Sam Adams Raise the Stein Beer Club Happy Hour

Much like the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen on October 12, 1810 that inaugurated the 16-Day festival of beer now known as Oktoberfest or "die-Wies'n" to Munich's locals, Samuel Adams and Mellow Mushroom Avondale will marry our love of quality beer in hosting Charleston's Official Raise the Stein competition.

So what does that mean?

Beer Club Members and fellow beer enthusiasts alike are invited to join us upstairs at Mellow Avondale Thursday, October 10 from 6PM thru the last snap as da Bears take on the G Men in a NFC Thursday Night Showdown. Existing Beer Club Members will enjoy drafts of Sam Adams Oktoberfest Ale at Happy Hour pricing throughout the evening.

The Stein Hoisting competition will be officiated by representatives from Samuel Adams Brewery, and one male and one female winner will be invited to compete in a South Carolina regional battle. Regional champions will the head to the National Hoisting Championships in Boston, MA where the National Winners will be flown to Germany to compete in the International Competition at next year's Oktoberfest in Munich.

If you've dreamed of wiener schnitzel, frauleins, and frothy German beers, then the first step in achieving all of that is to be in attendance at Mellow Avondale next Thursday night.

We'll also have NFL Bingo ongoing in house for your chance to win $50 house cash for 1st, $25 for 2nd, and $10 for 3rd.


More Info

Want to know more information about upcoming Beer Club Events? Be sure to sign up here. You'll be one of the privileged few to receive all the latest on goings in one of Charlestons most storied social drinking society.  See you Thursday at Mellow Mushroom Avondale.

Remember to use #mmbeerclub when checking in, tagging photos, or tweeting from the event for your chance to win Mellow cash and prizes.

Ravens vs Broncos Feating Abita Brewery

Rejoice... the barren wasteland of a football-less summer is over

Unprecedented are the times we find ourselves at the onset of the 2013 NFL Season.

Washington is arguing over who wields the power to draw red lines, a skill possessed by most kindergarteners.

America is only beginning to recover from the nausea inducing display Miley Cyrus put on at MTV's Video Music Awards, and I'm still struggling to cope with the decimation of the entire Stark family in last season's GoT finale.

I think the most startling news of the offseason was the sudden divorce of the Bromantic Relationship with Tom Brady and Timmy Tebow in New England. Tragic. Pretty soon, Tim will be relegated to Christian Mingle commercials, and even as a UGA alum, I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone; not even a Florida Gator.

Luckily some things haven't changed. In sporting news, A-ROD is still a world-class cleansing product, Roger, Barry and Sammy all remain out of Cooperstown, no one realized the WNBA season started (has it finished... who knows), a Brit finally won Wimbledon (read: Andy Murray) and Lefty (Mickleson) looked world class at the Open Championship in July, but that all pales in comparison to what arrives today: the beginning of the NFL season and the long road to New Jersey and the Lombardi Trophy.

Tonight's marque match-up features the retooled and explosive Denver Broncos led by veteran Peyton Manning against the Ravens of Baltimore with reigning Super Bowl MVP, Joe Flacco.

About the Game Watching Party

Location: Upstairs Mellow Mushroom Avondale 7-TBD

What: $2 Abita Amber Lagers  --  $5  1 Topping Smalls  

For this first Thursday game watching party, anyone who has registered for the beer club can attend. Bring a friend to sign up and get your first beer on the house. We'll also have NFL Bingo ongoing in house for your chance to win $50 house cash for 1st, $25 for 2nd, and $10 for 3rd.

New Belgium Brewery - Beer Club Happy Hour Week 7

Finally, after weeks of non-relenting torrential downpours, the sun once again is shining in the Holy City. In our town that boasts one of the Southeast's highest bike-friendly rates, it's little surprise that not long after the flood waters had ebbed, bikers had taken back to the streets.  Consequently, pedestrians were again scrambling and drivers scratching their heads as bikers wove through tightly packed sidewalks and up King in the wrong direction.

I digress because this is a post neither advocating improvements to existing bike lanes or construction of new bike lines across the Ashley River along Highway 17 (although I wouldn't argue against them). I'm writing to talk about the inevitable marriage of the Mellow Mushroom Beer Club Happy Hour series and the prominent brewery from Fort Collins, CO, New Belgium.

Not only does the brewery's label (a rendition of its famous Fat Tire label) feature a fixed gear, fat tire bike, recognizable to anyone who's ever spent 5 minutes in Charleston, but the brewery's history and core beliefs mirror that of Mellow Mushroom both here in Charleston and across the country.

One of our lucky customers won this in 2011. Mellow Mushroom and New Belgium are a great team in Charleston. 

Both companies started with a singular vision: to create an exceptional product using the freshest ingredients and to deliver an outstanding experience to each and every customer. From humble beginnings, both reach people across the country and have grown to not only be a recognizable brand but moreover, to be a symbol of consistent excellence in quality.





About this Week's Happy Hour

The shenanigans will get underway promptly at 6PM, and as previous events have foreshadowed, if you want to taste the most select growlers brought by the New Belgium Reps, be sure to arrive early. The event is for beer club members, anyone working on their 100 beers, and guests of beer club members who would like to sign up to begin their quest of becoming a 100 beer club member.

