Day 4 Continued- Myrtle Beach

Myrtle Beach. Also called "The Redneck Riveria", but I think that name is outdated. The majority of Myrtle Beach visitors hail from Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York these days, so there is less "neck" and more "yank". The Redneck Riveria title should be passed on to Gatlinburg, Tennessee or Branson, Missouri.
Whatever the nickname, the Myrtle Beach area is a great place to relax and unwind while on vacation. There are miles of beaches, wetlands and hidden rivers, not to mention nightlife up and down the coast. So naturally, our first stop was to the Surfside Beach Moose Lodge #2351.
All right, "The Moose" may not be on any list of must-sees, but it is where my grandfather was when we arrived, so we met him there for some dinner. The Moose is a great place for members to hang out all day and drink cheap beer and eat cheap food. The only knock is that they close around 9, but most of their members are older and like to get up for that 6 am tee-time(if I am up at 6 am, it is for pee-time, then back to bed for a four-hour encore). We drank some Yuengling Lager drafts, then headed out to see what the more mainstream attractions offered.

We ventured into Murphy's Law South, which I guess you could call a sports bar. They had over 30 TVs located all around the place, and pool tables, dart boards, Golden Tee...all the usual suspects you'd see in a sports bar. The beer is slanted to the crowd they attract, which is the way it should be. It may not be the way I like it, but oh well. I drank a Blue Moon with some fruit in it. Looking around at all the guys pounding their longnecks, I started to feel a bit fruity myself.

We wanted to be a little closer to the water so we went to the restaurant row area of Murrells Inlet. The Inlet has a marshwalk that you can take from bar to bar while enjoying a fantastic view of the water and the sealife there.

We stopped at Wahoo's for our first drink. Wahoo's is an open air bar that used to have good beer when I was there two years ago. They carry beer from New South, which is brewed in Myrtle Beach. New South makes a Belgian White that would have been perfect for the humid Summer night. After looking over the beer menu, Heineken was the best Wahoo's offered now. Not even a Sam Adams or Sierra Nevada. We decided to go with margaritas and ordered two "Perfect Patrons" from the drink menu. Then the bartender was kind enough to tell us that they cost 12 dollars. Apiece. Perfect! We went for the 4 dollar no-frills and walked the marshwalk awhile. The Inlet is such a nice place to visit, unless you are there during Bike Week in May. Nothing against bikers, I just don't like the noise or congestion. Or people.

We returned to Murphy's Law because I decided I was going to have something with hops while out that night. We had a couple Sierra Pale Ales and while checking out the taps I realized that of the 12 beers on tap, five of them were light beers: Bud Light, Miller Lite, Coors Light, Natural Light and Michelob Ultra. I think they have narrowed their beers down just like Wahoo's; I remember they were carrying Flying Dog Pale Ale when it was first available in South Carolina two years ago. I guess craft-ish beers aren't selling too well in the area. It's a shame, and kind of perplexing considering where the tourists are visiting from and the huge surge in craft popularity over the past couple of years.

Time to leave the bar. I've got some Terrapin All-American Pilsner waiting for me. Has the rest of the beach given up on craft beer? Stay Tuned!