Gene's Haufbrau
817 Savannah Highway
Charleston, South Carolina 29407
Ph : 843.225.4363

When you have limited time in a brand new city, want to explore their beer world, and end up at the same place twice in four nights, you've got yourself a nice place.
Gene's Haufbrau is a helluva nice little place. Not by any standard but by South Carolina standards (see Southend Brewery for conext).

Here is what I love most about Gene's...they have good beers and they list them as beers from America and beers from other places. That is how I see the world too, after a few hours at Gene's.

It is a neighborhood place, dark and semi-spacious. It has maybe 100 or so bottles and a dozen or so taps.
On our first trip I tried so hard to tranquilize my mind but after while I realized I was disarranging mine (apologies to Jagger/Richards).
So I had Holy City beers on tap. They had a smoked marzen that was very, very tasty. Too tasty for more than one; it was strong and strange but well done.
Pluffed Mud Porter was very nice, and Holy City Pilsner was a decent enough American pils.
We ordered a Cajun crawdad appetizer and it was the best damn bar appetizer I have had since I ate locally caught calamari on an upper Mississippi Riverboat in Rock Island. It was huge, delicious, and cheap.

The bathroom was decorated with engaging graffiti and they played music that sounded like songs you knew but it was always somebody else doing a song like the one you knew. When we left I kissed a man and called him my son for the benefit of a stranger who was talking about having sex with the tailpipe of a Ford 350 as best I can remember.

Two nights later we were back. We were six this time. A beer or two into the evening I used the restroom and came back to find Lonnie Matina had dropped in and taken my seat. I confess Lonnie always makes me laugh but he scares me a bit. He was drinking Paulaners like he heard they were going to stop bottling them, but God he was funny.
Gene's is a good time in Charleston.