Beer, Burgers, Bloggers, and Babies – $25 GC Giveaway to Islands Burgers!

The good folks at Islands Burgers invited a gang of bloggers to try out their new summer menu items, and guess what? I “jumped in” to the right gang! I didn’t even have to Sharpie my eyebrows for this – SWEET.

Let me back up – I love Islands, for real. This is not a paid endorsement. The Wife and I have our regular orders – the Hawaiian burger for him, the No-Blame Grilled Veggie Tacos for me, and fries. We never stray from this formula because it’s so tasty. Until now.

I drove myself to the Brea, CA location and met up with my fellow SCLB gangsters for some catch-up time and libations. The first thing I noticed was the drinks display. (I try not to drink during long drives because I don’t want to pee my pants. I was thirsty.) Islands is debuting six new drinks and three new seasonal beers – two shandies (kind of like rattlers – beer, lemonade, and other stuff), two sangrias, and two adult milkshakes. When I say ‘adult,’ I don’t mean p0rn. Get your mind out of the gutter, AJ and Melissa. I know how you roll.

I tried the ginger-berry shandy, and it’s become my new favorite drink. It’s what it sounds like – it’s a hybrid mix of a lemonade, ginger beer, wildberry, and their Islands Golden Ale – light, refreshing, and still has a buzz. I’m not a wine person so I passed on the sangria but the homegirls winos bloggers in the group can tell you about them.

Shandies and Sangria – Islands Burgers

I’m not sure why I never order this but this ahi tuna poke has been on the menu forever. As my former twenty-something colleague used to say, “This is bomb.” I lurve spinach-artichoke dip, so I piled it on my plate. Ain’t no shame, ladies. The buffalo wings were spicy, so if you like chicken with a kick, this is it. My tolerance for spicy is pretty low, so I almost called the fire department for mouth-to-mouth. Just kidding, I’m not into firefighters.

Appies and Bloggers doing what they do best. Islands Burgers

We then set about chowing down on the Wiqui Waqui salad and their newest burger addition, Heat Wave. It’s topped with diced serrano peppers and spicy jack, so if you like heat and spicy, this is the burger to try. This, too, was too spicy for me – take it with a grain of salt – I really am a wuss with spicy food.

Wiqui Waqui salad & Heat Wave burger – Islands Burgers

But wait, there’s more. Islands’ two (adult) milkshakes brings all the boys to the yard. Well, it totally brought this blogger to the yard. Shake that thang, Islands! Introducing the Coco Colada and my new favorite Islands milkshake, the Irish Shake! (Not to be confused with the Harlem Shake.) You want rum? Coco Colada. You want Jameson? Irish Shake.

Coco Colada and Irish Shake – Islands Burgers

I ended my day at Islands Burgers with two babies. Not my babies! My uterus is barren like the Salton Sea. Gah. THESE BABIES! Melissa and Megan brought their infants with them as it would be highly irresponsible if they left the babies at home… alone. They’re not old enough to Macaulay Caulkin it. (Some day, boys, some day.)

Melissa Dell & Megan McClain – Blogger Babies are NOT on the menu. Sorry, schmoes.

I had a wonderful time chatting with the Islands Burgers team. They answered my questions about ingredients, and they tried to pack up a Heat Wave burger for me. (Obviously they were trying to burn my mouth.) Thank you so much, Islands Burgers, for hosting and for… this giveaway!

On to the other good stuff: Giveaway Details

I’ve got two (2) $25 gift cards to Islands Burgers, which means there will be two winners. (Highlander, you are not. The good news is, no one needs to cut anyone’s head off.) This is my first time using this Rafflecopter thing so bear with me. This old dog may actually learn a new trick.

Be sure to sign in/use the Rafflecopter widget to enter. The mandatory entry is to answer the question - If you won this prize, who would you bring with you to Islands Burgers? 

Two (2) winners will be chosen at random. Deadline to enter is Tuesday July 30, 2013 – 11:59am PST. This is valid in US. NOTE – Islands Restaurants are located in California, Nevada and Arizona. I will schlep the postage to mail the G/C to you. Entrants need to be 18 years or older. Winners have 48 hours to respond with a valid mailing address or I will choose another winner at random.

Ready? Go! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: Islands hosted this lunch event and is sponsoring this giveaway. All opinions my own, of course. Bitch, please. Do you really think they’d tell me to write about Highlander the movie?