One of the things we try to do on our "adventures," whether they be a week long, or just a few days, is to keep trying things that are new and/or different to us. But that doesn't stop us from enjoying some of the familiar places, either.

We started out Friday morning by driving around to the other side of Broadway at the Beach, and visiting Ripley's Aquarium. It may not be as large as, say the SC Aquarium in Charleston, but to me is a more enjoyable place to visit. Some of the exhibits change regularly, and some, like the large central shark tank, remain the same, yet still present a wonderful view of undersea life.

As you ride the moving walkway around the bottom of "shark reef," you get the chance to be very close to the denizens of the deep, and you feel like you can almost touch them. Since you're traveling inside a tube, the fish actually swim overhead as well. A nice place to spend an hour or two.

The rain had stopped sometime in the night, and the sun was shining brightly, with the promise of temperatures in the 60's (I almost feel bad for those of you in the midst of Winter Storm Nemo. Almost).

It was still early, so we decided to go to Jamin Leather. This is where Linda got her chaps (for riding her motorcycle). They're very good at helping size them, and trimmed them to fit while we waited. We like to visit every now and then, but I had forgotten that they were moving from their old location on King's Highway, south of Myrtle Beach, to a new location just off the bypass. When we got to the old site, I pulled up their new address, and entered it into the navi.

I had seen on the news that there was a major road-widening project going on around the bypass, but hadn't had the "pleasure" of experiencing it first-hand. While it's a good thing in the long run, and from what the reporters were saying the local store owners support it, it is currently a mess. We followed the navi across from 17 to the bypass, and headed north, right into the middle of the construction. Concrete barricades and cones outnumbered the vehicles, and there were a lot of cars. When the navi told me to "Take the next left turn," I found that there wasn't a turn to take, and traveled another mile to a u-turn, heading back south again. We could see Jamin Leather on the frontage road, but had to pass it by, with the navi system now wanting me to make another go-around. It was stuck in a loop, and would have had us going in circles. We finally found an exit, and worked our way back.

Linda found a new cowboy (cowgirl?) hat, and a shirt or two, and I discovered that they carry the boot style I like for riding. When I need to get my next pair of boots, I'll go back there instead of ordering them online (I'd rather shop local when I can, and support local business. It's just a good idea.).

When we finally got back on the highway headed north, we decided to head downtown and cruise a bit, looking for some place to eat. As we waited at a red light, we looked down the side street and saw
Dirty Don's Oyster Bar, a small place about a block from the ocean.

Parking in back was tight, but manageable, and we headed inside, opting for the bar instead of out on the front porch (still damp from the rain the night before). Patrick the bartender was friendly, and the food was good. It was fried, but done properly, so it wasn't greasy. Linda had just the shrimp, but I went for the shrimp, clam strips and oysters. The fries were fresh, not frozen, and tasted that way.

Nothing special about the beer, but after Patrick fixed a marguerita for another customer, there was a bit left in the blender. He put it in a glass and gave it to Linda. She liked it (I thought we may be there for a while as she had a couple more, but she behaved herself).

Afterwards, it was back to the hotel, where we changed into bathing suits and headed to the pool. The hot tub (shaped like a fish -- cute!) was 104 degrees and felt wonderful, but we couldn't take the entire 15 minute cycle and tried the "heated" pool. After you've raised your body temp in a hot tub, a heated pool doesn't feel heated anymore, so we headed for the room.

We sampled the beer we got from New South yesterday. One beer, then a nap, getting up in time to head out to dinner.

I had already plugged in Gordon Biersch's address in the navi, and despite it's attempts to send us down the bypass straight back into the construction, I forced it to reconsider as we took the business 17 route to Farrow Road and Market Commons, an area that was built on the land that used to be part of the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base that closed in 1993, and is being redeveloped for civilian uses.

As we arrived at the restaurant, it was apparent that parking on the street would be tough to find, so I turned off, and found a couple just leaving, providing us with a space directly across from the front door. We arrived at the end of happy hour, and indeed the patrons in the bar area looked happy. We were taken to our seats immediately (remember -- that's what I like about Myrtle Beach in February -- I'm sure that during the summer, you would have to wait for seating), and when I requested a table rather than a booth, they were very accomodating.

Doris, our waitress, offered samples of their beer, and Linda chose the Golden Export, a light, fresh beer with a hint of fruit finish. I asked for a sample of their seasonal beer, a porter that was dark and rich with a hoppy nose and a coffee finish. We ordered them, and I asked if I could get a taste of their Schwarzbier, a black beer that, while good, didnt' have the body of the porter.

The food was excellent. Linda selected the medallions of beef with the crab-stuffed shrimp, while I chose Lemon Crusted Yellow Tail Sole. Doris took the order, and returned in a few minutes to inform us that the order for the Sole had not arrived today. I opted for the Barbequed Salmon with red onion, fresh baby spinach leaves and ginger rice.

A few minutes later, she came back to present us with the next problem: Linda' steak (rare) was done, but my salmon wasn't. I assured her that it would be better to bring her meal out first rather than ruin the medallions -- rare steak waits for no one! It didn't take much longer for my plate to arrive, and I got the chance to taste her beef. It was much better than the NY Strip I had from Liberty Steakhouse, and Linda said it was better than the prime rib she had eaten the night before.

I have to say, this is a place that we will want to visit again. The food, the beer, and even the professional way they dealt with the problems made it a very pleasant experience.

We had the option to stay another night, but we've decided to head home today. With Myrtle Beach only seventy miles away, we can "run away from home" any given weekend, and we did well on our "Beer Quest," so we accomplished the goals we set for our adventure.

