Farewell Queen City

It was a sad thing, putting my suitcase in the car for the long drive home, but all good things must come to an end.

It was a fantastic 10 days in Charlotte with some of our very best friends and some pretty great beers.

Charlotte's growth as a beer-centric city is pretty astonishing. When we lived there from 2007-2009, there wasn't much to speak of in terms of craft beer, but I suppose that's probably true of a lot of American cities at that time. It was great to see the breweries, and their beers being served at bars and restaurants around the city. It was cool seeing all the people in those small tasting rooms, enjoying pints with friends, bonding over beer.

All together, we got to check out 4 breweries:

Birdsong Brewing

NoDa Brewing

Triple C Brewing

Olde Mecklenburg Brewery

Plus I got to try out a lot of other really good NC craft beer. 

Table Rock Pale Ale-One of the better pale ale's I've had

Green Man Forester-Tom's favorite brewery from Asheville

and

Big Boss Hell's Belle

Natty Greene's Old Town Brown-Dinner out for the birthday girls!

All said and done, it was a pretty great trip. If work or pleasure ever takes you to the Charlotte area, don't worry about the beer. They are doing a lot of things right, and I'd guess that even more is on the horizon. I know that I for one can't wait to head back south and get to the couple of breweries that we missed and check out some more great brews. If it doesn't stop snowing, that trip might be sooner rather than later!

Have any of you gotten to take a beer trip recently or have any beer trips planned for the upcoming year? Let us know about them in the comments section! I'd love to hear if you have any favorite destinations or recommendations for cities that I need to check out!

Cheers!

Foothills Flights and Triple C Brewing

There were still places to see and beers to be had on our Charlotte beer-venture, so when my friend Tom had an errand to run, I gladly tagged along. Mostly because of its prime location, right next door to Duckworth's. This self proclaimed Grill & Taphouse has an impressive menu for both food and drink, so if you are in the greater Charlotte area, I'd highly recommend checking them out.

It was pretty hard settling on my lunch (I went with a buffalo chicken cheesesteak, which was awesome, and possibly blasphemous to people in Buffalo and in Philadelphia) and it would have been even harder settling on which beers to try, but Duckworth's made it easy. February was Foothills Brewing month.

Sexual Chocolate

 As soon as I saw that they actually had it on the beer-list, I knew I needed to try Sexual Chocolate. It's one of those beers that you always hear about being great, but rarely ever see. An imperial stout that tastes like a bitter dark chocolate bar. It was fantastic and a great start to our lunch.

Foothills Brewing

After finishing our appetizer, the food came and along with it was a flight featuring other Foothills brews. Tom and I both went with the same line-up; Cottonwood Frostbite, Hoppy Medium Imperial Brown Ale, Jade IPA, and People's Porter. All fantastic, especially the porter, one of my favorite styles.

After settling our bill, it was time to make a beer-run, then home to rest up, the next brewery on our tour was just a day away.

Triple C Brewing Company

We were the first guests to arrive, right as Triple C was opening their doors. The space inside is great, pretty minimalistic and sharp. Clean concrete floors, exposed brick walls, and a great view into the brewery.

Triple C

After looking over their menu, we settled on a pair of flights. I went with the Golden Boy Blonde, Light Rail Pale Ale, Greenway IPA, and a Smoked Amber. Of the flight, I really enjoyed the smoked amber. It had just enough smoke to contrast the caramel flavors in the amber ale. There were still some beers to be had, so after our flights, I settled on giving a pint of the Cajun Stout a try, and I'm glad I did!   

It was fantastic, an extremely well made American stout with a nice spicy kick in the finish. Without a doubt the best Charlotte beer I had during my travels down south.

We were also lucky enough to have been at the brewery the same day they were releasing a new beer, so we also got to give their new Black IPA, Space Cadet, a try. I always tell you about the styles I like, but this is a style I don't typically care for. That said, this one was definitely better than most that I've had. The hops didn't clash with the darker malts, it had a nicely rounded flavor.

After our glasses were empty, we decided we probably needed a pair of glasses to take home, and a growler of the blonde ale, and a t-shirt. Triple C stole my heart that day with their great beers and very cool brewery. I'll definitely be back the next time I'm in Charlotte!


What other beery goodness did I get into in Charlotte? Stay tuned to find out!

Cheers!

Left the Snow Behind...Hello Sunny Charlotte!

It's been a pretty whirl-windingly amazing last 2 weeks in my world of beer. It all started out several weeks ago when my wife announced that she needed to go to Charlotte, NC for some work something-or-other.

Having lived a few years back in the Queen City, we made some pretty awesome friends down there, so whenever my wife has reason to be down there for work, I try to tag along, especially whenever there happens to be roughly 3 foot drifts of snow in our yard.

After looking at the prices for flights from Rochester to Charlotte, I made a sad face, then decided that 12 hours in the car wouldn't be too bad to see my buds and the sunshine. Besides, if I drive, I can take some beer!

Packed and Ready to Go!

A few days before the trip, my friend Tom starts digging up info and planning some brewery trips for us while the wives were at work during the week. Sounds good to me, I'll bring some local stuff down with me to share, and we'll search out the best beers that Charlotte has to offer.

That Sunday we set off on our first beer-venture and headed out to grab some lunch in the trendy NoDa district of Charlotte (Hipsters hang out there!) Our first stop was to get some lunch, but when we got there the waitress told us it was going to be a 30 minute wait, so we looked across the street and laid our eyes upon Growlers Pour House, and our lovely wives suggested Tom and I go grab a beer. Growlers was a cool little bar and bistro that serves up some American fare and oysters, but they more importantly have a modest but impressive beer list, including two on cask, and we both went for the same one. Heavy Seas Siren Noire.

Siren Noire

Road to Nowhere Porter

 After taking a sip of this delicious Imperial Stout, we get a text saying our table is ready, hurry up. An imperial stout served from a cask doesn't lend itself to hurrying up, but we finish and head back across the street to meet the ladies for lunch. Fish tacos and Triple C Road to Nowhere Porter (more on them later...stay tuned!) were on the menu. We at lunch, then headed to our first brewery Birdsong Brewing Co.

To be Continued!



Stay tuned to A Year 4 Beer for the next thrilling installment!

Cheers!