Just Call Me "REX"
Most craft beer lovers are familiar with the term “collab.” That’s when two separate brewery operations collaborate to produce a unique beer. That beer is often called a “one-off,” because it may likely never be produced again, at least with exactly the same formula and results. But what should we call it when two distinctly different businesses, a restaurant and a beer bar with a shared wall, collaborate to produce regular magic? That’s what two relatively new businesses in Ocean Isle Beach seem to be doing, and if the recent Mardi Gras collab is any indication, events like this will not be one-offs, but recurring regularly.
Keith and Christa Berciunas, proprietors of the wildly popular Tap Time beer bar, are experts in bringing great beers to their fourteen rotating taps. And although Christa was away being a grandmother for the first time, Keith was in the house, ready to celebrate Mardi Gras with some truly outstanding NOLA-linked beers and his own special brand of zaniness.
But also in the house were servers from Amelia’s Backstreet Grille right next door. They were taking and delivering orders from and to hungry customers (like the gals above) who wanted to pair Keith’s beers with Amelia’s Special Mardi Gras menu. That menu, constructed as a collab with their wall-sharing neighbors at Tap Time, was designed just for this special event.
I have enjoyed Amelia’s fare before, so my expectations were high. One forkful of my hand-delivered Shrimp Étouffée, washed down with a NOLA Old Man Yells at Cloudy IPA (7%), was all I needed to know that we’d made the right choice for Saturday night entertainment. The missus enjoyed a Shrimp Po Boy, accompanied by a NOLA MUSES Pale Ale (4.4%). My high school buddy Ty also had the MUSES to accompany his Blackened VooDoo Pasta. From what I could gather between mouthfuls, he enjoyed his pairing as well. His lady Angela joined me with the Étouffée and a Guinness Draught, which she said also worked very well together.
There were other NOLA-related beers on the menu as well. NOLA “Bringer of Destruction,” a DIPA which rang in at 8% and Oscar Blues Death by King Cake, a very interesting 6.5% white porter, which would pair well with one of the desserts. Like the Maple Bourbon Pecan Praline Ice Cream, served with two Beignet croissants. You’re just not supposed to be able to eat this well at a beer bar. It was, at every turn, a meal fit for a king.
So why wouldn’t host Keith produce a genuine Louisiana King Cake? And why wouldn’t he share the tradition that says that somewhere in that cake was a little plastic baby? And whoever finds it in their cake gets to be King of the Mardi Gras, a.k.a. REX? And gets a real crown? And a valuable Tap Time Gift Certificate? And lifelong (well, year-long) fame?
My luck at winning stuff is so bad, it’s legendary. The missus and I recently went to an event where there were thirty door prizes—and thirty-one guests. Guess who didn’t win a door prize?
But became a King on this night? And what a night of revelry, good food and good beer it was! Master Showman Keith even had those famous Mardi Gras beads for everyone. Our group, which included, Ty, Angela, Phil, Eunice, Eileen, Dave, the missus and I all got beads.
And none of us had to do what you’re supposed to do to "officially" acquire those beads. Except Dave. Dave did it. And likely frightened many of the younger ladies in the room.
But The King was in too good a mood (and laughing too hard) to banish him from the realm. (No pics of that, by the way. We have some standards here...)
