Natty Greene's comes to the Holy City

Charleston has a lasting tradition of quality craftsmanship, and for many years now, it has become widely known for its rich southern cuisine and emerging craft beer and spirit culture. In addition to the numerous accolades from local chefs, restaurants, and breweries in town, Charleston is seeing an influx of companies seeking to capitalize on this burgeoning foodie destination.

With legislation sitting in Columbia that aims to loosen Prohibition Era regulation, big names such as Stone Brewing Co. from California and Deschutes from Oregon could be setting their sites on the Lowcountry as they are looking to expand their operations to the East Coast. Moreover, more craft brands are seeing Charleston as a key market as they expand regional distribution. One such rising star setting its sites on Charleston is Natty Greene's Brewery of Greensboro, NC.

Like many early brewers, owners Chris Lester and Kanye Fisher honed their craft operating as a brewpub before realizing the brand's distribution potential. The brewery surged into  the retail market and quickly became Harris Teeter of North Carolina's most widely sold 6-pack. Hailing from North Carolina, the south's largest craft beer state, brands such as Foothills, Highland, and Duck-Rabbit may be more familiar to Charlestonians for now, but after tonight's unveiling of 3 Taps of Natty Greene's at Mellow Mushroom in West Ashley, that will certainly being to change.

From its humble beginnings as a neighborhood theater, the Mellow Mushroom in West Ashley will be the stage of Natty Greene's South Carolina debut. On site from 5:30-7, representatives from the brewery will be on site to share their story and craft (as well as some brewery gear if you arrive early). Mellow will be featuring three ales, the Southern Pale Ale (ABV 5.2%), the Elm Street English IPA (ABV 6.4%) and the Buckshot Amber Ale (ABV 4.8%). While the the Southern Pale Ale will be on tap throughout May as the Beer of the Month, don't miss your opportunity to have a pint of these other two tonight.


Following the event, stick around for our weekly Pop-Culture Trivia hosted by the City Paper from 8-10PM. 1st Place $50, 2nd Place $25, 3rd $10, and we have craft beer flowing from 30 Taps, so everybody wins.

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 Tuesday 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. 

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.