When the Creek Rises
by Kurt Epps--The PubScout
My super-secret special group known as the "Jersey Boys" finds a place to meet roughly once a month. We're a group of transplanted Jerseyan geezers, each of us happy that we can say Jersey is a great place--to be FROM.
And before you get all woke on us, know that we invite our Jersey Geezerettes to join us from time to time. That they (smartly) decline most of the time is a testimony to their foresight, sense of decorum and dignity.
We have no such encumbrances. We love it here in the South. Wherever we are, we swap stories, memories and jibes (usually with Big Wayne as the target). But we also enjoy food and beer, and the more of the latter we consume, the funnier the jibes.
Yesterday was "Jersey Johnny's" choice, and he picked Tidal Creek Brewhouse in the Market Common. It's a comfortable space and has outdoor seating and a diverse clientele--singles, couples, old, young and even babies.
As one who has been immersed in the craft beer scene since 1996, the beer has to be decent, and at TCB, it's downright good. All the Jersey Boys who consumed it had high praise for various styles.
T-Bone and I enjoyed a 9% Mean High Water DIPA that was as good (and maybe better) than Dirty Myrtle. Johnny had an Italian Pilsner called Liberatore (named after an employee) which he raved about. Big Wayne began with a cider (really, Wayne?), but finding it a bit too sweet, he made a quantum leap for an 11.2% English barleywine, regaining everyone's respect. Not surprisingly, he was smiling and laughing the rest of the time.
But we geezers can be demanding. We enjoy having a server (especially from the distaff side) come to our table, take our orders and deliver our choices. Not only can they take pictures, it gives us a great opportunity to kibitz with them, and allows them to go home to their friends and families with stories that begin with phrases like, "You should have seen this table of old guys I had to wait on today..."
In any event, that won't happen at TCB. You have to get up yourself, stand in a line, go to the bar and place your beer order. Then you bring it back yourself, hopefully with not too much lost to spillage.
Is it the end of the world? Nah. But for us geezers, it's a PITA. And the same ordering system goes for your food, though a guy does bring it out of the kitchen after you order it. And though we all ate at TCB, next time we're just having beer.
And in that vein, the Jersey Boys decided to resurrect a plan for us all to go out to a nice restaurant with our Geezerettes. Our original plan, hatched two years ago, was scrapped by Covid.
