Drinking Beer in Charlotte

[WCUP]

Does anyone have a particular route they would advise to spend a Saturday riding the Light Rail to breweries?  I'm interested in parking somewhere, hopping on the rail to to as many breweries as possible, then calling ride home.  Just an all-day casual romp to see as much as I can.  It may be sacrilegious to admit among this group, but I've never ridden the light rail and figure this would be a neat way to do it.  

 

Apologies if there was already some knowledge shared, but the thread is 58 pages long and figured it would be easier to ask.

 

Thanks in advance!   

[tozmervo]

I would just be mindful of the schedule. the rail runs every 15 minutes until 5:00, then it cycles to a 20 minute headway until 9:00. Put another way: if you just miss a train, you can walk more quickly between some of the breweries. Sycamore in particular, which is about half-way between stations.

[kermit]

Only ride the rail if you really want to, otherwise its all walkable (and really easy on a bike).

There are big vortexes you can get sucked into -- you may not make it far. If you start in the South and park around OMB or Sugar Creek (or the Scalybark park and ride) you can ride from Scaleybark to New Bern (its a very short ride) and hit Triple C. I would walk from Triple C to Sycamore (meh beer, but if you want to do some people watching....). Don't forget Lenny Boy across the street.

If you are hard core about riding the rail then walk from Lenny Boy back to New Bern and ride to Bland. Hit Woden Robot (let me know how it is). From there I would walk to Unknown (just to say you did) and then walk right to Craft through the alley and camp out (actually I would just go to Craft instead of the breweries). Its a short walk from Craft to the Carson station.

Your rail ticket is actually valid for 2 hours, so you can legally use it for several beers.

Edited July 7, 2015 by kermit

[NeverSummer]

The stretch from Triple C to Sycamore to Liberty to Common Market is great!  I for one really enjoy Triple C and Sycamore more than the other breweries.  I guess it's all subjective, but the beers they make are my favorite by far.  Also, they are close enough to burn a beer or two between short walks.  Bonus!

[grodney]

Does anyone have a particular route they would advise to spend a Saturday riding the Light Rail to breweries?  I'm interested in parking somewhere, hopping on the rail to to as many breweries as possible, then calling ride home.  Just an all-day casual romp to see as much as I can.  It may be sacrilegious to admit among this group, but I've never ridden the light rail and figure this would be a neat way to do it.  

 

 

 

It might depend a little bit on where you live, and where you want to leave your car.

 

There's not much to see on the south half of the light rail.  You might consider getting on the light rail at 7th St uptown, and ride it down to Scaleybark Station.  Get off there and walk to OMB and Sugar Creek (and Red Clay if they are soft opened by then), then as suggested above, take the train 1-stop back north to New Bern Station for Triple C.  From there you can walk the rail trail 1 mile to Sycamore and Lenny Boy, or jump back on the train for that mile to East/West station.  And then north again (walk or short 1-stop train ride) to Beer Growler/Wooden Robot/Unknown/Craft.

 

By buying your round-trip ticket at 7th St and riding it south to start your drinking, you can use your ticket for multiple rides back to the north with no time limit to worry about.  Just mind the schedule, as toz pointed out, so you don't "just miss" a train.

Edited July 8, 2015 by grodney

[Bikeguy]

^ good plan, but bring your bike.  CATS allows bikes on the Blue Line and getting to OMB would be MUCH easier on two wheels.  Then you could ride along the light rail pathway to the other breweries..

[grodney]

^ good plan, but bring your bike.  CATS allows bikes on the Blue Line and getting to OMB would be MUCH easier on two wheels.  Then you could ride along the light rail pathway to the other breweries..

 

It's surprisingly (to me) only 0.5-0.6 miles from Scaleybark to OMB and Sugar Creek.  But yeah, if you have a bike, all the better!

[WCUP]

Great ideas shared!  Thanks for the input.  

[NeverSummer]

Disingenuous Damage Control: Initiated

 

“Because the craft beer community in Charlotte has been so supportive of our dream, and they produce such high quality products, we will offer other local brewery’s beers on tap in our taproom.” 

