Drinking Beer in Charlotte

[kermit]

14 hours ago, grodney said:

Yesterday I went to Armored Cow for the first time......and I've now visited all 25 Charlotte* breweries, unless something has opened since Midnight Mulligan that I'm not aware of, haha.  Plus, of course, many closed ones like Four Friends, Bold Missy, Three Spirits, Thirsty Nomad, Sunstead, Unknown, and was Southend a Charlotte original??

Of course there are tons of other "Charlotte Breweries"......2nd locations, breweries from out-of-town, taprooms, Meck but not Charlotte proper, etc., etc.  I've visited LOTS of those, but I don't consider them canon and they aren't a priority.....for me. 

Anyway, Armored Cow was pretty great.  Very un-crowded on a Sunday at 2pm-ish.  Good space, good beer, nice people, great bathroom.

*Charlotte breweries that are relatively undisputed as Charlotte breweries:  OMB, NoDa, Birdsong, Triple C, Heist, Lenny Boy, Sugar Creek, Sycamore, Free Range, Wooden Robot, Legion, Blue Blaze, Suffolk Punch, Resident Culture, Divine Barrel, Pilot, Town, Protagonist, Armored Cow, Lower Left, Devil's Logic, Edge City, Petty Thieves, Vaulted Oak, Midnight Mulligan.

So which ones get you to go back?

Now that I have entered into upper middle age my trips are much less frequent and I am all about avoiding the swarms of 20 year olds. So I tend to go:

• OMB (when I want a sausage and the weather is decent. Its hard to resist a giant beer garden)
• Birdsong for day drinking
• Lower Left (wish their food truck was better but still pretty great)
• Divine Barrel (on the way home from work)
• Town (I really like the beer and food but wish their outside space was better)
• Legion Westside (food has been pretty good, the fermenting smell has been pretty bad. Legion beer quality makes a trip there much like gambling)
• Devil's Logic (when I am over there)
• Hopfly and NoDa (to go only)
• Lenny Boy (an old favorite that I worry is getting "Southended")

Places that I have stopped going:

• Wooden Robot (Southend site is too crowded "nobody goes there anymore". 36th st tap room never felt great to me. Still like the beer though)
• Resident Culture (much too Southendy, PM site is too far away for me. Love the beer though)
• Triple C (despite a great location for me I was never happy w their beer since I am not a stout drinker)

Edited July 18, 2023 by kermit

[kermit]

And just like that… CBJ reports that Resident culture is coming to 7th Street market uptown. 
 

I hope  they can make it work! I’ll be a regular after work.

https://t.co/rOZbQKL1kZ

Edited July 17, 2023 by kermit

[InSouthPark]

3 hours ago, kermit said:

So which ones get you to go back?

Now that I have entered into upper middle age my trips are much less frequent and I am all about avoiding the swarms of 20 year olds. So I tend to go:

Same, over the hill and picking up steam.

My top spots - Resident Culture PM (yuck in the southend) is my go to spot. Love their beer, love their setup.  HopFly when my wife is with me (her favorite sours).  Lower Left when I want to just chill.  Divine Barrel for anytime,  Heist BA when the weather is cool and they have something other than 400 IPA's,  Triple C in stout season, Middle James when we are out doing errands, and Burial during the week.  Plus Armor Artis if anywhere near downtown fort mill. 

The rest I just randomly rotate in occasionally.  Haven't been to Southern Strain in PM (ehh), Armored Cow (too far, likely never go), Weathered Souls (I usually have a dog with me and they have no patio) and Monday Night (been too hot to go out recently).   

[CTiger]

You fellow old-timers should check out Pilot.  It has become one of my favorites.  Very chill staff and clientele and the beer has been consistently very very good.  The outdoor area isn't very good and the parking can be tough but the beer itself has me coming back.

Some of my top spots lately have been Legion (PM), Vaulted Oak, Pilot, Resident Culture (PM), Divine Barrel, and as always Birdsong.   It seems that I don't like to travel far for a beer lol.

[grodney]

5 hours ago, kermit said:

So which ones get you to go back?

Honestly, prettymuch all of them!  The ones I wouldn't go back to have weeded themselves out.....see above my list of closed breweries.  I'm well past 50 now, so yeah I try to avoid crowds and the hottest scene for sure.  I don't know if I'll ever go to Sycamore again.....unless it's just to see the new place.  Edge City is probably my least favorite of the Charlotte breweries, but my wife disagrees, hahaha.  We adore Birdsong and it's easily the one we frequent most......but all of them  have something special that we love.  I mean, we'll never go to Heist original or Legion southpark again, but we love Barrel Arts and Legion PM and Legion Morehead.  

