September Trappy Hour Recap
The latest installment of Trappy Hour was something special.
Trappy Hour is the only downtown event that plays your favorite hip-hop hits all night. DJ T.O curates the mix and makes sure to play music from local Charleston artists. Check out the clip below to see footage from the performances by Jax$ and Chubbz.
Espolon Tequila is a huge sponsor of Trappy Hour.
Taneka served some expertly made Espolon tequila sour shots and handed out free gear.
You can always count on Trappy Hour if you’re looking for a place to dance.
There was a little bit of everything from twerking to bachata. I even saw a few mean shoulder leans.
The Royal American is such a perfect place to hold an event like this.
The bar is laid-back and eclectic (much like the party-goers). Inside by the bar, there is plenty of room to dance and watch the live performances. Out on the balcony, it’s a bit quieter with room to talk, chill, flirt, take pictures, and have a great time. The bartenders serve great drinks all night.
Why we do it.
The Cocktail Bandits started Trappy Hour to provide a platform for up and coming hip-hop artists. Trappy Hour strives to ensure that the homegrown Hip-Hop we enjoy is widely considered a part of Charleston’s cultural identity.
Make sure you join us for the next Trappy Hour so you can see for yourself how the Cocktail Bandits throw a party.
Toyota #letsgoplaces Tour: Durham
Even though we are well into the new year, we have some unfinished business from 2017.
During the month of November we had the opportunity to travel to 3 cities: Durham NC, Washington DC, and Charlotte NC. We were very excited about this trip, because it was the first 10 day excursion since we’ve done since the “Satisfy Your Thirst Tour” with South Carolina PRT. We reached out to Toyota, and they were thrilled to sponsor this trip with a 2017 Avalon Tour! So for this adventure, we had to name our tour the Toyota “Let’s Go Places Tour!
Before we left we had to get our car!! Toyota was so amazing, they brought the car to our front door the day before we left.
The Avalon Tour was spacious, comfy, tech friendly, and easily carried all of our items!
The first day we traveled to Durham, NC.
Durham is an up and coming city, that is revitalizing their downtown. We had the pleasure of staying at the 21C Hotels and it was an amazing experience.
The 21c Hotel has been in Durham since 2015 in the historic Hill Building (an old bank). This hotel brand is notorious for re-purposing old buildings in medium sized cities. They also have an amazing museum that features art from the owners’ private collection. These museums are open to the public.
All of the 21c Hotels have a flock of signature of limited edition sculpted penguins by artist collective, Cracking Art, which are on permanent exhibition at all the hotels. The Durham location has fuschia penguins that are so cute! We had to take a photo with one!
The next day, we went to do yoga and a tour of Fullsteam Brewery.
The yoga was very relaxing and our instructor helped us get out some much needed kinks… after that, we met with the Sean Lily, owner of Fullsteam Brewing to check out the place. Sean showed us an amazing time when we visited. We sampled a few beers, (10 to be exact) three sodas, and a few Kombuchas because….. why not?!
The most interesting beers were local and seasonal: a persimmon beer and a sweet potato beer.
North Carolina has been the top producers of sweet potatoes since 1971. Sean even makes sure that his employees know about seasonal foods as well as different beer trends BEFORE he hires them!
Fullsteam Brewery also has an amazing kitchen!
We had wings with sorghum sauce and gnocchi that was made perfectly!
After we stuffed our bellies, Sean took us on a tour of the facility. It’s fascinating to see how passionate he was about his beer process. It was even better to taste some of the fresh beer before carbonation!
We went during a weekday, but Sean says that they have an awesome weekend crowd with live music! The entire experience was incredible and we can’t wait to get back to Durham to see what Fullsteam Brewery is doing next!
After we left Fullsteam Brewing, we went down the street we went a few blocks away to Durham Distilling.
Melissa and Lee Katrinic are not only married, former scientists, they are also the founders of Durham Distilling, founded in 2013. They wanted to make amazing southern spirits that incorporated art and science, and that’s exactly what they did.
Melissa, who was our lovely host, also manages the distillery. She told us it took them tasting approximately 250 gins over a year to even figure out what gin flavor they wanted!
The small batch gin process starts with Gertrude. Who is Gertrude you ask? Well she’s just a 230 liter German copper pot still. Melissa named her still Gertrude after her grandmother who always told her to “NOT HAVE A CONNIPTION!” Now, she’s has 2 kinds of conniptions: Navy Strength, and American Dry.
Gertrude runs EVERY day, and since she has a custom design, the product results in a clean, flavorful gin. There is also a custom designed trey for the essential gin botanicals like cardamom and juniper. The more delicate botanicals are individually vacuum distilled at room temperature to maintain flavor consistency. They do this with their 20L evaporator. Durham D. is the only Distillery that has vapor and vacuum for the production of their spirits.
Conniption Navy Gin
The Conniption was the first time we ever had Navy Strength Gin. A navy strength gin is a powerful alcoholic expression of the juniper informed spirits, typically 57% alcohol by volume (ABV). That means that this gin is over 114 Proof! That’s a strong gin! But the flavor is incredible. We were very impressed.
Conniption American Dry Gin
The Conniption American Dry gin is has a lower ABV (44%). Its processed with herbs like coriander, Angelica root, cardamom and of course juniper. It also has a very crisp, clean, flavor.
Durham Distillery is the #2 gin producing distillery in the U.S.
Cucumber Vodka
Although, we are not huge vodka fans, their vodka is pretty awesome! Since they use cucumbers in their evaporator to naturally flavor the vodka, it’s the ONLY cucumber vodka that’s not flavored with extracts! How amazing is that?! It was delicious by itself, and even BETTER as a cocktail.
Damn Fine Liqueurs
These liqueurs incorporate ingredients sourced locally from the Raleigh-Durham area. They use Slingshot Coffee Company, and Videri Chocolate Factory products to make ALL NATURAL liqueurs. There are 3 flavors: Coffee, mocha, and chocolate and they are all terrific!
We had so much fun at Durham Distillery with Melissa and we can’t wait to go back! We hear they have CANNED cocktails now! Can’t wait to try one of those. If you’re ever in the Triangle area, please check them out!
We loved exploring the up and coming beverage scene in Durham and we can’t wait to go back! Cheers! Now, where are the restaurants and bars?!?!