Any existing beer club member that elects to drag a friend along to join the beer club will be endowed the high reward of a free Fat Tire Amber Ale. Throughout the event, guests will be entitled to the ridiculously low fare of $3 to procure these Belgian Style Amber delight, and will also be able to guzzle down at least one other specialty beer from the brewery.

More About New Belgium

New Belgium is the nation's 3rd largest Craft Brewery and the 7th largest overall. While their accolades are as diverse as is their beer selection, some of the most notable of recent are Best Green Brewery (2009), #1 Top Brewery Tours (2011), #5 Best Places to Work (2011), Top 25 Most Audacious Companies (2012) -- and that doesn't even begin to take into account the 90+ awards they've earned for their beers in the past 21 years.

More Info

Want to know more information about upcoming Beer Club Events? Be sure to sign up here. You'll be one of the privileged few to receive all the latest on goings in one of Charlestons most storied social drinking society.  See you tomorrow at Mellow Mushroom Avondale.

Remember to use #mmbeerclub when checking in, tagging photos, or tweeting from the event for your chance to win Mellow cash and prizes. 

Lagunitas Brewery - Beer Club Week 6 Happy Hour

Like many Charlestonians, I welcomed the onset of this week: the return to normalcy and sobriety that Monday ushered in and the much needed reprieve from the onerous task of turning last week into a five day bender. After days of binging, I began to contemplate whether the explosions I heard were my neighbor's contraband M80's or, in fact, simply sounds manifested by my own inebriated consciousness.  Luckily, when the flood waters of both Charleston and my mind receded, there were neither remnants of beach riots on Folly nor clues to suggest my own nefarious behavior to place any regret upon the weekend.

All 100 Beer Club Members

Alas, Monday, as it always has a habit of doing, has yielded its threat of week long sobriety to the whispers of the coming weekend and the indulgences that this town has to offer.  While we won't be brandishing sparklers like these lucky Mellow patrons last week (right) or sporting every stitch of Americana Walmart sells, we will be celebrating the definition of the American Dream. Our nation is built not by paper pushers and yes men but by dreamers and risk takers. It is not the multinational conglomerate that preserves our economic superiority but the little guy, the entrepreneur, and the small business owner. Nowhere is this risk taking mentality more prevalent now than in the Craft Beer and Craft Spirit industry.

As such, we will continue celebrating the great American craft beer industry this Thursday, July 11 by featuring Lagunitas Brewery at Mellow Mushroom Avondale at 19 Magnolia Road.

More About The Happy Hour

The shenanigans will get underway promptly at 6PM, and as previous events have foreshadowed, if you want to taste the most select growlers brought by the Lagunitas Reps, be sure to arrive early. The event is for beer club members, anyone working on their 100 beers, and guests of beer club members who would like to sign up to begin their quest of becoming a 100 beer club member.

Any existing beer club member that elects to drag a friend along to join the beer club will be endowed the high reward of a free Lagunitas IPA. Throughout the event, guests will be entitled to the ridiculously low fare of $3 to procure the IPA "made with 43 different hops and 65 various malts" and championed by Lagunitas as their flagship beer.


More About Lagunitas Brewery

Started in 1993 in Lagunitas, CA, it quickly outgrew its initial residence, relocating to Petaluma, CA in 1994 and expanding to open a second location in Chicago, IL in 2012. Lagunitas is known for its well crafted beers and for its witty descriptions that you can find on each beer's label. Think I'm joking? Check out a snippet from this week's featured beer, "Thanks for choosing to spend the next few minutes with this special homicidally hoppy ale. Savor the moment as the raging hop character engages the Imperial Qualities of the Malt Foundation in mortal combat on the battlefield of your palate!"

Want to know more information about upcoming Beer Club Events? Be sure to sign up here. You'll be one of the privileged few to receive all the latest on goings in one of Charlestons most storied social drinking society.  See you tomorrow at Mellow Mushroom Avondale.

Remember to use #mmbeerclub when checking in, tagging photos, or tweeting from the event for your chance to win Mellow cash and prizes. 

Stone Brewing Co. - MM Beer Club Week 5

Go home, Super Moon; you're drunk.

Now that the Sun's rays are creeping south toward the Tropic of Capricorn and the Super Moon wanes, lost to us is the innocence and temperance of spring. Summer is squarely upon the Holy City, and although many downtown bars are brimming with kolches, hefes, and summer wheats to appease the palettes of tourists and drive by beer drinkers, rest assured, ye ole timeless ale aficionados, the Mellow Mushroom Beer Club will remain a bastion for true beer drinkers' delight.

Summer is rife with poolside Bud Light Limes and shotgunned Natty Lights; coolers will inevitably overflow with malt liquor this and fruity flavored that, but when you find yourself on the edge, wondering much like Hunter S. Thompson, how you've gone over into a pit of crap beer despair, Mellow will be waiting with ambers, IPA's, Pales, Nut Browns, and even a Pluff Mud Porter to help pull you back up.

