In search of places where kids can be kids and parents can still have a good time. Cheers!
Overall 4.5/5
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My 1 year old daughter seems to think the car is some sort of torture chamber. Since birth she has protested consistently and loudly every time she gets even close to her car seat. This has obviously made long car trips, (or any car trip really) PAINFUL. I mean getting to the grocery and back can be therapy inducing. That being said, when we get the ridiculous notion to take a long car trip with the kids, we must stop often. We have found that it is good for everyones moral if we take nice long leisurely stops about every 2 hours. So recently, on a crazy expedition to Savannah, we stumbled across one of the coolest beers with kids places!
I usually try to research some potential stop locals before we begin our travels, but on this particular trip, when the baby was screaming, I just whipped out trusty google and came upon Fr8yard in Spartanburg, SC. I wasn't sure what exactly to expect as it was described as a beer garden built in old shipping containers. I was totally impressed.
The lower area of Fr8yard has tons of super long picnic style tables, perfect for my little red chair.
There are large umbrellas for plenty of shade and giant fans that I would assume really cool the place down on a hot day. They weren't on when we were there because it wasn't too warm out.
Downstairs has multiple ping pong tables, corn hole, giant blocks that could be used for Jenga or for a 3 year old boy to build tons of towers.
Also there are multiple huge TV screens for any sporting event viewing.
As far as good goes, the menu was a crowd pleaser for both kids and parents!
The hot dogs and brats that we tried were excellent, as well as the soft pretzel. The French fries were these cool twisted wedge fries that I have never seen before but LOVED. There were no complaints from anyone.
The beer options were plentiful, as well as some wine and liquor options.
Upstairs had more seating, an extra bar that wasn't currently open and some more giant jingo sets.
The only real drawback that kept Fr8yard from getting a perfect score was the complete and total lack of changing tables in either bathroom. I have no problem changing my girl on an outdoor table, but I can't imagine that makes all the patrons thrilled.
Overall the food was great, the beer was great, and there was plenty of room for little people to run and play all their car energy out. The staff were super kid friendly and there were tons of kids there on our random Thursday afternoon. I expect that we will keep Fr8yard in mind whenever we travel through South Carolina in the future.
Overall 4.5/5
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Abridged Beer Company
Overall 3/5**
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**This is purely a rating with kids, this place is really great without kids
I love a good brewery and Round 6 does not disappoint!!
I have driven past this place a million times and seen the little beer garden lights and always been super curious, so we finally decided to check it out.
Round 6 is slightly hard to find, even though you can see it from Alcoa Highway, you have to turn on like 3 side streets to actually get to the parking. I advise phones GPS, as always….I actually don’t know how I’d live without it.
We walked into a super empty bar (like 4 people) with zero kids and were at first thinking we would grab a beer and head on, and probably wouldn’t bother adding to the website…boy were we wrong!!
This was in the corner of the bar
I’m pretty nothing says bring your kid to the bar like a corner dedicated to them!
Also in the bar is the magical popcorn machine! The popcorn is free, fun for kids to watch and my son may or may not have eaten 7 bowls of it...hey, it was Friday.
Connected to the bar area is a porch that has a railing on all sides but the stairs. There are tons of picnic tables and this adorable little fake grass area with tiny Adirondack chairs.
The grass area has only one side unfenced and it’s super easy to keep tiny humans wrangled. Bonus, the chairs are plastic and really lightweight and fun/easy for kids to move around without anyone getting their toes smashed.
A food truck (or more like a food cart) showed up around 4/4:30 and had great food that everyone loved. The bartender said there is always a food truck by 5.
There is also a charcuterie board available that we meant to try, but honestly drank beer instead and forgot.
We ate on the little porch and then headed down to the big beer garden.
The beer garden area is across the parking lot and down a ramp. This giant area has a somewhat covered section with tables, an enclosed bacce court, a large fake grass area and a surrounding parking lot. Also a little stage for bands.
There was tons of construction going on, so I’m not sure how much things will change. The owner told me that they are working on building an enclosed dog park area next to the beer garden, which will be fantastic.
As for dogs, there were tons. I actually met the biggest St Bernard I have ever seen at 201lbs!! (I seriously could not stop hugging him)
At 3:30 on a Friday we were close to the only people there. But by 6:30, there was a band playing, lots of grown ups (but not too many) and at least 15 kids running around like lunatics. We were so caught off guard by how fun Round 6 would be, that we had showed up around 3:30 and planned to leave by dinner, and instead ended up inviting friends and staying until almost 9pm! This may have been the latest my kids have ever stayed up (I’m a little crazy about early bedtimes). But all the kids were having so much fun, and so were we! We just couldn’t make ourselves leave.
Oh, and about the beer…the beer is MAGICAL. They make everything, have tons of options on draft and everything we tried was so good. Growlers are supposed to be available soon.
The only draw backs to Round 6 are that you have to walk a ways to get your beers from the main bar as beer is not currently served in the beer garden (I know, walking 50 feet is not that big of a deal). Also, smoking is allowed in the outside areas and as a parent, this always bothers me.
Rating 4.6/5
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Rating 4.8/5
Full Review to Come
The clouds parted, the sky turned blue and THE SUN CAME OUT…finally. This has seriously been the rainiest year ever. I feel like I moved to Seattle. It was an amazing 75 degrees!!! SO I dusted off the kids shorts and sandals from last season (which were a lot bit snug) and we headed out on an adventure to Oak Ridge.
I’ve had several people lately tell me that I needed to check out a specific beer garden in Oak Ridge, but no one could seem to remember the name. But on a 3 hour Apple store visit…yes THREE HOURS…I think I’m on the payroll now…I was emphatically told by the nicest girl, that I had to go to Crafters Brew Market & Social in Oak RIdge. So we went.
Upon arrival, this place seemed pretty cool. Tons of state flags, super creepy mannequins everywhere, fire pit, tables everywhere, music playing.
But then I quickly noticed the biggest problem with this place...a large, wide open swimming pool with fountains and NO FENCE.
I mean this thing definitely provided some ambiance, but for a mom of little bitty kids, I knew immediately that I would not be able to take my eyes off of my kids for even a second while we were here. Major bummer on sunny BeersWithKids day. So we found a table as far away from this death trap as possible.
Crafters Brew has tons of awesome beers on tap of all varieties. I could tell by the giant boxes of out of use taps that they probably rotate their selections frequently. So this made for happy parents. Also, the beer line cleaning date was a super happy surprise. (I once had a friend that worked in beer sales and I learned all about just how DISGUSTING those lines get.)
As far as kids activities, there was a plethora of old board games by the bar for use. Unfortunately for us, the only game that may 3 year old could really handle was Connect-4 and it was broken. Other than that, there were dart boards and some bagged up yard games. All would be great for older kids, but not mine.
There are no high chairs (but you don't need them if you have the litte red chair!) and no changing tables. But dogs seemed super welcome.
For food, they have an associated restaurant across the parking lot.
The lady who works there is super sweet and calls you "sweetie" in the way that just makes you feel loved and not condescending...
The menu is standard bar food and pizza. We got a giant pretzel that was a kid pleaser.
We stayed for one beer then had to leave because the progeny were getting restless and I absolutely could not let them run around with that death trap of a pool.
All in all I feel like this place is super cool for grown up kids (i.e. parents without their kids) or for school aged kids. There are tons of activities for kids that don't require supervision for survival. If you're kids younger or prone to making stupid spontaneous decisions about unsupervised bodies of water, then maybe make another choice.
Rating 3/5
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