Rare beers lead to a rare hangover.

So yesterday, I decided to start the day off with PBR at Panda Manda’s bar at Bardog. It turned out to be a good move, for a couple of reasons. For one, I discovered that they had $2 Coronas for the entire month of June, which means I will abandon PBR as my drink of choice there until July 1.

Another reason I was glad I went to Bardog is that nearly the entire gang showed up. Usually there are three or four of us at Panda’s bar at noon on Saturday… yesterday there were more than TEN. Usually that big a group does not accumulate in one place while the sun is still up. Good to hang out with everyone.

So I slammed one Corona after another, running up what was probably my largest tab at Bardog ever. By about 4:00 the group was ready to migrate to Blind Bear, but I realized that food and a break from beer was necessary. So I got the Dog of the Day to go – yesterday’s Dog was topped with chili con queso and pico. I paid an extra $1.99 to upgrade my side to a cup of the Soup of the Day, chicken poblano pepper.

After eating, it was time to hit the Saucer for their 15th birthday party. You know, it’s funny – five years ago, when the weather was nice I would divide my time between the window seats and the bar. Now I hang out at the bar almost exclusively. Not sure why. Anyway, I saw a friend in the window and joined him. Beautiful weather and good tube top watching. Katie commented that she’d been working there since August and it was the first time she’d waited on me, other than people’s plate parties. I let her pick my beers from the 15-rare-beer tap wall and she made excellent selections. Most of the beers were in the 8.3-10.5% ABV range. Combined with the Coronas earlier in the day, I was feeling mighty good by 10:00 or so.

Then I walked over to the Blind Bear and took a seat on the patio. Despite the lack of tube tops, there were still plenty of photo opportunities.

Because of my adventures in drinking earlier in the day at Bardog and the Saucer, I was having trouble operating my iPhone. At one point I tried to take a pic but I accidentally had it in video mode. Turned out to be a lucky accident, though, because I captured this piece of awesomeness (0:03. Click the link, trust me, it’s worth it). (EDIT: Dammit the video isn’t playing! If you see me out, ask to see it on my phone. I’d put it on YouTube but I don’t know if the stars of the show would appreciate that.)

Unfortunately my drinking adventures did have one negative consequence: I forgot to check in at the Blind Bear on Foursquare! So I’m one day closer to losing the mayorship, and the one free beer per day that comes with it. I think I’m safe missing a day though. The former mayor told me he’s 8 days away. I don’t think Puckett is a threat to the mayorship anymore. That “Kristin” chick who likes to erase the mayor chalkboard at the Goose may be within 10 days of the Bear mayorship, but I’m not sure.

I’m still on my soapbox about the Memphis Saucer carrying PBR. It’s not like it would be hard for them to get it in the bar; last time I was in their sister restaurant the Flying Fish which is right down the street, I saw PBR there. Charge $3.50 for a 16-ounce can and surely you’d be making as much profit as you’d make from, say, a pint of Guinness. Plus dishwashing costs would decrease since most PBR drinkers prefer to drink out of the can. And in my case, lime costs would decrease. $3.50 is high compared to what other bars charge for a PBR can, but I think people would pay it for the privilege of being in the Saucer. The Saucer is just about the last holdout… even Local and Alfred’s have climbed aboard the PBR train in the past year. The ticket at the Nashville Saucer described PBR as “the fastest growing beer in North America.” Why would you not want a beer like that in your bar? Especially when you willingly carry swill like Coors Light?

Oh that reminds me… I posted yesterday that Aldo’s Pizza Pies would have 20 taps on the wall. Turns out I got that wrong. Actually it’s THIRTY taps. Bud Light and 29 craft and import beers, I’ve been told. They will have PBR in some form, either cans or bottles.

Checking social media to see what everyone has been up to… I see one of my Facebook/Foursquare friends is in Little Rock (and she had a tube top dress on last night). She checked in at “Little Rock, AR” on Foursquare. That’s a perfectly fine checkin since she’s a tourist. However, another Foursquare friend of mine, who lives in Downtown Memphis, checked in at “Downtown Memphis” yesterday. Nothing screams LOSER more than a checkin like that. I’m not going to name names but there may be a photo of her somewhere in this post.

It’s 11:20 as I type this, so I guess I’m not going to brunch this morning. About noon I’ll wander over to the Saucer and not drink a PBR.