We recently bought a place out in the country west of Gastonia, so we've been enjoying checking out the breweries that way.....BrickTree, Traust, Primal, Cavendish......plus Veronet vineyard (although the beer selection is pretty horrible).  Haven't moved yet, though, so we're still hitting Lore and Middle James for convenience, and all the others when we want a full outing.

[grodney]

Here's my  list of "Charlotte Breweries"......I would appreciate help updating anything I've missed!   (I added my personal numbers on the left....since I just posted about getting 25/25 of the top category.....now at 38/63 total.)

I actually don't know if I classified Monday Night correctly, as I don't know if they brew here.  Whatever.....let me know.

My "coming soon" list is: OMB Cornelius (is this dead?), OMB Ballantyne, Hippin Hops, and Saucy Brew Works.

 

 

Edited July 18, 2023 by grodney

[videtur quam contuor]

Is brewing so easy that all it takes is some money* to open a brewery now?

*all it takes is some money" is performing heavy lifting in this sentence.

[InSouthPark]

I will say it again, HopFly is not an out of town brewery.  There were an out-of-town brewery that moved the entire operation and 100% of production to Charlotte.  The founder and CEO of HopFly lists his location as Charlotte. They only operate a small taproom, about the size of my garage, in Rocky Mount. They are a Charlotte brewery now.  We consider bank HQ's that move here, "ours". Same goes if a brewery moves here. 

There is no logic that says Salud is a questionable CLT brewery, I don't care what others say.  They brew beer down the street, not in another city/county/state.  They don't "contract brew". They just use someone else's equipment, Heist isn't brewing for them.  Sycamore doesn't brew a drop on site.

You can add Frothy Beard to the out-of-town with brewing.  They mentioned a soft opening "soon".   I am weirdly excited for this one, mostly because I want this location to succeed. 

[grodney]

2 hours ago, InSouthPark said:

I will say it again, HopFly is not an out of town brewery.  There were an out-of-town brewery that moved the entire operation and 100% of production to Charlotte.  The founder and CEO of HopFly lists his location as Charlotte. They only operate a small taproom, about the size of my garage, in Rocky Mount. They are a Charlotte brewery now.  We consider bank HQ's that move here, "ours". Same goes if a brewery moves here. 

There is no logic that says Salud is a questionable CLT brewery, I don't care what others say.  They brew beer down the street, not in another city/county/state.  They don't "contract brew". They just use someone else's equipment, Heist isn't brewing for them.  Sycamore doesn't brew a drop on site.

You can add Frothy Beard to the out-of-town with brewing.  They mentioned a soft opening "soon".   I am weirdly excited for this one, mostly because I want this location to succeed. 

Thanks for the thoughts and info!

HopFly is definitely a strange/different case.  They weren't born here, so they aren't the SAME, but I definitely get the logic of calling them a true Charlotte Brewery.  I guess I'll make yet another category......Breweries That Weren't Born In Charlotte But Are Now 100% Charlotte.  hahahahahahaaaaaaa

The logic that says Salud isn't a brewery is:  They don't own brewing equipment.....or even if they own it, it's not at any site of theirs.  Kinda hard to be a "brewery" if you don't own equipment.  And either way, they are different, without any question.  You are welcome to include them as a brewery on your list.

Sycamore is now really weird to classify.  Clearly they're an OG Charlotte Brewery. but their only publicly accessible place doesn't brew any beer there.  That's different than everybody else now.  Their 2 locations are represented on my list, but they're definitely different.  Still not sure what, if anything, to do about it.  For now......nothing.

So yeah, HopFly, Salud, and Sycamore are all exceptions for one reason or another.  Maybe I'll just splash them all into the top category.  I don't know.

I forgot about Frothy Beard.....thanks for the reminder!

[CLT Development]

On 7/17/2023 at 12:22 PM, kermit said:

So which ones get you to go back?

