Road Trip: Florida and Georgia

ROAD TRIP: A Northerner's Exploration of the Dirty, Dirty!

Part Two: Apollo Beach and Athens

Apollo Beach
Our second destination was Apollo Beach, Florida!

So...ok, it rained the 75% of the time we were there - and, yeah, we chilled in the immaculately clean mall for a while, but we had a BLAST. One of Joel's buddies lives in Apollo Beach - so he gave us an insiders tour. We drove around the city most of the afternoon Monday and spent time relaxing Monday night.

On Tuesday we ate lunch at an awesome Moe's-like (but way better...) mexican joint called Tijuana Flats. Our initial plan was to check out Grain Alcohol Alley...no wait, I meant Everclear Avenue...no no, Sloppy at Slushy Joe's...NO! I remember, Wet Willy's - where the Alcohol is Ever-clear (har har) and Ever-pouring! Instead, we went to a charming resort bar right on the Gulf called Little Harbor Tiki Bar, drank tropical-esque drinks (coronas, mojitos, and kickin' Gatorades!) and enjoyed the breeze off the water and the enormous pre-mesozoic bugs...

Even though Florida wasn't Always Sunny - the warmth, relaxation, and general fun-having was worth it.

Athens
Athens, Georgia was an after thought in the traveling plans. Our cluster-fucky style of planning lent itself to neglecting the fact that Apollo Beach was 12 full hours away from Asheville. "No worries," my Charleston friend proclaimed, "you guys should just check out Athens on your way up!" So we made shotgun reservations in Athens, Georgia with very little knowledge of it's nature. Athens is a college town - home to University of Georgia and Uga (the bulldog mascot). We got there and, realizing it was the home to Terrapin Beer Co., dropped everything and hustled across town. We caught the final tour of the evening around 7 p.m., given by a hilarious 23-year-old Georgian brewery volunteer. This guy was all over the craft beer concept. He gave us the brewery's history, discussed the history of beer in Georgia, talked about the process of brewing, and delivered his general/inspiring love of Terrapin.

The actual brewery was an open warehouse (as usual) but with a colorful and trendy twist. They hosted live music, had a wonderful outdoor grove, and an arsenal of volunteers willing to chatter and inform about Terrapin. The beers of the day included Golden Ale, Rye Pale Ale, Rye Squared, Hopsecutioner, Hop Karma, Big Hoppy Monster, Sunray Wheat, Monks Revenge, and Tom Foolery (Side Project #14). The Rye Pale Ale is there Flagship beer (it won the American Pale Ale Gold Medal in 2002 at the Great American Beer Fest in Denver, CO) and it was truly excellent. Drinkable, flavorful, but not overwhelming - a simple delight. The Golden Ale was not as pleasing to my palate - granted, I am not a as partial to these light styles by craft brewers (it's usually not their bag). Monks Revenge was slamming - high octane, huge taste, beautiful color - but not something to drink during a lunch break. And naturally the Big Hop Monster is a great hop-head classic. After 7 or 8 samples and a handful of old labels (given to us by the lovely gift shop ladies), we were in great shape to head over to our next feat - The Royal Peasant Pub.

The Royal Peasant Pub is the local Athens soccer bar. Filled with British-ex pats and small town local soccer players, the atmosphere was bang-on! We ordered two beers and three entrees, and only paid about $35 bucks! A Great Divide DPA (Denver Pale Ale) and a (second installment of) Terrapin Rye accompanied our Peasant Food English Blue Crisps (hand-cut potato chips with a blue cheese dressing and bacon...ah!), Royal Lamb Vindaloo Curry, and classic Fish & Chips. No disrespect to Stoney's and Go Fish!, but these guys served the finest, flakiest, lightest, Fish & Chips I've ever had. The julienned fries and lemon/dill mayo were such incredible accomplices. The friendly on TV between Guana and England added another wonderfully British element to the experience. We got stuffed and were pleased as punch by the time we left.

In the morning, we made our way to a local diner (of sorts) called Mama's Boy. This 1980's style Low Country diner served drinks in jars (something I absolutely adore) and offered fried chicken for breakfast. Listening to Alphaville and enjoying a cup of Jittery Joe's coffee helped get my day started right! We enjoyed fried catfish with grits and black eyed peas and the buttermilk fried chicken with mashed taters and green beans along with complimentary biscuits, breakfast of champions.
Our spontaneous trip to Athens ended up being a great addition and an integral part of our culinary tour of the South!