MeridianFC
09-13-2005, 11:28 AM
I was down in Aiken, SC for my sister's wedding and went back to visit the ABC. I remembered enjoying it from my last few trips there. While I accept that a lot of things are relative I'm willing to say that the ABC is in fact pretty decent. Not a world beater to be sure but the brews are solid and given the beer culture, or lack of, down south that will carry you a long way in my book. The saddest thing was the amount of Swiller Lite and Buttwiper being drunk at the pub. More than 50% of the patrons drinking macro swill by my guesstimate. Might be because of the college football crowd, can't say for sure.
On the beer menu was:
ABC Lite
ABC Lite Rasberry
Thoroughbred Red
West Coast Pale Ale
Grand Cru
(something or other) Porter
Didn't bother with either of the lite entries, though I saw a few people order 'em. Very light yellow looking stuff. The red was a solid, bready, with elements of smoke (though not a smoked beer). Solid and quaffable. The porter is one of those American style that has a roasted grain bite that I find really enjoyable. Even though the weather was hot, man alive, it went down a treat.
Just had one appetizer, battered mushrooms, which were like most pub food, solid and tasty without a lot of fuss. The table service was very polite and attentive though getting the attention of the bartender took some doing.
Best part, beers were $2! Unbeatable for the price.
As an aside the one grocery store I went in, Publix on the southside, had a fairly decent sized micro/import section but nothing that interesting in it. They had the Carolina beers (brewed in Charleston, SC) and Sierra, Anchor, Sam prodcuts and a few of the standard imports (Heineken, Warsteiner, Becks, Guinness) and a few nice though common enough around here choices, Sam Smith, Spaten, etc.
On the beer menu was:
ABC Lite
ABC Lite Rasberry
Thoroughbred Red
West Coast Pale Ale
Grand Cru
(something or other) Porter
Didn't bother with either of the lite entries, though I saw a few people order 'em. Very light yellow looking stuff. The red was a solid, bready, with elements of smoke (though not a smoked beer). Solid and quaffable. The porter is one of those American style that has a roasted grain bite that I find really enjoyable. Even though the weather was hot, man alive, it went down a treat.
Just had one appetizer, battered mushrooms, which were like most pub food, solid and tasty without a lot of fuss. The table service was very polite and attentive though getting the attention of the bartender took some doing.
Best part, beers were $2! Unbeatable for the price.
As an aside the one grocery store I went in, Publix on the southside, had a fairly decent sized micro/import section but nothing that interesting in it. They had the Carolina beers (brewed in Charleston, SC) and Sierra, Anchor, Sam prodcuts and a few of the standard imports (Heineken, Warsteiner, Becks, Guinness) and a few nice though common enough around here choices, Sam Smith, Spaten, etc.