Now that I have entered into upper middle age my trips are much less frequent and I am all about avoiding the swarms of 20 year olds. So I tend to go:

• OMB (when I want a sausage and the weather is decent. Its hard to resist a giant beer garden)
• Birdsong for day drinking
• Lower Left (wish their food truck was better but still pretty great)
• Divine Barrel (on the way home from work)
• Town (I really like the beer and food but wish their outside space was better)
• Legion Westside (food has been pretty good, the fermenting smell has been pretty bad. Legion beer quality makes a trip there much like gambling)
• Devil's Logic (when I am over there)
• Hopfly and NoDa (to go only)
• Lenny Boy (an old favorite that I worry is getting "Southended")

Places that I have stopped going:

• Wooden Robot (Southend site is too crowded "nobody goes there anymore". 36th st tap room never felt great to me. Still like the beer though)
• Resident Culture (much too Southendy, PM site is too far away for me. Love the beer though)
• Triple C (despite a great location for me I was never happy w their beer since I am not a stout drinker)

• After a stressful day at work: Chamber at Wooden Robot
• When I want to reward myself for a long after work and I'm walking North: Divine Barrel
• When I want to reward myself for a long walk after work and I'm heading South Free Range
• If I'm feeling super ambitious and want to take a super long walk and its not too hot outside: Birdsong
• Weekend long walks on nice days (and I mean LONG): Resident Culture Plaza or Burial
• Absolutely Great Tacos but I only day drink here: Resident Culture
• When I have to interact with the NoDa neighborhood at the NoDa neighborhood business association: Heist Brewing
• If I want a good beer and a solid meal: HopFly, Katsu Kart is absolutely outstanding
• If I'm organizing any event of any kind and want a great beer: Divine Barrel
• If I'm stocking up on Beers for a weekend in the Mountains: Divine Barrel
• If I'm stocking up on Craft Beer for a party : Southern Tier ($8.99 a 4 pack for a lot of the locally brewed)
• If I am going out to dinner with my folks, and I need there to be decent access to parking, a cold beer, and pretty good food: Southern Tier
• If I want German Food and pretty solid dependable beer: Olde Meck vastly outdoes Gilde. Gilde is terrible.
• When I'm in South End and hungry:  Trolley Barn Fermentory
• When I want to look at an excessive amount of unused brewing equipment used as decoration: Legion South Park
• When I'm meeting someone with a layover at the airport: Suffolk Punch
• When I have something to do in University City or on a Farm: Armored Cow, also has a satellite tap horse stable at Hodges Farm in North East Charlotte.

Places I don't go:
• I defended Sycamore in a previous post, but that place is just too busy for me now. I might go back when it settles down.
• I used to love to sit on Protagonist's patio and order from Growlers Pourhouse, my NoDa Patio Cheatcode, but Growlers seems to never be open after a certain time, and from what I understand will be letting their lease expire. That place has always struggled despite the success of other nearby shops, and I think its the space, it sucks. Also the street vendors have taken over the patio and made sitting there impossible. 
• Sugar Creek's beer is just fine, and the atmosphere leaves a lot to be desired
• Triple C's beers are just ok. I did do a CLT Development collab with Cranes in the Sky which was cool. Also atmosphere that leaves a bit to be desired.
• Wooden Robot South End, I've gotten food poisoning twice from their kitchen
• Catawba used to have a place in my heart, then they fired my friend from their social. 
• I'll go to NoDa for food truck popups, but their tap room is garbage, I just don't understand why they aren't investing in making it better
• Midnight Mulligan – good beer, ordering food is a complete crap show.

• Places I wish I went more but just aren't in my geographical radar:
• Town
• Lower Left

3 hours ago, grodney said:

Thanks for the thoughts and info!

HopFly is definitely a strange/different case.  They weren't born here, so they aren't the SAME, but I definitely get the logic of calling them a true Charlotte Brewery.  I guess I'll make yet another category......Breweries That Weren't Born In Charlotte But Are Now 100% Charlotte.  hahahahahahaaaaaaa

The logic that says Salud isn't a brewery is:  They don't own brewing equipment.....or even if they own it, it's not at any site of theirs.  Kinda hard to be a "brewery" if you don't own equipment.  And either way, they are different, without any question.  You are welcome to include them as a brewery on your list.

Sycamore is now really weird to classify.  Clearly they're an OG Charlotte Brewery. but their only publicly accessible place doesn't brew any beer there.  That's different than everybody else now.  Their 2 locations are represented on my list, but they're definitely different.  Still not sure what, if anything, to do about it.  For now......nothing.

