Pandemic Travel Part 2

We decided to take a short road trip last spring, after we had both been fully vaccinated.  We wore masks constantly and ate/drank outside and stayed away from people (except our vaccinated friends).  It would have been more responsible to stay home, but we did the best we could.

Greenville, SC

From St. Augustine, we traveled to one of our favorite beer cities, Greenville.  We had avoided it throughout the pandemic because Greenville was NOT being very responsible early on, leading to a high infection rate.  Fortunately, they seemed to have gotten on the bandwagon with regards to public health.  We visited our typical favorites of Fire Forge and Yee Haw, both of which had plenty of space outside when we visited in the middle of the week.  Sadly, we couldn’t visit Quest Brewing, as they were closed the hours we would be in town.

Asheville, NC

Asheville is, without question, our favorite beer city.  Or, at least, it had been.  A couple of years ago, we were visiting and realized it had become too popular.  There were too many people, and many of these people were “trendy” types, not the counter-culture people we personally vibe with.  They’re not bad people (although I do question their taste sometimes); they’re just intrusive.  We had discussed the possibility that Asheville may not be the city we have loved for over a decade anymore, and we may need to find a new cool mountain town.

But we decided to give it one more try, this time during the week so as to minimize the likelihood of crowds.  Fortunately, we found our joy in Asheville revivified!  Burial Beer- one of our favorites- had few people and we could sit alone on the top deck.  Everywhere we went, it was not very crowded and relatively easy to find quiet outdoor spots.  New Belgium requiring everyone to use an app to order was a little less than awesome for us old people, but we managed it.  We also discovered a new place- Noble Cider- which we love AND it’s right in downtown!

Asheville, maybe we will retain you as our favorite beer city, after all.  As long as we remember to visit during the week.

Spartanburg, SC

Our last stop of this trip was to visit friends in Spartanburg.  We have visited the town numerous times, but we found a few new places on this trip- New Groove and Plankowner Brewing.  Both of them were fine, but not particularly remarkable.  More importantly, neither had covered outdoor seating and it was storming.  We sat clear across the room from anyone else, but I was not super-excited about being indoors.  Fortunately, we were able to visit our favorite spot in Spartanburg, Cyclops Cyderi & Brewery.  Although they may need to drop the “Cyderi” part, since they only had two ciders on tap and over a dozen beers.  I really like their cider- I hope it was just a fluke.  They also closed shockingly early for a Saturday night- 9pm I believe.

Then we headed home after a wonderful week and a half of road-trip alcohol tourism greatness.  As people got more vaccinated, things became a bit safer. But we still sit outside if at all possible and avoid crowds religiously.