What the Heck is Red Bud?

What the Heck is Red Bud?

Things that make Raleigh great!

Ever have a time when you came from a different part of the country and had to learn a few new things?

It's happened to me a few times in my life. The last time was when I moved to Raleigh without much idea of the local culture. I come from a large family that is a little on the laid back side. That means there isn't a lot of culture that any of us would know much about.

A short time after coming down here from the Maine coast, I joined a large multinational company with a small cadre of local folks who somehow slipped in.

One day they invited me to join them for lunch at a local establishment. Being polite, I set aside my home made sandwich and joined them.

One of them was a little on the wired side, and the first things out of his mouth when we went out to the parking lot was "you're going to see a lot of red bud." Being polite and not wanting to appear too stupid I just nodded my head.

I had no idea of what kind of beer Red Bud was. I didn't even know they brewed a red beer.

So I just piled in the car with four new friends and headed for the local place.

Local in the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill) is not like local in Maine. We drove way up into Durham almost into the city; about twenty five miles from where we were working.

The person who was so excited kept pointing out the windows and saying "Isn't it beautiful." I wasn't sure if he wasn't using something since he was so hyper.

We got to the establishment, which turned out to be an Italian restaurant. I thought it was kind of neat that an Italian Restaurant would offer interesting beers. I searched the whole beer menu for Red Bud. It wasn't there.

Then my new friends started ordering this and that with sweet tea. They didn't even order anything to drink. It turns out that we, me included, were not allowed to have a drink at lunch. Damned inconvenient on a hot spring day, I thought. But being polite and not wanting to appear as ignorant as I felt, I kept my mouth shut and ordered sweet tea.