SUB SHOP LOOKING TO EXPAND SUDS OFFERINGS
By Colin Burch
For Weekly Surge
Robin Wooley and Dean Wooley opened Subs and Suds six weeks ago now. Originally from New Jersey, the Wooleys came up with the idea for Subs and Suds, and run it as a family business. Located at 4006 Postal Way in Carolina Forest, the shop specializes in 16-inch subs priced from $6.99 to $10.
Dean Wooley also wants to specialize in good beer. He wants to offer more than Yuengling, Blue Moon, and Miler Light on tap for $2-$3, and Heineken, Amstel Light, Corona and others in bottles for $3-$4. He wants to develop partnerships with area microbreweries so he can serve their beers in his shop. He said a distributer was talking with Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery about the possibility of bringing some Liberty kegs out to Carolina Forest.
Dean Wooley is still getting familiar with the area. When I asked him if he had spoken with New South Brewing Co., he hadn't heard of the Myrtle Beach-based brewery. He said he appreciated the new contact. I mentioned the brewpub Quigley's Pint and Plate in Pawleys Island, although the pints-and-growlers business there is different from the keg-only distribution to bars and restaurants at New South.
Dean Wooley is also talking with a local who makes his own root beer. I'll check in with Subs and Suds in the next few weeks and find out how the beer effort is going.
Andy Hoppe said he'll eventually take over the business.
I asked him what he and his father think about the big American domestic beers. "We tend to avoid those whenever possible," he said with a laugh.
BETTER THAN NESTLE QUIK
Liquor Quik is a line of 20-milliliter bottles with concentrated flavors. Pour a bottle of Liquor Quik into a 750-milliliter bottle of grain alcohol or vodka, and you have amaretto, or hazelnut liqueur, or maybe Irish cream, or several others. Who thinks up this stuff?
I found Liquor Quik for $4.39 per bottle at Beach HomeBrew in The Galleria at 9612 North Kings Highway.
"I made the Grand Marnier and I couldn't tell the difference," said Ed Waldorf, owner of Beach HomeBrew, referring to the orange-brandy flavored Liquor Quik flavor. Waldorf said he buys a mid-priced vodka from Sam's Club for his mixes, making the concoction less expensive ounce-for-ounce than buying the real Grand Marnier.
HOPPED UP FOR HEALTH
Last year, Josh Quigley of Quigley's Pint and Plate said he thought many microbreweries are over-hopping their India Pale Ales. From the standpoint of flavor, I often agree, but there might be one good reason for over-hopping, Quig'.
FoxNews.com recently reported, "Preliminary studies indicate xanthohumol, a compound found in hops, inhibits a family of enzymes which trigger cancer, as well as help the body detoxify carcinogens."
Hops are cone-shaped blossoms used to give beer its aroma, dryness, and in the case of highly hopped brews like IPAs, a kind of spiciness.
The article quoted Dr. Werner Back, a brewing technology expert at the Technical University of Munich in Germany, who said, "It's very healthy. I think the ingredients in the beer are very good."
Of course the article held an inevitable qualification.
To get the health value of hops from a typical brew, you'd have to chug about 60 cans.
So researchers are trying to figure out how to add more xanthohumel to beers.
- Contact Colin Burch - the Beerman - at beerpour@yahoo.com.