Because Saturdays Were Made for Breweries

Raise your hand if you remember the days where I didn't actively search out a brewery to explore every time we went on a road trip somewhere?

Yeah, me neither.

Which is crazy, because 3.5 years ago, I could count on one hand the number of breweries that I had been to. Now? I'd have to sit down and do some serious thinking to remember all of the different ones that we've come across since the end of 2013.

Anyway, I'm sure that you know where this post is going. Patrick and I traveled up to North Carolina this weekend and there just happened to be a brand new brewery opening up in the exact area of the state that we were going to be in. Who were we to pass up on checking out a new brewery, especially when all of our friends were going to be there?

Eleven Lakes Brewing opened up in Cornelius, NC this weekend and I'm already ready for another afternoon at their brewery.

They had 9 beers {& 1 coffee} on tap and I think that between Patrick and me, we managed to hit 8 of the 9 options. He stuck with the IPAs while I went with the lighter, less hoppy beers.

I had the Sandbar Blonde, the River Otter Red, and the {wait for it} Paddle Session IPA. Yup. You read that correctly. I branched out and not only tasted an IPA, but had a whole pint of it. Apparently the session IPAs are the beginner IPAs so it's nothing to get too excited about but there was still a little excitement on my part.

I always want to share some fancy, technical description about the beers, but the best I come up with is "perfect beer for a hot, sunny, summer day" or "great for tailgating". Let's just say that I was a big fan of the Sandbar Blonde and the Paddle Session IPA, not so much the River Otter Red.

Word on the street is that the owner of Eleven Lakes lives across the street from Parker's family. He's a big supporter of the Pounding for Parker Foundation. Eleven Lakes not only had things out at their grand opening about the foundation, but they were also pouring beer at the Street Festival and the Golf Tournament this past weekend.

It was hot on Saturday, so we spent most of our time dodging the sun and moving chairs/tables around chasing the shade behind the brewery. We found some great shady areas though to enjoy with our friends!

What's better than a Saturday afternoon at a brewery, hanging out with friends that you only get to see a few times a year? Although, I have seen these two almost once a month this year despite all of us living 2 hours away from each other. Totally ok with that!