To kick the summer off in fashion, we are hosting representatives from the world renowned Stone Brewing Co. Not only has the brewery been named All Time Top Brewery (2008 & 2009) by Beer Advocate, but the company's philosophy is to only brew artisan beers, not yielding to whimsical pressure to produce any  "industrial adjunct beers" or "fizzy yellow beers" (credit stonebrewing.com). What they do produce are some of the most flavorful and well bodied ales in the industry. Utilizing only locally harvested ingredients without artificial ingredients or additives, each brew delivers an exceptional beer drinking experience.

The Happy Hour

We will get the happy hour event underway promptly at 6 sampling our way through some select growlers from Stone. From 6-8 Stone's Pale Ale will be $3, and we will have 22oz bottles of the 10th Anniversary Ruination, a 10.5% ABV Double IPA. For the first time ever in Mellow Mushroom Charleston Beer Club History... 2 customers will have the opportunity to share this beer and have it count toward each of their beer club quests.

Ruination Dbl IPA

More about Stone Brewing Co.

Stone Brewing Company was founded in Escondido, CA in 1996 launching with its first batch of Stone Pale Ale. It has been recognized as one of the world's best craft breweries and ranks as its 10th largest based upon output.

Looking to score more Stone Beers to your Beer Club List or your Untappd account? Presently, you can get Ruination in a bottle and Pale Ale on tap in Avondale. Downtown boasts a broader list with Arrogant Bastard on tap and bottles of the Pale Ale, IPA, and Cali-Beogique. 

Carolina Brewery - MM Beer Club Happy Hour 6/20/2013

Thursday marks the 4th installment of the Mellow Mushroom Beer Club Happy Hour series. With growing attendance each week, the first month will culminate at the King Street location featuring representatives from Carolina Brewery. Much like fine wine, the craft of brewing great beer comes from a practiced science, and the folks at Carolina Brewery will be on hand to share with participants the inspiration and process that brings raw ingredients together to create a joyous symphony of bubbly deliciousness.

Have you ever wondered how master brewers choose certain hops or why some beers are only available seasonally? Now you have the chance to ask those and any other questions you have about the age-old art form of beer making to the folks that are at the center of the industry.

The happiness begins at 6PM and will last to 8 or beyond if you're ready to keep the party rolling.

Who should attend?

This isn't your grandpa's happy hour. Mahogany panelled walls? Nope. Not Mellow. Over priced Martinis and Manhattans? Not hardly. Monocles and 3 piece suits? Well, if that's your sense of fashion, we're not judging.

I digress, if you're looking for a relaxed atmosphere to partake in an unprecedented beer selection that indulges your senses with taste, aroma, and texture (yes beer does have a texture) then you need to be at Mellow Mushroom this Thursday.

For their everlasting loyalty that reportedly dates back to the Louisiana Purchase, Existing Mellow Beer Club Members will enjoy specialty pricing on all featured beers from Carolina Brewery, but all patrons will have the opportunity to participate in the discussions and sample some of their tastier ale's at regular happy hour pricing.

Be sure to show up early for your chance at some giveaways and schwag from Carolina Brewery. 

Are you an ardent Instagrammer? On Foursquare or Twitter? Then be sure to TAG your posts with #mmbeerclub for your chance to win some Mellow prizes.


About Carolina Brewery

Since its founding in 1995, the brewery has racked up nearly a dozen different awards including a Gold Medal at the Great American Beer Festival for it's India Pale Ale and a Gold Medal at the World Beer Championships for its Copperline Amber Ale.

Mellow Mushroom Beer Club Happy Hours

Thursday, May 30th marked the kickoff for the Mellow Mushroom Beer Club Happy Hours. The initial happy hour was held at the Avondale restaurant and featured the owners and master brewers from Charleston's own Frothy Beard Brewing Company and Holy City Brewing. Beer clubbers were provided the unique chance to privately sample the Holy City Bourbon Aged Pilsner, the Holy City Imperial Stout, the Frothy Beard Never Winter Wheat, and the Frothy Beard Sea of Galloway Red Ale.

Although the beer was undeniably delicious and refreshing, what made the evening exceptional was the opportunity to listen to the brewers (Chris @holycitybrewing and Joey and Steve from +Frothy Beard) discuss the inspiration behind the beer and the process that took it from idea to pint glass.

The weekly Beer Club Happy Hour will continue at the King Street location Thursday, June 6 from 6-8. All 100 and 200 Beer Club members are invited to enjoy a private tasting of some of Palmeto Brewery's finest ales. We'll be featuring $3 Palmetto Amber, Palmetto Lager, and Palmetto Porter for 100 and 200 members, and the brewers at Palmetto will be bringing over some growlers of small batch brews exclusively for beer club members.

Be sure to follow all the latest happenings of Charleston's Mellow Mushroom Beer Club online on Twitter and Instagram @mmbeerclubavo and @mmbeerclubchs for the Avondale and King St locations respectively.

Use the hashtag #mmbeerclub for all your uploads for a chance to win Beer Club prizes and/or free beer.

Email mmbeerclubavo@gmail.com or mmbeerclubchs@gmail.com with any questions or suggestions for future beer club events.