Bar: Burns Alley Tavern
Address: 354B King St, Charleston, SC 29401
Score: 9.4/10
Wow, just wow. Rarely do I get surprised by a bar. Typically I get enough people telling me about the bar beforehand that I have expectations going in. My expectations did not exist for this bar, but holy shit did this bar deliver. To set the stage, I was hot as hell walking on King St. This is a crazy busy street and was even busier during a holiday weekend. I put in the GPS to Burns Alley Tavern and I will admit, I could not find it at first. It was because it was in an alley (duh) and I made a wrong turn. After I stopped being an idiot, I found the bar and immediately knew it was going to be unreal after seeing the sign. The sign itself just looked vintage to fit the look of the stunning brick building. Come to find out the building is over 200 years old, yet the bar is only 20 years old. I then walked up to a red door and a unique red/white/blue sign with the bars name. Stickers all over the door, exactly what I’d expect for a good dive.
Upon entering the bar, I did not expect a two story, dimly lit bar, with multicolor lights bouncing off of the walls, but that is the reality of the situation I found myself in. Because the bar was absolutely slammed, I made my way to the upstairs balcony section to really get a good look at the bar. While I was on the balcony or second level section, I noticed a few things. I first noticed a deer mount with bras hanging all over the antlers, a shopping cart hanging from the ceiling full of cans, and one of the sweetest Old Milwaukee lights hanging above a table. Upstairs also featured a damn good selection of movie posters, featuring Stripes and Animal House as well as a prominent selection of Cubs signage, which I thought was just perfect. Below the bar itself, the back bar had tons of stickers from presumably patrons, a ton of IDs, (which I assume were fakes that were collected), Golden Tee and Big Buck Hunter. Golden Tee adds a lot of value in my opinion, but Big Buck Hunter takes the cake when we talk about bar games. The final feature if you can’t keep yourself entertained at this bar was a massive karaoke stage. It was too early for karaoke, but man I know this place is electric when it is going. I really appreciated the “Jesus Loves Booze” sign behind the stage, someone had to say it.
Much like most of my top tier bars, my visit was just a tad short. I would have loved to work more time at this bar and I am already looking forward to my next visit. Please make this a stop when visiting Charleston, the bar is in a killer location and is a refreshing stop to escape the Charleston heat.
Price: $6 for a Miller, by far the worst part of this bar. But for how neat this bar is, I can stomach that. Much cheaper options like PBR and High Life.
Service: Fast service, one bartender for a whole packed bar.
Atmosphere: It was 85 degrees outside, absolutely gorgeous and yet patrons packed this bar at 4pm in the afternoon.
High Life Bottle?: Of course they had it.
Bonus Points: No