Some activities just take on a life of their own.
A few years ago, a buddy and I made a game out of visiting a local ‘dive bar’ once a month for a full year. It was fun – we called it ‘Dive Bar Tuesday’. I posted our adventures on social media and got wonderful suggestions of places to visit from friends, family, and neighbors.
Related: A Year Of Beer
We followed up the next year with 12 stops at local tap rooms, calling it “Tap Room Tuesday”. Again, many people helped us out with suggestions of their favorite places or sent us lists/ranking they had seen. Honestly, you could visit tap rooms weekly because there are so many of them now, but we were frustrated that so few of them served food.
Last year, we switched to exploring pizza joints. There are lots of pizza places and we could get our dinner and beer there. We did it more on the down-low as restaurant closings due to CV19 put a strain on our activities. Still, we made it through all 12 months and had unique beers with all 12 pizza stops.
For 2021 our approach is expanding. It’s now: ‘Beer, Blues, & BBQ’ night. We kicked it off in January, selecting not just a BBQ place to go to, but also an ‘artist of the month’. Some guitar-driven blues to go with the ribs and beer or to listen to / learn about on the drive. January’s selection was bluesman Roy Buchanan.
It’s hard to believe that we’ve already visited 37 different places in the last few years. In addition to rating the places, we’ve also had some great attempts to talk out solutions for all of the world’s problems. We’ve had little success on that front, but we are still trying. 🙂
What monthly activities/traditions do you share with friends?
Image Credit: Pixabay
MrFireStation 
We are still hitting as many craft breweries and local wineries as possible. Fortunately, in our area, there are still many available locations. We want to give back to our small local community businesses, as many have struggled heavily with COVID. As you mentioned, few have food, but still a great escape for us, and we feel like we help their businesses in a small way.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I really don’t get why so few have food available, let alone decent food. I thought maybe there were some government regulations preventing it, but asked someone I met that chairs the MN Brewers trade group. He just said that most tap rooms would rather put $$$ into the brewing operation rather than get involved in a different business model. He said they don’t generally even take a cut of the food trucks that sometimes show up on busy nights.
LikeLike
I’ve been trying to convince our local brewery for five years to offer food. I don’t get it either. I really think it’s the brewer’s personality type. Most (that I have met) tend to be spirited types who love their craft above all else and struggle with the business side. I appreciate the “craft” and love that each batch is their “art”, but just give me some d@mn decent tacos or a good hamburger with my beer already! (Lol!) To each his own…I’d capture to food market along with the beer market, but that’s just the business side of me talking! 😜🍺
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad to hear it’s not just me to have that complaint. The guy at one tap room in Minneapolis told me, “yeah – we got food. Popcorn!” He was serious.
LikeLike
Love this idea–I might steal it for some post-pandemic economic boosting (a way for me to justify eating/drinking out more than I should)!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We all deserve some fun after 2020, don’t we?! 😉
LikeLike