Justin M.
Yelp
I grew up in Charleston SC, lived almost 20 yrs in Kansas City and currently live in Austin TX, which means my BBQ knowledge is fairly extensive. I inevitably get the question "who has the best BBQ?" to which my response is always any state can have great or poor BBQ these days. That leads me to writing a review of Swig and Swine in Summerville SC.
Located in a fairly easy location to access in Summerville with plenty of parking S&S has an extremely modest exterior. The old wood beams holding up the porch roof connected to an off-white painted bricks really reminds me of Texas; a low-key invitation to stop, tie the horse up, read the chalk board specials menu and come on in. Once inside and under the tiled black ceiling, a stretched varnished wood top bar is the dominating feature with tons of liquor options behind the bartender. The seating décor consists of simple tan wood chairs and tables with a plethora of sauces; catering to the fussiest of sauce aficionados.
The beverage menu threw me for a loop as there are TONS of whisky options along with "crafted and crafty" cocktails. This is an interesting dichotomy in several ways. Whiskey is somewhat of a peasant beverage yet recently it's garnered a sophisticated edge. Juxtapose whiskey's humble Scottish roots with cocktails which tend to be more associated with a raised pinky of the elite, then throw in the "Fratty" (bonus if you can't that reference) beer options and the Party Pitchers of Swig Wine or Rum punch and the spectrum is well represented. I opted for the Jefferson's Ocean whisky on the rocks which is probably my favorite bourbon and my female friend got exactly two cocktails which she enjoyed. With that I would like I'd like to conclude and convey all your beverage cravings can more than likely be satisfied with flying colors, now on to the star of the show, and with a dramatic pause; lack thereof.
I didn't realize they were a chain, which is dreadfully important to note b/c "location, location, location." My friend ordered the pulled pork with red rice. I was craving onion rings; you know the kind the big fat crispy ones? Yeah, a BBQ joint in the south doesn't serve them which left me disappointed however they did have hash on the menu which I'd been craving so that saved me a trip. We began eating and inevitably we started to share. To delay gratification, I sampled her rice apparently with a quaint look on my face which caused her to ask what's wrong? I said, this rice is horrible. To expound I indicated when cooking red rice, it should be toasted with some sort of fat which helps stabilize the rice kernels and protects them from over expansion. What's more it imparts a certain smokiness. In essence the rice was rather bland and gummy. She took another bite and agreed. Oh, well its three days before Thxgiving and mistakes happen. She adamantly implored me to try her pulled pork and I was genuinely excited and threw some tasty sauce on it and I began to chew. To my dismay there was little smoke but it was extremely dry. It literally took me out of my element. She didn't believe me because she had a bite and said it was good. After she tried another sample, same deal little flavor but extremely dry. Moreover, I ordered some to go at the end of the night to take home to my mother and she immediately claimed the same thing, to dry. Although I did really enjoy the pickled onions which were quite tasty. To quote Forest Gump, "that's all I have to say about that."
To finish on a good of a note as I can the hash was a tinge dry, no doubt from the pork but everything else was extremely good. It was a little too peppery for me but that's extremely subjective, otherwise the texture, body and flavors were pretty good. What's more is the rice was cooked perfectly with individual kernels! This implies they can make rice properly, just not when you put a color in front of the word. The only part of the culinary experience that I would deem an overwhelming success were the sauces. The Carolina mustard was the star among stars, hitting the nostrils with a welcome pungent mustard aroma followed by a subtle vinegar hit and spices on the palate. The sweet red was a darn good traditional red sauce with a lot a hit of molasses at the end. The jalapeno sauce was just as good and seemed to use the sweet red as a base with jalapeno mixed in and not extremely hot. I loved the Alabama white sauce; a creamy horseradish forward that sauce was a great alternative to the more traditional sauces you find in most BBQ restaurants.
I'm not going to pontificate the sentiments of others but give my one time assessment which is disappointment with the added note that perhaps because it was three days before Thxgiving the pitmaster was on vacation. I hope that this was a one off situation and things are much better for other customers, however I won't be returning.
