreed, not a great shot, but it was taken from my seat at the back of the crowd!
This would not be hard for a fancy - and expensive - DSLR with its array of lenses.
But I snapped this with my $200 Canon camera that is very lightweight and small enough to fit into my shirt pocket.
Yes, I usually have it with me and enjoy its 20x zoom lens. This shot was about 40x zoom, combining optical and digital elements.
I did walk over for a closer view earlier and noted the parquet wooden dance floor that had been set up in front of the stage, along with several rows of black folding metal chairs.
That would be handy if you forgot your blanket or a folding beach chair.
And, since beer was being sold, looks like everything was well thought out and covered.
Hmmmm. Too late to get me another bratwurst.
(Click on the photos and links for more details.)
Bet you're glad I didn't talk about craft breweries again.
Well, there's always tomorrow....
and my re-visit to Revelry Brewing Company.
The outside entertainment was provided by Lorra Amos of
Sunflowers and Sin,
Labels: #Revelry Brewing, bratwurst, Chucktown Follicle Brown, confused seagulls, feeding the ducks, Hampton park, Holy Spokes rental bikes, Lorra Amos, Piccolo Festival, starry-eyed kid, Sunflowers and Sin
Two Sets of Three...so far
Some know that I started growing a beard last year.
Movember to be exact. That's the month that a mustache is grown to show support for a worthy cause - awareness of men's health issues.
If you have not seen my moustache AND beard, here is a photo of what it looks like.
No, not really.
That actually is me standing behind a cut out of the distinctive photo on the label of a popular beer made by
Holy City Brewing Company.
It is called
Chucktown Follicle Brown and the cut-out that beckons you to poke your face through is at the brewery on Dorchester Road.
This was one of the three places visited Saturday on another rousing, brave but cheerful, Brewery Mini-Crawl.
There are several other clusters I plan to visit.
Cheerful because it was time to visit a trio of craft beer-making places.
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and my camera and I were among happy, cheerful people, chugging some fine tasting beers.
Looks like some breweries serve food so children are allowed to be there.
I saw lots of families enjoying an offbeat pre-Easter outing.
To wisely sample the offerings of many beers it pays to be sensible.
At each place, I looked over the menu and selected four small "samples" of the brewmaster's product by a particular brewing company.
Moderation in moderation.
Here I chose 2 dark stout and porter beers and two lighter ones:
Notorious Hen, an American Porter with a BBQ Rub; Fancy Stout with sweetteeth caramel added; Smells Like Rick, bourbon barrel aged and Kate the Great, red wine barrel aged.
While sipping and tasting, I saw a lady with a 4-glass flight, taking a sip of each glass in rotation so all four were now half-filled.
Hmm. Kind of defeating the whole tasting concept.
Might as well pour all four mixed together in a pint glass!
Looking to my right I saw a colorful, catchy mural by the artist Patch Whisky.
There was a sizable crowd this afternoon at the bar and I could not avoid having a man's head included in the lower left of the mural.
Not my best ever use of the clone app of Photoshop, but I did try to eliminate the fellow. If you can't see what I did there, I am sure the artist would have issues.
Let's just not tell him and keep this among ourselves. Thanks. Whew.
Hoping the get a view of the Ashley River before sunset, we headed over to nearby one-year-old
FreeHouse Brewing Company.
Known for its nice deck, picnic tables and spectacular sunsets on the river, it also prides itself on producing all organic craft brews.
Our friendly bartender showed a Thursday sunset photo she had phone snapped and I recalled it had
been a cloudy sky which usually adds bright colors to the end of the day.
Looking out past the tall, silvery beer vats and the bar, I saw it was a lackluster kind of sky so just sat at the bar and tried a 4-glass flight.
The organic beers I sipped included a Green Door IPA, the HooDoo Imperial Stout, Lucky Oyster Stout and a Battery Brown Ale.
These four 4 oz glasses held enough to really savor the taste, yet kept total consumption to a minimum.
Being an older native Charlestonian, I can remember when the Fox Music store was downtown on the corner of King and Beaufain Streets.
My 1950s high school buddies and I would go in to browse the vinyl records.
Then we'd select one or two albums and walk down the squeaky wood floor, enter one of several glass enclosed booths and play the record on a turntable. Some dancing often happened.
I had left town by the time it closed and moved out to 3005 West Montague Avenue.
Part of their building in the back was used to store pianos but, after a lot of work, that space was opened three weeks ago as the
Rusty Bull Brewing Company, in Suite 110.
I peeked through the window in the front door and stepped in to be part of the "soft opening."
The Official grand opening is set for May 6. I like one of their slogans:
"We make it. You drink it."
I chatted with the two Co-Founders, heavy-bearded Ben Mayer and Brian Bogstad.
As usual, I ordered a flight so I could sample some but, instead of four, a fifth was added.
As the menu board on the wall behind the bar stated, right now they only make five offerings so they threw in the 5th to give me ALL of today's taste options!
Here is a shot of the menu on the wall of beers offered but many more will be added by the May 6 Grand Opening, Ben assured me.
Reason enough for me to swing by again. And again.
I saw something new being offered at these breweries.
I was used to seeing a large dark colored glass 64-oz Growler that can be filled and sealed (no open container in your car).
The new item is a Crowler. a 32-oz metal container that is sealed with a flip-top so you can conveniently - and legally - take two pints home.
Currently, they are closed Sunday and Monday, but that is subject to change.
(Click on the images and links for more details.)
This is only the second mini-Brewery Crawl. As more are added, this could turn into a long-term writing odyssey!
That would be cool.
Labels: Brewery mini-Crawl, Chucktown Follicle Brown, FREEHOUSE Organic Beer, Growlers and Crawlers., Holy City Brewing Company, Rusty Bull
I didn't need a beverage.
Guess they are not limited to the beaches or the last few K-Mart shopping centers parking lots, fighting over discarded bags of French fries.
