Axelrad Beer Garden

Alabama Street stays loud on a Friday night when you walk past the string lights hanging over the patio. Music drifts straight out onto the pavement before you even make it past the entrance gate. It is just a massive backyard party setup with rows of wooden picnic tables and dozens of canvas hammocks swinging under the trees. You order a cold drink at the main bar inside and head straight for the open air.

Bands set up on the outdoor stage while the crowd clusters around with plastic cups. People bring dogs that nap right near the speaker stacks while local jazz acts or indie bands run through their sets. There isn't any formal seating chart, so you just grab space on a bench next to strangers sharing a pizza box from the window next door. Sound bounces off the brick walls of the old building and mixes with the traffic humming down the block.

Midtown weekends get packed fast, and you will find yourself waiting in line for a fresh round if you time it wrong. Smoke from food trucks drifts across the yard while everyone leans back in the hammock mesh with a hazy guitar solo echoing off the fence.