🟢 Mohegan Sun's 3-Hour Happy Hour

Happy Construction Tuesday…

I hope you enjoyed the long weekend, now back to the old salt-mines, eh…?

Well, I got some good info for you to help make this short week more fun.

In today’s edition of The Hartford Pour, we’ll get into:

— Chris M.
Local Whiskey Nerd, Husband, Dad, Entrepreneur (Fun Tip: Most drink related “fests” are Mohegan Sun are awesome)

Quick question…

(Annual Beer Festival, #notsponsored)

Last year I walked into Sun BrewFest and tried 40+ different beers and wines before the afternoon was over.

BTW, that is not a typo. Forty. I even have the wristband to prove it. (There were more than 40, but I could only do so much, lol)

Anyways, I may be going for the record this year…

Sun BrewFest is back at Mohegan Sun on Saturday, October 3. Starting at 3pm and going to 6pm in the Uncas Ballroom.

A standard ticket runs $84.05 with fees baked in, and it buys unlimited pours from more than 200 beers, seltzers, ciders, and canned cocktails.

You work your way around the room and sample whatever you want as many times as you want, which is exactly how a person ends up at 40+.

There will be music as well with The Rakes playing a few choice numbers throughout the day.

There's line dancing, a cornhole tournament with cash prizes, and a stein hoisting competition where you hold a full liter out at shoulder height until your arm gives up.

Here's the part I really like. The designated driver ticket is $44.10, and the DD is not getting shortchanged for it.

Local restaurants hand out free food all afternoon, there's a People's Choice food competition you vote in before 5:45, and every bit of the music and games is included. Whoever's driving can STILL make a full day of it.

It's 21+ so bring your ID, there are 13,000 free parking spaces, and it's about an hour from Hartford.

Tickets are on Ticketmaster or at the Mohegan Sun box office, eight per person max, so round up a crew and sort out your driver.

Then see if you can beat my 40.

(Yummm…. Mediterranean!)

Thirty-five.

That's how many Spitz locations exist now, and normally that number makes me nervous… Why?

"Authentic Mediterranean" and "we have 35 of these" don't usually share a sentence. They are a franchise, so keep that in mind, but it does seem like it’s more than that. (Even the reviews support it)

I looked at what they actually do at the new West Hartford location.

I was sold at the ten sauces made in house, tzatziki and zhoug and harissa. Beef and lamb that's halal-certified and carved off a vertical spit. About the only things they don't make themselves are the pita and the meat they bring in.

One of the best things I’m finding about this place is the prices.

Their döner kebab is only $14. It’s spit-roasted (meaning cooked over a fire with a wooden or iron rod) and rolled into a wrap.

The Street Cart Fries (which is $11.25) is buried under garlic aioli, feta, kalamata olives, tomato, and banana peppers.

Spitz is now where the old Plan B used to be at 138 Park Road. It’s run by Nick and Paige Chamberlain.

For drinks, they have a ton of choices,

Beers from local breweries, house-made sangrias, cocktails and a curated list of wines. (SCORE!)

I love a free concert.

Montez plays State House Square Plaza at noon (58 State House Square, Hartford), part of the downtown Audio Feed series, and it turns a sad desk salad into an actual thing you did today. (because Tuesdays are tough to find stuff for…)

When the set wraps, it's a ninety-second walk to Vaughan's Public House at 59 Pratt Street for a Guinness poured the slow, proper way. Call it a “liquid lunch.”

Then, if you're feeling brave, head to Manchester. Urban Lodge Brewing runs speed dating from 7 to 9 PM at 47 Purnell Place. Best case, you meet someone. Worst case, you're holding a Stowe Away, their all-Citra hazy IPA, and nodding politely for four minutes at a stretch.

Both of those outcomes involve good beer and even then, take your partner because, why not?

Tuesdays are weird.

Start early at Connecticut Valley Brewing, 765 Sullivan Ave in South Windsor, where Anthony Soscia & Friends play the beer garden from 2 to 5 PM. Soscia is a Hartford-area drummer who has backed bands all over the Northeast, and he sounds even better with a Trailblazer. That is CT Valley's hazy flagship IPA.

About fifteen minutes west is Simsbury's Old Drake Hill Flower Bridge on Drake Hill Road, where the 12th annual Burgers on the Bridge runs from 4 to about 6:30 PM.

Fitzgerald's grills the burgers and dogs, there is beer (yay!) and wine (even bigger yay!) poured right there and every dollar helps keep the flowers on the bridge in tip top shape.

I’d recommend bringing cash or a checkbook, because there’s no guarantee that cards (or Apple Pay) will be accepted

Thursday night gives you a choice, and both answers are a lawn.

Option one is downtown and free (who doesn’t love free?).

SOAR plays the Sunset Sounds jazz series in the Butler-McCook House garden, 396 Main Street, from 6 to 8 PM.

Grounds open at 5, you bring a chair and a picnic, and the smart move is a quick stop at Spiritus Wines at 220 Asylum Street for a bottle first.

They close at 7, so go before the show, not at intermission.

Option two is up the mountain. Alex Davis plays Talcott Mountain Collective, 140 Nod Road in Simsbury, an evening of easy acoustic covers on the lawn at the foot of Talcott with 20 taps behind you.

They usually have local breweries there, so look for Back East's Ice Cream Man, it tastes like dessert and drinks like trouble.

Do you know of an AWESOME restaurant or bar? Or something not included in this email you’d like to see?

REPLY to this email and let me know!