grodney

I don't recall seeing Granite Falls locally, but my bro-in-law says he's bought it in Charlotte. Stopped and bought cans at the brewery yesterday. The Hoppalacia IPA is pretty damn good....a weird cross between west cost and hazy. Had the Scottish (9.0%) as a knock-out blow last night. Great flavor but maybe a touch watery? Not my favorite style so don't put too much stock in my review. The brewery had a ton of space and was amazingly empty at 3pm on a Saturday. They have skeeball and pool and other arcade games in their brewing area. Absolutely nobody on the patio, so maybe we should have stayed for a pint. Eh, maybe when the Delta fades a bit. I was the ONLY one in the place in a mask, including all workers......it's 2019 in Granite Falls! Anyway, only 3.0 miles off 321, seems like a great stop with a daughter at App!

Looks.....fun?

I probably posted it here when I went there, but it definitely gave me an "original Birdsong" vibe......which is great. That must have been about Dec 2019, just before the sky fell. Would love to go back someday. Glad they're (apparently) doing well.

I hadn't driven from 85-southbound to 77-southbound since all the construction and express lanes and all that....until today. Wow. That is the worst transition from one major interstate to another major interstate that I have ever seen. I can't believe they got away with that. Yow.

There's a youtuber/twitcher that plays Geoguessr and is very good at the USA map. Somebody challenged him to the sporcle(?) challenge of "how many US cities can you name in 1 hour"? Spoiler......he names 917(!) cities.......including 32 of the 33 most populous. Guess which one he didn't get. In the comments: “The largest city you forgot was Charlotte, but that’s okay, I’d forget Charlotte, too.” —Raleigh Watching him rip through the Chicago suburbs (like 80 of them?!) is amazing.

Cross Traust off of the CharMeck list.....they're going to Mt Holly. Actually already opened there, taking over a restaurant that had apparently recently closed. https://www.charlotteobserver.com/charlottefive/c5-food-drink/article252776343.html

Showmars, right? Both lists.

Traust is still alive, they are "working hard to find another taproom space!" Source: Facebook DM

Two local beers I've been enjoying in cans lately......both from Legion. Next Chapter is a New England IPA. I like it. Better than Juicy Jay. Just check the date before buying, as I've seen some old ones out there. The other is Flicker Daze. This is an American Wheat. Back in the old days, like late 90s, before craft beer was everywhere, there was Boulevard Beer in Kansas City. They made an American Wheat that was light and refreshing.....often served with a slice of lemon. Flicker Daze takes me back to that. Obviously won't be a favorite for everyone. It's a little watery. But I liked it enough to buy a 2nd 4-pack for these hot summer days. If I like this 4-pack as much, I'll seek it out for upcoming beach trips. Bought Double Radio Haze this morning.....but haven't cracked one open yet.....it's only 9:30am, hahahaha.

When the covid hit, I lost interest in the Charlotte brewery scene (and, well, everything else). So I'm looking to update my list/map with everything that's happened since Feb 2020. Can you all help? Did Cavendish ever open that taproom or whatever in Plaza Mid? Traust isn't open physically yet, right? Can't find any sign they are. What is Sunstead these days, if anything? Did Suffolk Punch ever start actually physically brewing at Noble Smoke? Thanks!

" A panel of experts partnered with 10Best editors to pick the initial nominees, and the top 10 winners were determined by popular vote. " All it takes is the Indianapolis Agenda or whatever to have some article about Indy being in the running for Best Beer City and a link for all readers to go vote. Or some such similar social media campaign.

Totally Off Topic: You know all those prescription drug ads? Could you tell what the drug was for, if you didn't have any text or voice-over?

Also, I grabbed two different Sugar Creek 4-packs....the white and the hazy. Both were canned in early Jan, and both were fine. So that was a relief. (I'm sure purists think the hazy was too old, but it was okay for me. )

I should have known better than to grab this Town Brewing Hazy Double off the shelf at HT Ballantyne without checking the date. As soon as I popped the tab, I knew the mistake I'd made. 12/22/2020. Way overcarbonated. Giant yeast cake in the bottom of the can. So disappointing.

Picking up or dropping off? Hahahahaha.

Hmmmm, a new year-round beer from NoDa.....a 4.5% lager available in 8-packs. Also, we knew Haze So-Low (4.3%) was becoming year-round, but it will also be in 8-packs. Nice! Great beach beers. Edit: Sorry for the massive pictures. Please delete/lock/ban as appropriate.

Made a beerrun to Heist and NoDa yesterday. The Hop Cakes is delicious, as always. But I was really disappointed with the Court Shoes Only. I don't know, maybe I just don't know what to expect in these double IPAs or especially double hazy IPAs. I guess the "good" news is that I have a lot left to give it another shot. On the Heist side, the Needs More Flair is smooth and delicious, just like every other Heist hazy.

If it feels like we haven't had any warm days lately, this is why: I decided not to post this forecast but I can't remove it from my post, hahahaha

Found it.

My daughter and I seem to remember a time capsule at New Bern station. Is that right? If so, anybody have info.....like date it went in and when it will be opened? Thanks.

Y'all have the new breakfast stout from NoDa? It is VERY coffee-y. And delicious. The Monstro is excellent, as expected. And the Imperial Hop Drop is fun, what with the hot rod on the can and that Hop Drop pedigree (and underlying flavor).....but honestly doesn't offer that much over any other super-IPA. The Monstro was $8/can (or 4/$30)....I believe it has been $10/can in the past. Imp Hop Drop was $16/4-pack. Oh, and Roaring Riot just went on sale yesterday for $5/4-pack!! Sad that wasn't the case when I was there on Friday.

The Krispy Kreme in Indian Land (outside the Wal-Mart on the state line) has closed please don't tell KJHburg and ruin his holiday.

Not strictly beer related, but JJ's is offering a "Sausagefest Grill Pack" in lieu of having their annual Sausagefest. You get 4 varieties of sausages (2 each) and beans for $30 to take home and make for yourself. The beer part is that they also offer a 4-pack of your choice for $12.....and they let me pick any 4 beers.......and they had about 40 laid out to choose from. So that was nice to build my own 4-pack at $3/can....not bad.

So I ordered three 4-packs.....a hazy, an imperial hazy, and a mix pack which has those 2 plus a cream ale and an imperial pumpkin. They show up at my door Saturday with a case of beer and say "yeah, our logistics is still working itself out and we ran out of hoppy beer before we could take it off our order site.....so here's half a case of cream ale and half a case of imperial pumpkin.....and we'll refund your whole order". Okay. The cream ale is fine. Hoppy enough that you can tell yourself it's a pale or something. I don't like pumpkin beers, generally, other than Gordgeous. This one wasn't great....although I tried to convince myself it was Birdsong's St Tuber and it almost worked.