Buckwater Brewing

Yesterday we went to Backwater Brewing which is a new brewery in Carbondale.  It doesn't open until 3pm so we took a little ride to blow time.  I went down memory lane with a little trip around the SIU campus.  I hadn't really seen the sports area behind the arena and it looked very nice.  We drove around a portion of campus lake and by the Wham building where I worked for 20 years but not by Lentz where I finished up my time there.  I also went by Pulliam Hall where I went to grade school.  Overall the campus looked really deserted even for a Saturday afternoon.
We got to Backwater just as they were opening up and were told the kitchen didn't open until 4pm.  While we were getting a beer and deciding what we would do we were told that the kitchen was ready and we could order food.  We decided to split a meatlovers flatbread pizza and a bucket of wings.  The wings came with two dipping sauces, an Alabama white sauce and a sweet Thai chili however I preferred them plain and they were outstanding.  The pizza was also very good but getting both of them was too much food.
While we were there the owner told us he's hoping to start brewing his own beer by the end of the month.  The federal office that issues a brewing stamp has been shutdown for several months but is expected to open back up soon.
By the time we had finished the clouds had cleared off so we went for a ride around Giant City and down through Cobden and Alto Pass before heading home through Pomona and those back roads.