So yeah, HopFly, Salud, and Sycamore are all exceptions for one reason or another.  Maybe I'll just splash them all into the top category.  I don't know.

I forgot about Frothy Beard.....thanks for the reminder!

All of the brands at 4001 Yancey are headquartered here, they are Charlotte Breweries as far as I'm concerned.

Edited July 19, 2023 by CLT Development

[kermit]

6 minutes ago, CLT Development said:

...
• If I want a good beer and a solid meal: HopFly, Katsu Kart is absolutely outstanding
...
• If I want German Food and pretty solid dependable beer: Olde Meck vastly outdoes Gilde. Gilde is terrible.

...

• Places I wish I went more but just aren't in my geographical radar:
• Town
• Lower Left

Will make a trip to HopFly for food, excited to try it.

I have only been to Gilde twice but I was leaning your way on it already

Both Town and Lower Left are well worth a trip for low-key beers (and brew quality is well above average at both, although Lower Left is better IMO)

[SouthEndCLT811]

Shocked to hear the Gilde reviews!  Living in walking distance to there and OMB, from a German beer perspective, our friend group (~35-40y/o) has been to Gilde probably 3x more in the last year than OMB over the last 3-5 years.  I've found their beers (local brewed Worth The Wait) to be quality compared to the counter parts at OMB.

The food's good too and tends to be a guilty pleasure (have tried the Bretzel, Spaetzle, Leberkäse Sliders, Apple Strudel) when my lactose-intolerant vegetarian wife is out of town lol

100% agree if you are considering the space/outdoor area, Gilde leaves something to be desired in comparing the two.  Kind of apple/orange comparison though IMO

[CLT Development]

11 minutes ago, SouthEndCLT811 said:

Shocked to hear the Gilde reviews!  Living in walking distance to there and OMB, from a German beer perspective, our friend group (~35-40y/o) has been to Gilde probably 3x more in the last year than OMB over the last 3-5 years.  I've found their beers (local brewed Worth The Wait) to be quality compared to the counter parts at OMB.

The food's good too and tends to be a guilty pleasure (have tried the Bretzel, Spaetzle, Leberkäse Sliders, Apple Strudel) when my lactose-intolerant vegetarian wife is out of town lol

100% agree if you are considering the space/outdoor area, Gilde leaves something to be desired in comparing the two.  Kind of apple/orange comparison though IMO

I'm talking strictly beer and food. I like the beer ok, I've had pretty bad food there compared to OMB. I do give everything I don't like three tries though, and I've only given Gilde two. Also that area is a mess. Cars all parked in the bike lane, puts me in a bad mood immediately lol.

[CLT Development]

One last brewery hot take: Heist has made itself borderline unvisitable after it changed from table food service with waiters to bar only service with food runners and numbers. The lines to order on busy days are insufferable, and they changed the food menu to accommodate quicker preparations and its gone significantly down hill.

[grodney]

I thought this "coming soon" was dead: https://www.instagram.com/panzubrewerync/?hl=en

I guess not.  Maybe.

Edit: That's great news about Heist.....I had no idea they switched to food runners......I might actually go there sometime. 

Edited July 19, 2023 by grodney

[JHart]

If you switch to runners in a big enough place like Heist you need to do online ordering instead of at the bar even if people think they hate it. Suffolk Punch has absolute nailed this, I can't believe other large places haven't copied it. Check IDs when you are seated, start your own tab on your phone and run beers and food out whenever you order them. I swear everything comes out in under 5 minutes and you can get a beer faster than walking up to the bar in a lot of breweries. 

[InSouthPark]

17 hours ago, CLT Development said:

All of the brands at 4001 Yancey are headquartered here, they are Charlotte Breweries as far as I'm concerned.

To me personally:  Victory and Southern Tier are 100% not Charlotte breweries in my eyes.  My ex-wife is from Downingtown (where Victory is from).  Been to their original taproom 20 years ago (and quite a few times since).  They still brew 100% of their national lineup in the Downingtown area and have been for 25 years.  

But I do consider "4001 Yancy" its own brewery (even though they brew under the ST/Victory brand).  The CLT Brew'd stuff is Charlotte beer.  But if I pick up a Dirt Wolf or a Pumking...that's a PA/NY beer. 

I don't hold that against them. I quite enjoy 4001 Yancy (food, drinks and cocktails), especially when the weather cools and you can sit on the patio with some ST stouts and Pumking variations.  

