A friend of ours down here asked us if we wanted to go on the Craft Beer Trolley.  How it works is you buy a ticket for $20 each, you get a groovy pretzel necklace, a passport and a wrist band.  Once you have that, you’re able to visit 10 different bars on the tour, by trolley, and get a sample of craft beer PLUS an appetizer sample at each place.  We were stoked and could hardly wait to go.  Unfortunately for our friend, she ended up not being able to make it    We were sad because after all, it was her idea.

It was a lovely night, not too hot, a little bit of a breeze, just perfect for checking out a bunch of bars.  We were excited because most of them we’d never been in before.

Our first stop, after we got on the trolley, was at Dixie Roadhouse.  This is a strictly country Western bar.  I was told that this place was usually packed and everyone who came either did or watched the line dancing that went on.  We arrived there a little after 7.   The only people dancing were this older couple

Line Dancing at Dixie Roadhouse You go kids!

and the only other people in the bar were the ones that just got off the trolley.  So much for  a packed place. Here we received our first inkling of what we would be getting.  We received about a 4 oz little glass of some kind of craft beer and a small piece of a soft pretzel dipped in cheese.  I told Gary “By the time we are done tonight we’ll have drank a full glass of beer and eaten one large pretzel”.   Oh boy!

Gary went and bought us a large glass of beer to get the ball rolling.

Colleen in Dixie Roadhouse

Here is a picture of me wearing that lovely pretzel necklace.  I guess if we are starving when we get done we can eat this too.  Man!  I look like I am at the last place and have had a big beer at each one….jeez!

So after we downed our big beer and our samples, we were off to the next place.  Now at this stop, there were 5 bars all within walking distance so we just walked over to the next bar which was called Rackem.  This place was mostly a billiards place but they recently revamped it and turned it into more of a bar.  They were having Drag Queen and King Bingo going on so that place was packed and quite lively.  We grabbed our 4 oz craft beer and our teriyaki chicken over rice and sat at the outside bar.

Gary and Colleen at Rack Em

After we finished that, we walked over to Big Blue Brewery.  We have been at Big Blue a few times in the past so this was nothing new.  They did serve all the Trolley people outside.

Big Blue Bar

Here you could get your 4 oz craft beer (which they serve a lot of here, not the 4 oz but the craft beer ), a free little quiche or for $1 you could get a burger.  We both choose the free quiche.  Kind of soso on the quiche.  Don’t think I would order it as a meal.

Then we walked down to the Back Streets where we ran into the Pirates!

Pirates outside of Back Streets

We ended up following them around for the rest of the night.  I had only been at Back Street one other time and that was to pick up a pizza when we first moved here.   We haven’t been back so I guess it wasn’t that good.

At Back Streets we got our 4 oz craft beer and a coconut shrimp, which was pretty tasty but they smoke in this bar so I don’t think we’ll be back (nothing more judgmental than an ex-smoker 😉 ).  We moved on to our last last stop before we found the trolley, that was the  Remixx.  At Remixx we got our 4 oz of craft beer and a piece of banana bread.

We hopped on the trolley…the disco trolley Woo Hoo!

Disco Trolly

and went to our next stop the Tiki Hut

Tiki Hut

We have been here several times.  They have good music here and they are usually packed.  They had us Trolley people off to one side where we got our 4 oz of craft beer and a sloppy joe.  By this time the craft beers were tasting like ear wax to me.  Yes!  I know what ear wax tastes like, I’m sure you do too so don’t judge  Gary had been drinking most of my 4 oz’s after I had taken a sip of them.  He even got to eat some of the sample foods cause you know I am the picky one 

Our next stop was the Money bar.

Money Bar

We have also been to this place several times.  They have a really good and cheap sitting at the bar menu and a good but more expensive, all around menu.  There we got our 4 oz of beer and a cheese stick.  We only had three spots left.    The next spot was the Rockade.  It was tucked in behind the Ace Hardware that we go to all the time.  We didn’t even know it was there.  By the time we got there, it was getting pretty dark.  Rockade was kind of a smaller bar.  There we received our 4 oz of craft beer and a pot sticker.  We gobbled that up and chugged our 4 ozs of beer and headed back for the Trolley. We had to wait quite a while for the trolley to pick us up.  There were 4 trolleys that passed before one decided to stop and pick us up.  While we waited there was quite a group that was gathering.  The pirates were there plus a group of about 6 or 8 people.  The girls in the big group were getting kind of obnoxious, walking in the street, swearing up a blue streak etc, etc.  Come on girls, at 4 oz a crack you must be really cheap drunks!

The trolley finally arrived and took us to our next stop, Big Storm Brewery.

Big Storm Brewery

This is a fairly new spot.  Here we received our 4 oz of beer and tuna on a cracker.  Yum.  I didn’t even bother to take that appitizer.  We left there pretty quickly but not quick enough.  We got stuck with the 6 or 8 people with the drunk girls.  We had to wait a while for the trolley again and two of the girls were fighting with each other.  Gary and I kept backing up in case knives were drawn.  It sounded like they were all on vacation together and the husband of one of them was telling his wife to knock it off and quit being a female dog.  He practically pushed her over to the other girl who was doing the sloppy, “I’m sooooo sorry!”, huggy, kissy,  “I didn’t mean to hit you in the face”, huggy, kissy, “Really…..I’m soooo sorry!”  Well the girls finally made up by the time the trolley arrived.

The last place on the tour was called Ralph’s Place.

Ralph’s Place

Most of the Trolley went in one door, I decided to go in the other.  I had to cross in front of the band in order to get back to the others.  The music was so loud it was pulsating on my back.  Holy Crap!  Where are my ear plugs when I need them?  I don’t know why they have a martini glass on their sign.  It certain isn’t any place I’d go to drink martini’s.  The music would probably crack the glasses.  Here we received our 4 oz of craft beer and a macaroni hot dish.  Also, yum.  I’m glad I had dinner before I left home 

So at the end of the night, we had our passport all punched

Passport

I was sober enough to drive us home and we made it home by about 10.  It was fun to go into some of the bars that I had never been into before.  I am not a big craft beer fan but it was a good time anyway.  Apparently the South Cape has a bunch of these Trolley bar rides.  We’ll have to check out another one, maybe just one without craft beer .