Hey y’all! You’d think that exclamation point would indicate I’m excited but I’m really not. Having four days off has it made it so I’m not really interested in being here… or facing responsibility again. I’m not normally like that so I don’t know what’s up with me today.

So let’s go back to Thursday. I dropped the kids off at camp and went home to pack up the car. Ash got his hair cut and then we were on the road at about 8:45. Our first stop was south of Macon to the Black Barley Tap room. They boasted 98 taps, though half of them were boring basic beers and, sadly, out of the eight tasters we got, only one or two were any good. They had a decent burger though so that was value. We stopped into Wartown Growlers, thinking it was a bottle shop but it was really just a fill place. We each had a small pour and chatted with the mid-20s bartender who was only on his second day. That was interesting. We played around with different plans then, as we came into Atlanta proper, but decided to just get to our airbnb and then plan.

We had a suite on the second floor of an old home right near downtown. I mean, right near. Very good location. Once settled, we took an Uber to Halfway Crooks brewery, since they specialize in lagers. That place was great! Every beer we tasted was fantastic. Our friends met us there and then they drove us to the concert, as they had paid for a parking lot. Blink-182 was pretty awesome. I’d never seen them but Ash had, a long time ago. I didn’t think much of Turnstile but hey, not every opening act will be good. It was pretty late when we got home but thankfully, our friends had offered to drive us back so we didn’t have to hail another Uber out of a crowded venue. Was very tired that night! (Here we are before the show)

Friday’s plan was to hit the Decatur breweries. I slept in until 9:30, which is totally unlike me, but much needed. Got ready and drove to Hop City to pick up cans. We’ve been to one in Birmingham but this one was definitely a little more well-stocked! We ended up buying nearly 65 cans, which is pretty crazy! But that’s our thing: buying beer in other cities.

We took our haul home and Ubered to a place called Raging Burrito, which was excellent. Also, downtown Decatur is super cute. Lots of funky places. We ate then walked over to Inner Voice brewery, which was pretty highly rated. And it was good; just had a few too many hazies on tap. Nice location and atmosphere though. (Photo below)

The other breweries were in the same area, about 1.7 miles from there and we decided to walk it. It was warm but not the worst walk. The little streets around downtown were very cute, with older Craftsman style homes and nice lawns, a few curvy hills. We needed the exercise anyway. Our first stop was Wild Heaven, which was a mistake on so many levels. For one, no AC and after that walk – ugh! Secondly, we went there in 2017 and didn’t think much of it. Well, I tell you, they have not improved. They have DMS in their beer, which is an off-flavor that, to be fair, is pretty easy to have. But still. We didn’t have many there before moving onto Little Cottage, which was much better! They had a cool Death Metal theme and they were even playing some doom metal in the background. Their beer was very clean and tasty, though didn’t have a lot of options. We stayed there a little while because they AC was cranking!

We then walked to The Lost Druid, which we kind of though would be the worst but it was probably the best all-around brewery we visited, even though Halfway Crooks had more of our favorite style. Lost Druid had a lot of styles on tap and they were all amazing. The people working there were nice to talk to and overall, that place was awesome.

We Ubered to Sceptre, which really doesn’t even need to be mentioned. They didn’t even do half pours (no places had flights anymore) and their beer was so-so. We decided it was time to get out of Decatur and head back to downtown, where we stopped at one of those self-pour places. Honestly, that might be the future of craft beer. You link your card to a bracelet, which is then held up to the sign on whatever beer you choose, then it unlocks the tap, you pour however much you want, and pay a price per ounce.

We had fun there; they had multiple floors and, as you can see above, a cool vibe. That was the second story and they also had a free play multi-game arcade setup. We got some tater tots there and then headed home. This was only a half mile from our place so we walked and Ash sat in one of these funky chairs.

Years ago, I took my oldest to a concert in Pensacola and before, we went with my mom to a downtown sushi place and he sat in one of them too! That’s why it was amusing.

Saturday was our go-home day and while we thought we might hit another bottle shop, we decided to just head home. We got into town around 2:30 and I went to the store because though I’d requested chicken enchiladas, my mom made crockpot pulled pork, so I made southern green beans and my fancy mac and cheese. So that was a nice family meal before my parents left the next morning.

We got a lot done yesterday, even though I had vowed to just rest. I did the laundry and cleaned and then helped Ash with this kegerator project. He picked up a small two tower fridge a few weeks ago and we mounted it to a moving dolly so we could put it wherever we want inside the house. We thought we’d keep it in the garage but the thing couldn’t stay cool out there. Seemed to do fine inside though. So yeah, despite on and off rain, we got that done!

I am in the office and not feeling it, especially since I have another training draft to work on over the next three days. Oh well. I am sure I will get it together here soon.

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Freebie week and since we just saw Blink, here’s a song off my favorite album from forever ago.