 

[Madison Parkitect]

2 hours ago, InSouthPark said:

To me personally:  Victory and Southern Tier are 100% not Charlotte breweries in my eyes.  My ex-wife is from Downingtown (where Victory is from).  Been to their original taproom 20 years ago (and quite a few times since).  They still brew 100% of their national lineup in the Downingtown area and have been for 25 years.  

But I do consider "4001 Yancy" its own brewery (even though they brew under the ST/Victory brand).  The CLT Brew'd stuff is Charlotte beer.  But if I pick up a Dirt Wolf or a Pumking...that's a PA/NY beer. 

I don't hold that against them. I quite enjoy 4001 Yancy (food, drinks and cocktails), especially when the weather cools and you can sit on the patio with some ST stouts and Pumking variations.  

 

4001 Yancy is a real gem and it's good for kids too. Surprisingly very good food.

[CTiger]

6 hours ago, JHart said:

If you switch to runners in a big enough place like Heist you need to do online ordering instead of at the bar even if people think they hate it. Suffolk Punch has absolute nailed this, I can't believe other large places haven't copied it. Check IDs when you are seated, start your own tab on your phone and run beers and food out whenever you order them. I swear everything comes out in under 5 minutes and you can get a beer faster than walking up to the bar in a lot of breweries. 

This has been seamless for me at Resident Culture Southend as well.  A good fit for most brewery situations IMO since you have a much higher chance of people coming/going showing up staggered as opposed to all at once, and people drinking beers at different paces.  

[CLT Development]

9 hours ago, JHart said:

If you switch to runners in a big enough place like Heist you need to do online ordering instead of at the bar even if people think they hate it. Suffolk Punch has absolute nailed this, I can't believe other large places haven't copied it. Check IDs when you are seated, start your own tab on your phone and run beers and food out whenever you order them. I swear everything comes out in under 5 minutes and you can get a beer faster than walking up to the bar in a lot of breweries. 

It works at Suffolk Punch for sure. Heist not so much. If Heist's food hadn't declined so far (it used to be among my favorites) I might tolerate it more, but then again I'm usually there listening to NoDa residents beotch about *insert incredibly privileged problem to have here*

[grodney]

11 hours ago, JHart said:

If you switch to runners in a big enough place like Heist you need to do online ordering instead of at the bar even if people think they hate it. Suffolk Punch has absolute nailed this, I can't believe other large places haven't copied it. Check IDs when you are seated, start your own tab on your phone and run beers and food out whenever you order them. I swear everything comes out in under 5 minutes and you can get a beer faster than walking up to the bar in a lot of breweries. 

Wait, Suffolk Punch switched to this model?  Oh my god that sounds glorious!  

[Madison Parkitect]

14 hours ago, grodney said:

Wait, Suffolk Punch switched to this model?  Oh my god that sounds glorious!  

The new SouthPark one is doing it at least. It's awesome, you can sit on their covered patio and just order from your phone. Every table has a unique QR so the servers know where to bring stuff, and then you just settle up on your phone after. So easy.

[go_vertical]

19 hours ago, CTiger said:

This has been seamless for me at Resident Culture Southend as well.  A good fit for most brewery situations IMO since you have a much higher chance of people coming/going showing up staggered as opposed to all at once, and people drinking beers at different paces.  

Plus, in a brewery/bar environment groups of people will more often move tables as a more preferred spot becomes available or as others show up.

[turbocraig]

Charlotte Beer Garden named best beer garden in the country per USA Today Reader’s Choice poll.  It was last year too.  I need to start going here more.  It’s never on my radar for some reason.

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/charlottefive/c5-food-drink/article278028658.html

“Charlotte Beer Garden offers one of the largest selections of draft beers you’re likely to find in a single restaurant, with more than 400 beers on tap. Visitors can enjoy their beer of choice at the indoor-outdoor beer bar or on the heated patio,” the report says.

[InSouthPark]

1 hour ago, turbocraig said:

Charlotte Beer Garden named best beer garden in the country per USA Today Reader’s Choice poll.  It was last year too.  I need to start going here more.  It’s never on my radar for some reason.

It’s so popular, nobody goes there anymore!  Haha

Never been. 400 drafts isn’t very appealing to me. Too much of a chance for old beer (specifically IPA’s). And at $10 for a 10oz pour…I’ll take my chances where I know it’s fresh.