What a drunken spelling bee actually is
It is the spelling bee from primary school, rebuilt for a taproom. A host reads a word aloud; you spell it back into a microphone, letter by letter, with the room listening; the words get harder every round until one person is left standing. Playing costs nothing — there is no cover and no buy-in. What primary school did not have is the penalty: miss a word and you take a free shot, then sing, dance or mime your way through a redemption round to win your place back in line.
Charlotte's brewery game-night circuit is otherwise almost entirely pub quiz, music bingo and themed trivia — team games scored across a whole night. A spelling bee is a different shape of evening:
- You play as an individual, not as a table of five. Showing up alone is normal here.
- A miss costs you your place, not points. A wrong letter puts you out of the line and into a redemption round in front of the whole room — with a free shot on the house, doubles included.
- Nothing gets written down. The host reads the word aloud, it goes up on the venue screen with an illustration drawn for it, and you spell it back into the mic.
- General knowledge does not help. No history round and no sports round. It is one skill, all night.
The host
The night is run by Shice, Mr. Talk of Da Town — a Brooklyn native and seasoned host whose career spans radio and television, game-show hosting, and live entertainment aboard Carnival Cruise Lines. These days, he brings that same experience to Charlotte, hosting karaoke, sing-alongs, music bingo and other live events through his company, We Got That Entertainment Group, as well as private events booked through his own site.
For Spell Shice, that experience is the secret ingredient. This isn't a pub quiz where a host simply reads questions from a sheet. Shice is the engine of the night: reading the words, building the energy, keeping the room engaged while contestants sweat over a vowel, handing out the shots, and turning wrong answers into redemption challenges that can send players dancing their way back into the game.
Powered by SpellCrush
The night runs on SpellCrush, a spelling practice app for kids. Built for this? Absolutely not. It was built so a third-grader can beat a spelling test, with word lists, little drawings for every word, and difficulty levels that climb as the speller gets better. Its day job is spelling practice for children. At night it moonlights, pointed at a room full of adults with a beer in hand and a word list to match, and the drawings that were meant to help a kid remember “giraffe” are now watching you lose “bourgeois” in front of your friends.
Think of it as insurance: parents who do not want their kids embarrassed at the school bee the way they were embarrassed on a weeknight at Birkdale can hand the same online spelling game to the kid the next morning. Free to try, works on any phone or tablet, no beer required for that version.
Where and when
One venue, one night a week — this is not a touring format or a chain of bees, and Birkdale Village is the only taproom running it. Schedules do move around holidays and private bookings, so the taproom's own page is the last word on whether it is on this week.
How a night runs
The host drives the whole thing from a phone or laptop; the venue screen mirrors it. Nothing gets written down: no answer sheets to collect, no marking break and no scorer hunched over a laptop, which is why the night moves faster than a quiz of the same length.
- Sign up. You put your name in when you arrive, free — no cover, no buy-in. No teams to assemble, no minimum number of friends.
- Early rounds are warm-ups. The first words are ones nearly everyone gets, which is deliberate: it puts the whole room in the game before it starts taking people out of it.
- The difficulty ramps. Each round pulls from a harder band of words. Somewhere in the middle the room thins out quickly, and the words that do it are rarely the ones people expect.
- Misspell one and you drink. A miss takes you out of the line and buys you a shot — sometimes a double, always free, always immediately.
- Then you earn your way back. Missing a word is not the end of your night. The host sets you a redemption task in front of the room, and clearing it puts you back in line. The task is entirely the host's call — usually dancing, singing, or miming your way through a phonogram while it plays. Some of the best parts of the night happen here rather than in the spelling.
- Last speller standing wins. If the field is still crowded late on, the word list gets nastier until it is not. The brewery and the host both put up prizes, and what is on the table changes week to week.
You need nothing at all — no pen, no paper, no entry fee, just a voice and some nerve. Phones stay down, for reasons that should be obvious. Sort your ride home before the first round — the shots are free and the redemption rounds are generous, and between them the night gets away from people faster than they plan for.
Questions people ask
What is a drunken spelling bee?
It is a school spelling bee run for adults in a bar. It is free to enter — there is no cover and no buy-in. A host reads a word out loud, you step up and spell it back into the microphone, and the words get harder every round until one speller is left. Where it stops resembling fourth grade: misspelling a word earns you a free shot, and it does not necessarily end your night — you can play your way back into the line through a redemption round.
How is it different from bar trivia?
Bar trivia is a team game: four or five people confer, write one answer, and score points across the night. A spelling bee is individual — you spell your own word out loud into the mic, and getting it wrong costs you your place in line rather than a couple of points. There is no general-knowledge component at all; every question is one spoken word. And unlike a quiz, going out is a performance: a free shot, then a redemption round to win your way back in.
Do I need a team?
No, and you do not need money either — playing is free. Everyone plays as an individual, so turning up alone works — which is the main practical difference from the rest of Charlotte's brewery trivia circuit, where a solo player is at a real disadvantage.
Where is the Drunken Spelling Bee in Charlotte?
Suffolk Punch Brewing's Birkdale Village taproom, at 16912 Birkdale Commons Pkwy in Huntersville, just north of Charlotte. It is currently the only venue running it.
What happens when I misspell a word?
Two things. You take a free shot — sometimes a double, and always on the house — and you go into the redemption round, where the host sets you a task to win your place back in line. What the task is depends on the host, but it is usually dancing, singing, or miming your way through a phonogram in front of the room. Pull it off and you are back in the bee.
Are the shots really free?
Yes. Every misspelling comes with a free shot from the bar, and the host hands out doubles when the mood takes them. You are not buying your way back into the game — the shots and the redemption rounds are part of the format. Plan your ride home accordingly.
Are there prizes?
Yes, from both the brewery and the host. What is on offer changes week to week, so ask when you sign up.
How much does it cost to play?
Nothing. Entry to the Drunken Spelling Bee is free — no cover at the door, no buy-in and no ticket to book. You put your name in when you arrive and you are in. Buying a beer while you are there is encouraged rather than required, and the shots you earn by misspelling are on the house.
Do I have to spell out loud?
Yes. There is nothing to write down and no answer sheet — the host reads the word, it goes up on the venue screen with an illustration, and you spell it back letter by letter into a microphone with the whole room listening. That is the entire appeal for some people and the entire terror for others.