Ever been to one of those parties where there’s beer pong and flip cup and all these drinking games that college people play when they’re hot and half-naked? And how you, being a big city intellectual who’s distilling Fernet Branca in your claw-footed bathtub, rolled your eyes and tried real hard to have a bad time? Only to find yourself at the end of the night in the most heated, hilarious battle of flip cup ever waged, laughing and laughing and smelling like all sorts of beer?
Well, welcome to that backyard party on steroids. The Deck at Moonshine Flats is a 5,000-square-foot, open-roof beer sports Shangri la in Downtown (344 7th Ave.) designed by Patrick Gallahue for Ty Hauter of Good Time Design. It’s got two bars made of shipping containers, 24 taps including local craft beers, Moonshine-based cocktails and slushies. Swing open the front doors (they’re gates) and you’ve got oversized beer pong, corn hole, flip cup, shuffleboard, ping-pong and pool tables. The kitchen serves anti-pretension food (buckets with ribs, shrimp or chicken wings, burgers, salads, etc.). An acoustic band or a DJ might play during an eating contest or a NCAA-esque flip cup tournament.
Providing shade for all this is a 22-foot African Sumac tree smack dab in the middle of the action.
During football season (t-minus one week), it’s designed to be the tailgating spot to crush all tailgating spots, with barbecue going all day, beer specials, and busses to and from Chargers games. It should make your neighborhood sports bar look like a tame, dainty place to watch 300 pound men in tights and helmets pummel each other.
The Deck at Moonshine Flats opens today (Aug. 29) at 3PM, and will serve happy hour from 3-9PM. From there on out, it will be open Tuesday through Sunday.