Eight years ago, a fellow BeerKnurd of mine traveled to North Carolina and posted a photo of a Pabst Blue Ribbon at the Flying Saucer there. “The Saucer allows their locations to carry PBR?” I messaged him.
“Yes,” he said. “Six of the 16 locations have it.”
Shortly after that, my friend Bob and I had a conversation with Kirk, the Saucer’s GM at the time. Bob and I are both Masters of the Universe, people with 5 or more plates on the wall at the Downtown Saucer, so we hoped our opinion would carry some weight. We said we heard 6 of the Saucers carried PBR, and we hoped that our Saucer would become number 7.
Kirk wasn’t having it though. “I don’t want that kind of clientele in here.” That was a bit insulting. Kirk knew good and well that both Bob and I were PBR drinkers at all our other hangouts.
In 2015, a friend traveled to Nashville and posted a photo of a PBR at their Saucer. It was getting closer! Still, Kirk wasn’t interested in hearing about it.
In 2017, I traveled to Little Rock for my mom’s funeral. I stayed Downtown and walked over to the Saucer on President Clinton Ave. after getting done with my son/heir duties for the day. I swiped my card in the computer and pulled up “Beers Not Yet Tasted.” As I scrolled through the list, my eyes lit up as I got to the Ps. Little Rock now had PBR too! By that point, the Memphis Saucer was no longer one of my regular spots, but with Kirk no longer there, I was encouraged that PBR would make it to Memphis soon. If it does, I thought, I’ll have to put the Saucer back on the agenda.
It didn’t happen though.
Yesterday I was surfing Facebook on my phone. I’m a member of the Saucer’s Masters of the Universe group, and this post came across my News Feed.
WHAAAAAAT? The Cordova Saucer has PBR now, and the Downtown Saucer does not? What a terrible injustice!
It would be so easy for the Downtown Saucer to put PBR on the menu and make a generous profit on each 16 ounce can sold. There are four bars within a block walk that sell it for $3 a 16 ounce can, but the Saucer could probably get away with as high as $3.75.
As recently as Friday night, I would have been in there. I went to happy hour at Silly Goose, and tabbed out around 7. Normally the Blind Bear would be my next stop, but they were having a networking event and I knew the place would be super packed and not a lot of fun. So I had no place to go, and went home. If the Saucer had PBR, I would have gladly gone over there and had a few. I would love to spend more time there and get to know the 2019 staff. I have a feeling others would come back as well. I hope the Downtown Saucer will correct its status as a PBR desert in the near future.
Okay, rant over. On to the news (there’ll be another rant BTW…)
The City of Memphis has achieved a record. Yesterday at the Celebrate Memphis Festival, a record was set for the world’s longest picnic table at 1336 feet.
The Accessories take the stage this afternoon at 5 at The Dirty Crow Inn.
Yoga and paddleboarding come together this morning at Memphis River Park for a 10 AM class followed by mimosas. YOGA!
Yesterday I was shopping at City Market and I saw something in the cooler called Bitchin Sauce. I almost bought it but didn’t. I Googled it after I got home and it’s almond-based, vegan, gluten-free, and uses neither beans or tahini. Well that sounds like something I will never buy! I’m blogging it nonetheless for the interest of my readers who may enjoy something like this.
It’s Yazoo Glass Night at Cerrito Bingo at Loflin Yard this afternoon 4 to 6. Winner of each round gets a Yazoo pint glass in addition to the other usual prizes. If it’s your birthday week, you get an extra bingo card. Stick around after bingo for turtle races.
The Memphis Outlaws will have a watch party for the U.S. Women’s National Team vs. Mexico soccer match at Brass Door today at 11 AM.
There will be a gin tasting at The Greyhound, the bar inside the new hotel across Union from AutoZone Park, on Tuesday, June 4 6-8 PM. Four gins will be paired with small plates and a talk will be given by an industry expert. Unlike vodkas, gins have a wide variety in their tastes.
Don’t forget that FreeWorld is throwing Dr. Herman Green a birthday party tonight at the Blues City Band Box, 9:30 PM.
Today is the 13th anniversary of the infamous Memorial Day Eve at Sleep Out Louie’s. We all gathered there for Sunday brunch at 10:30 AM when it opened and were still there at 10:30 PM. There were many games of Buzztime trivia and then a whipped cream fight broke out. At one point I licked whipped cream off the boobs of one of my blog’s readers (I’ll decline to say who; she’s happily married now). Spontaneous fun kept breaking out over and over again.
Brunches aren’t like that anymore. It seems like Sunday brunch is so… I don’t know, sterile… lately. I guess it’s because we’re all 13 years older. I miss the old days sometimes.
Yet, I’m going to get out and make the most of the day. I feel like I’m finally cured from my allergy-caused upper respiratory infection that I had all last week. Coughing has subsided, eyes are no longer red, temperature is back to normal. Back tomorrow with more news.