All hopped up
On Thursday, our friend Eric Allen alerted us that three women — Alex, Sarah, and a friend — tweeted at the Metro Times account to announce that they were going to attempt to drink all 130 beers on tap at the newly opened HopCat on Friday, Jan. 30. They even made a new Twitter account just for the occasion (@130on130, get it?). Lacking anything better to do and always on the lookout for a story, we decided drop in to hopefully witness the making of history.
The Three Thirsty Ladies ordered the $1 sample sizes, which we're told serve 2.5 oz each — about 8 pints per person. After 100 beers, the crew called it quits, and it seemed like the experiment was doomed. But then Alex caught a second wind and went back and drank more, reaching 114 samples before last call. She then returned Saturday to continue drinking, and discovered that HopCat actually has more than 130 beers available — they resort to a backup list when they run out, and had replenished supplies of beer that weren't available the night before. So in the end, Alex sampled 137 beers (including PBR and non-alcoholic beers) over the course of two sessions. Congrats! (Note to our readers: Please drink responsibly.)
The Axis of entertainment
DDays doesn't always gamble, but when we do, we usually lose $200 playing roulette. And it was when our wallets were $200 lighter at MGM on Friday night that we heard the music blasting from their new music venue, Axis. This place used to be You. Me. Drink. but thanks to a $3 million renovation, it's now a pretty impressive music club located smack dab in the middle of the casino floor. The place is swanky indeed and they've got some great cocktails (we suggest the Axis Sangria and we suggest having at least three). Local crooners Persuasion were on stage when we stumbled in and we aren't exaggerating when we say this place was packed. It has an open floor plan that means you can catch the show while not being separated from the gaming floor — but don't worry that the general casino noise will overpower the music, in fact it might be the other way around.
I wanna rock and roll all night and eat barbecue every day
DDays would like to congratulate Small's co-owner Mike Mouyianis for opening his Ferndale barbecue joint Zeke's last week. The place was so popular in its first few days that they ran out of food on Thursday night and and to close for lunch on Friday. Of course before the dinner bell rang on Friday night, the joint was back up and running. Before their doors even opened, DDays heard this place was going to have an all-star bartending crew including Kat Paled, Stevie Michael, and Masha Marjieh and we weren't disappointed with their roster come opening time. We thought maybe we might spot Small's other co-owner, Melody Baetens Malosh, behind the bar, but she squashed our hopes when we chatted with her last week. Ah well, chances are if you stop in, you're going to see a familiar face or two both behind the bar and in the crowd.
