DEC 5, 2024 | FEATURES | By Izzy Roe and Megan Burich
This week, we decided to visit some local breweries where we were each spending our Thanksgivings: Pawleys Island, S.C., and Duluth, Minn. In Pawleys Island, Megan and her dad Buzz hit “Southern Hops” in Murrells Inlet:
“Southern Hops seemed to be an old-person meeting ground, like most places on the coast in South Carolina. We were blessed with being there right before trivia began, which really brought the vibes to this sleepy little brewery. As for the beer: they had delightfully fruity IPAs, like the “Permanent Staycation,” with notes of passionfruit and guava and their Blood Orange IPA.” Generally, these more “bitter beers” were not packing as much of a punch as some IPAs Megan has had in Colorado. Their West Coast IPA was very chill, which Megan says is uncommon.
Since Buzz’s favorite beers are a Coronas with lime, an Asahi dry on draft and the Belgian beer, Westmalle — like what? This whole experience was out of his comfort zone. He opted for two beer flights instead; do not worry, we still got drunk. We tried their Citrus Wheat, which was delightful and very refreshing. It was almost as if you were sniffing lemon rind as you sipped on a blonde ale. In Buzz’s poetic words, “Oh that’s fun.” We also tried their Imperial Pumpkin Ale, which was surprisingly delightful and boozy. We were expecting a sweeter, more pumpkin spice-forward beer, like the pumpkin kittens we tried a few weeks ago, but instead, it was more focused on the pumpkin itself. Squash-flavored beer, if you will.
To close it out, we also tried their blonde, Goldilocks and a boring wheat ale. These were uneventful, nothing special, and probably sent us over the edge from being drunk to blacking out. Megan was tasked with making the pumpkin cheesecake that night for Thanksgiving the next day, but unfortunately, she could not put it together and her mother had to step up. She also had many spirited political conversations with her father, Buzz, and didn’t realize until he brought them up the next day! Overall, Southern Hops happy hour got Megan and her father fucked up for only around $45 (we had like eight beers. It was crazy).
Across the country, Izzy and her dad simultaneously visited a fun little brewery in Minnesota:
We were at Ursa Minor Brewing in Duluth and wanted to follow the theme of out of our comfort zone. We started with my choice of a Hazy called Cadillac Ranch Hand 6.8% ABV, which was a bit out of Robert’s comfort zone lately since he hasn’t liked hazies. This hazy was very hazy but very yummy, and surprisingly, we both really liked it even though Robert said it made him feel very full. This beer was simple and good overall, and, according to Rob, it had a very nice aroma…beer snob.
The next beer we had was Rob’s choice, and it was definitely out of my comfort zone. It was a dark beer called Ewok Cuddles 7% ABV and while I don’t typically love dark beers, this one was goddamn yummy. It was weirdly minty but in a really good way, and this beer awoke something in us to go a little crazy and add half a beer each to this Beer for Babes, so we now have four beers to report on. The next one we had was the Sauna Beer 5% ABV and this was also really yummy. It tasted like you ate a handful of pine needles, but in a really good way.
This is when it took a turn, though, because we were very drunk by the time we got our last beer which was a sour (which Rob hates) BLARGH (I was drunk and forgot to write down the ABV percent), and yet he made the same comment that Megan keeps making when we do sours, which is “wow it’s sour.” No shit guys read the name. Unfortunately, things went off the rails because that was the only note we had written for that beer.
We hope you guys enjoyed this hectic article. We will be back to our regularly scheduled programming next week.