First of all, a little informal introduction as you’ll be seeing my lovely self posting more frequently.

My name is Liz and I’m a recent addition to the Spiral Hosts with the Most community as of Fall 2010. Originally hailing from Boston, I ventured down to Atlanta for college and immediately loved everything about the growing city - the all day drinking festivals, diverse neighborhoods, young “transplant” culture and of course, beautiful weather March - October sold me on living here post-college.

All in all, I’ve been here just over 6 years with quite a number of beer festivals, restaurant visits and bar hops under my belt. As a bona-fide foodie and culture seeker, Atlanta keeps surprising me every week with new treasures to check out. My friends call me the “social queen” for this reason (and because I publish a weekly Atlanta social calendar), so I hope to share my knowledge and let’s not lie, bias, with all you Spiral fans via this blog.

Secondly, let it be known that I’m a beer snob. For my first blog post, I’d like to highlight one of my new favorite hotspots that’s certainly gotten a lot of attention lately for you fellow beer fans: Ormsby’s.

Tucked into a nook of a shopping center in the up and coming Westside, Ormsby’s takes the neighborhood tavern/pub to the next level. Not only do they have an ever-changing menu of craft beers on draft (and in bottles) and an excellent upscale but affordable pub menu (try the chicken apple sausage in pretzel roll and insanely large beer-battered onion rings, pictured below), this place showcases everyone’s favorite drinking accompaniment: games! There’s nothing like sipping a few cold brews and playing a round of shuffleboard, darts, ski ball (my former Chuck-E-Cheese favorite) and yes, bocce ball. For you traditional board game players (reminiscent of Middle School), they also have a wide selection of sit down games for dinner conversation starts around the 2 story establishment - come on, who doesn’t love Uno, Jenga or Operation?

Ormsby’s has earned it’s spot in my heart as a perfect Happy Hour, date or even later night destination. Excellent choice for groups as well with the diversity of games (and beers), plus their very own private party section. I recently watched the Falcons Playoff game there and couldn’t have been happier with the crowd (excluding the Falcons performance).

Other similar bars and restaurants that mix games with libations: Twain’s (Decatur), Thinking Man (Decatur), Cypress Street Pint & Plate (Midtown -I’ve been known to play a mean game of Connect 4 at the bar), Empire State South (Midtown - bocce ball court) and The Highlander (Midtown on Monroe).

Share your favorite spots to grab a cold one and maybe play a few games on the side. Here’s to a New Year filled with Atlanta adventures!