Charleston had its first major beer festival recently (ahem, Morgantown). Foam at the Dome was held at Laidley Field under stormy skies (only raining a bit, though!), with hundreds turning out for a cold one. Or two.

There were definitely some organizational hiccups - like waiting in line for 30 minutes before we even got into the event. But, it's great to see a huge turnout (smart hosting it the same day as the East End Yard Sale). They had more than 40 breweries, 150 beers, 10 restaurant vendors and 20 artisans.

Those breweries included: Country Boy Brewing, Charleston Brewing Company, Berkeley Springs Brewing Company, Greenbrier Valley Brewing Company, Screech Owl Brewing, Saranac, Morgantown Brewing Company, New Belgium Brewing, Bridge Brew Works, Chestnut Brew Works, Terrapin Beer Company, Big Timber Brewing Company, Blue Mountain Brewery, Dobra Zupas, Lagunitas Brewing Company, Breckenridge Brewery, Flying Dog Brewery, Mountain State Brewing Company, Duvel Moortgat Brewery, Samuel Adams, Sierra Nevada, Shipyard Brewing Company, Green Flash Brewing Company, Rogue Ales & Spirits, Harpoon Brewery, Leinenkugel Brewing Company, Sunken City Brewing Company, Ommegang Brewery, Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company, Sea Dog Brewing Company, DuClaw Brewing Company, Finch’s Beer Company, Goose Island Beer Company, Kona Brewing Company, Oskar Blues Brewery, Redhook Brewery, Southern Tier Brewing Company, Widmer Brothers, Yuengling, Lost River Brewing Company, Magic Hat Brewing Company, and Weihenstephan.

After devouring beef sandwiches, deep dish pizzas, and tons of hotdogs that have been dragged through the garden, my sweet tooth was feeling neglected. Time to fix that.

A quick google search for sweets near my current location brought up Vosges Haut-Chocolat, which are luxury chocolates in a strange, sort-of enchanted setting. Think dark purple, bright green grass/vines and black everything. These dark chocolates take on interesting spices, flowers, herbs and more in flavor.

We decided to try a few different treats. I bought a chocolate caramel marshmallow, which was quite good. The dark chocolate is not my favorite, but the caramel and marshmallow made up for it.

And I also got a packet of petits chocolats, which had caramel filled pink himalayan, smoke & stout, blood orange and black salt flavors. My overall thoughts? These are OK. I like the caramel, but the percentage of cacao is not what my tastebuds are used to. But, definitely very cool to combine neat flavors and do it in this strange, fantastic world.

I've been hearing a lot more about The Frosted Mug lately, because they've bumped up their advertising, specials and even host team trivia now. Located off Greenbag Road, The Frosted Mug is a total dive bar that typically townies frequent.

But, guess what, after living here for 10 years, I think I'm pretty much a townie now. I convinced my friend Katie to join me for dinner here.

It's not much to look at from the outside, with dark windows outside beside a sign that says "bikers welcome. no colors." I was concerned for a second this was racist, but then realized it's just referring to biker clubs?

When we walked in, it was clear we don't know where to go or what to do, and all eyes were on us. Whatever. I'm used to this. We found a table that was free, and I walked up to the bar to ask for a menu. After some seats cleared out at the bar, we moved up there and placed our orders. Their "Mugwich" burger seems to be the special, so I ordered that - and a water. Which was probably super strange.

Side note: I invited my longtime Twitter friend Rose to join us (mostly because I solicited her advice about this place because I assume she knows all things bar-related or townie-related), so it was awesome to see her here!

After a little wait, my burger came out - stacked high and accompanied by fries. The bun on the burger was fluffy. Stellar. The burger - while decent on flavor - was just a bit dry. I think because it was so dense and cooked to well done that it dried it out a bit. It's a huge burger, though, and the fries were good.




Grade: B

Did you know there are only a handful of Firehouse Subs in West Virginia? So few that I had never even been to one until the recent opening of the location at University Town Center. Two are in Charleston, one in Bridgeport, one in Fairmont, one in Huntington, one in Vienna and one in White Hall. And, Morgantown is the newest.

My thoughts? Not bad for a chain.

Preston County's oldest brewery, Screech Owl Brewing, opened just a few months ago. How? This brewery, the only brewery in Preston County, is producing small batch beers out of a garage in Bruceton Mills.

Currently, there are just a few seats used to sample the various beers, but you can purchase growlers here from the friendly couple who runs this operation.

So, of course, Vicki, Steve and I had to have a sampler to see what we liked best! Bold Blonde Ale is a light, easy drinking beer. The Threshing Floor Wheat is a good wheat beer - I love a Hefeweizen, so that's no surprise. The Wild & Wonderful Strawberry Ale - which recently was on tap at Iron Horse - isn't so much sweet, as it has a very fruity smell at the end. Even the biggest hophead I know, ahem Vicki, was a big fan. The Adalyn's Brown Ale was a bit heavy for me and has a bit of a bitter taste at the end. The Rykers Revenge IPA wasn't too overwhelming as an IPA, which I appreciated.

I love that they considered naming the brewery Chicken Lips, because that was a nickname my dad often used for a friend. Just a silly little connection. But by going with Screech Owl Brewing, they can abbreviate to SOB, which they like.

I left with a small growler full of the strawberry ale - not even a super sweet beer, but a lovely smelling beer. And, you know, smell contributes in large part to the flavor of things.

Have you been? What's your fav?