Broadway @ The Beach, Myrtle Beach, SC

Many years ago, when Myrtle Beach was all but shut down during the winter, Linda and I would head down for my "Birthday Weekend," enjoying the lighter traffic, no waiting in restaurants, and lower prices for everything. Walks on the beach, while a bit chilly, are so much better when it's just the two of you, and the hearty souls from the Great White North that think that 50 degree weather is balmy.

Since we won't be making the trip to Daytona this year (scheduling conflicts), we decided to run away from home, back to our Birthday Weekend At The Beach.

When we mentioned this at our favorite watering hole, Southern Hops, Jimmy Deaton suggested we should take the tour at the New South Brewery in Myrtle Beach. Sounds like a plan!

We come down regularly to go to Joe's Crab Shack, usually as a good excuse to get out on the motorcycles and take a day trip. Drive down, enjoy a steam pot of crab, shrimp, andouille sausage and more, walk around a bit to digest, then back to Florence. About two weeks ago, since Linda's knees weren't complaining, we ended up walking further down the row of shops than we normally did, and found Liberty Steakhouse, a micro brewery, and The Tilted Kilt, apparently a chain of quasi-Irish Pub style restaurants, with the servers in tiny kilts and cleavage forming tops -- who can resist?

So a plan began to form. For the first time, instead of staying on the beach, we booked a room at the Hampton at Broadway At The Beach, and planned to try out both of these establishments, take the New South tour, and whatever other touristy thing struck our fancy.

We were close to taking the Goldwings, but with the rain coming through it didn't make a lot of sense. So we headed out in the Accord.

We got to town around 12:30, so it was a bit early to check in at the hotel. We decided to get lunch at the Tilted Kilt. As we walked in, you could see that an attempt was made to give it a bit of Irish charm, but -- well, it was a nice place. The bartender/waitress was cute, and we sat at the bar (our favorite place). There weren't too many authentic Irish entree's on the menu, but still, the food was pretty good, and plenty of it.

She let us sample a few brews, and Linda settled on a white ale, while I found Killian's Stout, a nice dark, smooth brew with a light hoppy aftertaste. On the other side of the bar, a TV was showing the making of the 2013 Tilted Kilt pinup calendar over and over. Not bad!

Over all, the food was good, the beer was good, the bartendar was attentive and cheerful. We kept an eye on the weather, and the Weather Channel showing the Winter Storm Nemo progress as it made its way north. As we left, we looked for and found a shop where we picked up a couple of umbrellas, knowing we were going to be in for some rain. Indeed, it was lightly drizzeling as we headed back to the car.

The rain was beginning to come down a bit harder as we drove about three blocks around the parking lot to the hotel, and checked in. Nice hotel, good friendly people at the desk, and the promise of fresh-baked cookies at four o'clock (yeah, I know everybody does this now, but I can't resist 'em). Nice room, overlooks Margueritaville, Jimmy Buffet's restaurant. Been there, done that before. Mediocre food, pedestrian beer, nothing to see here.

 

 



We unpacked, changed over to the denim jackets we brought and headed out to New South for the 3:15 tour.

We found the building tucked away, back in an industrial area. Nothing to look at on the outside, really. Metal warehouse-type structure, pile of old appliances in the parking lot. I've learned, though, that this doesn't always carry over to the inside. We parked and headed in, the first to arrive.

We were soon joined by a (slightly) older couple, and found that the husband shared my birthday. He had been on the Anhauser-Busch tour in Williamsburg before, remarking that it was a lot bigger (of course). We were soon joined by about 30-40 people as Roddy, the Operations Manager, prepared us for the tour.

A little side note -- with a staff of three, you have the CEO, the Master Brewer, and the Ops Manager. They do everything!

Roddy had 12 years of biology under his belt, and he gave us an overview of what it takes to brew beer. You could tell that he enjoyed talking about the chemistry behind the process, although his use of the word "emzymes" (for those who don't realize it, the word is "enzymes") was a little strange. But he really showed his stuff, adding funny stories and other asides, answering questions and sampling the beer with us.

After our first sample (Linda's favorite, their Pale Ale), we carried our glasses with us to the floor, where we got close-up views of the tanks and explanations of how the brew, from the grain to mash tun, all the way through to the fermentation and carbonation process, providing samples of their Nut Brown and their new Imperial beer, due out soon. I enjoyed my final sample of their Red as he showed us the canning process. They use a completely hand-powered canning unit, and he says they can run about 28 six-packs an hour. Impressive!

Linda bought a six of the pale ale, a six of the nut brown, and she bought me a growler of the Imperial, along with glasses for our collection. It was a really fun tour, and I have a new respect for what goes into making one of my favorite beverages.

It was raining harder as we left, and we returned to the hotel, to get the beer in the fridge. After a nap, we headed out in the rain, grateful for our new umbrellas, and drove around Celebrity Circle to Liberty Steakhouse.

Not impressed at all with the place. The one word that came to mind was "uninspired." The most exiting thing about the experience was the three different types of croutons in the salad! Not much flavor in the NY Strip, Linda reported that the Prime Rib wasn't the worst she had, but not near the best. I had their "Broadway Brown," and Linda tried their "American Pale" beers. Same thing -- weak presentation, not very good. Disappointed, but then again, we've been spoiled by Southern Hops -- much better beers, and Randy keeps changing up the food, all of which has new and interesting flavors.

We plan on hitting the other micro brewery in town today. I'll let you know how it works out as we continue our "Beer Quest" weekend (at least, that's what it's starting to become)!