The Upper Deck

Believe it or not, last night I went to The Upper Deck for the very first time. I don't think I had ever been in the building back when it was part of the Pine Ridge Ski Area, either.

I won't be going back.

Now, I didn't expect much... it's a "sports bar" after all. I knew better than to order fried food, or nasty Bud Light on tap. But when I scanned the liquors behind the bar and saw the bright blue bottle, I figured a Bombay Sapphire and Tonic was a safe bet. The bartender poured with an amazingly heavy hand for such a top-shelf Gin. He asked whether I wanted a lime. He topped the very large plastic cup with Tonic from a bar gun. I watched the whole thing. However, I am quite certain that whatever was in that blue bottle, it was not Sapphire. And whatever came out of that gun was not tonic. It was the nastiest, most disgusting G&T I've ever had. Horrible. Ick.

Cherie, being ever so much smarter than me, ordered a bottle of Bass. And together, those two drinks cost us $10.

The reason we were there was to support a friend who does stand-up. The place was absolutely packed, and incredibly loud. When we got there, a guy was doing a solo guitar act, and was not bad. I suppose one expects to be ignored when doing classic rock songs in the corner of a noisy bar. Next up was our friend, and the loud, drunk crowd would just not shut up. I know doing stand-up is hard, but I can't begin to imagine how one would do it in a room full of drunks shouting at each other, and paying absolutely no attention to the comic.

Out on the deck many of the patrons were smoking cigars. Not exactly in compliance with the Barre Health Code, I'm sure, but the smoke mostly stayed outside.

I suppose on a regular night when there isn't a fundraiser for baseball going on, it might not be such a bad place to get a drink. But if you do, order bottled beer.