 

– Craig Nunn, Co-founder, Blue Blaze Brewing

 

http://www.charlotteagenda.com/9033/details-on-the-blue-blaze-brewings-plans-for-their-west-end-brewery-set-to-open-in-2016/

 

(Sorry to beat a dead horse, fellas, after reading this, I couldn't help it.  At least they are trying.)

[grodney]

I don't know if they're tapped yet, but the Wooden Robot newsletter lists additional beers for its Grand Opening this Saturday:

Tart Saison

Coffee Vanilla Blonde

Mango Saison (collab w Heist)

Farmhouse IPA (collab w Birdsong)

 

to go along with the 4 they had at initial soft opening:

Saison

Pale

IPA

Double IPA

 

Hours Th 4-9, F 4-10, Sa 2-10 (grand opening), Su 2-8.

[Guest]

I don't know if they're tapped yet, but the Wooden Robot newsletter lists additional beers for its Grand Opening this Saturday:

Tart Saison

Coffee Vanilla Blonde

Mango Saison (collab w Heist)

Farmhouse IPA (collab w Birdsong)

 

to go along with the 4 they had at initial soft opening:

Saison

Pale

IPA

Double IPA

 

Hours Th 4-9, F 4-10, Sa 2-10 (grand opening), Su 2-8.

When I read the descriptions of their beer in Charlotte Agenda, my mouth started watering on the spot #Pavlov 

[grodney]

When I read the descriptions of their beer in Charlotte Agenda, my mouth started watering on the spot #Pavlov 

 

You might be thinking of the Agenda descriptions for Free Range:

"

• Beers on tap to start: Cream of the Crop (cream ale – 4.7%), Jenny Bought a Farm (Carolina farmhouse – 5.8%), Caroliner Weisse Wild (wild wheat w/ green and red strawberries – 4.2%), Art, Son of Pale (pale ale – 5.5%), My Fair Lady (IPA – 9.5%), Bob’s Pure Intentions (brown ale aged in Pure Intentions Coffee – 7%) and Sea of Campanions – (oyster stout – 8.2%).
• Other beverages on tap to start (love this): Pure Intentions Cold Brew (on nitro, Panama beans), Lenny Boy Pineapple Funk (kombucha), Che’s Farmer Blackberry Ginger (shrub soda).

"

 

 

as opposed to Wooden Robot:

"

• Current beer choices: Overachiever Pale Ale (5.3%) $2 small, $4 medium, $6 large. Willie Saison (5.1%) $2, $4, $6. What’s He’s Having IPA (6.5%) $2, $4, $6. What She’s Having Double IPA (8.5%). $2.50, $5.

"

 

 

Or maybe I missed a more in-depth look at Wooden Robot.

[Guest]

You might be thinking of the Agenda descriptions for Free Range:

"

• Beers on tap to start: Cream of the Crop (cream ale – 4.7%), Jenny Bought a Farm (Carolina farmhouse – 5.8%), Caroliner Weisse Wild (wild wheat w/ green and red strawberries – 4.2%), Art, Son of Pale (pale ale – 5.5%), My Fair Lady (IPA – 9.5%), Bob’s Pure Intentions (brown ale aged in Pure Intentions Coffee – 7%) and Sea of Campanions – (oyster stout – 8.2%).
• Other beverages on tap to start (love this): Pure Intentions Cold Brew (on nitro, Panama beans), Lenny Boy Pineapple Funk (kombucha), Che’s Farmer Blackberry Ginger (shrub soda).

"

 

 

as opposed to Wooden Robot:

"

• Current beer choices: Overachiever Pale Ale (5.3%) $2 small, $4 medium, $6 large. Willie Saison (5.1%) $2, $4, $6. What’s He’s Having IPA (6.5%) $2, $4, $6. What She’s Having Double IPA (8.5%). $2.50, $5.

"

 

 

Or maybe I missed a more in-depth look at Wooden Robot.

damn you are right... My mouth is watering again... jerk.

[tozmervo]

Just realized Red Clay Ciderworks has missed out on thread love. It opens July 18 on Clanton Rd

 

http://www.charlotteagenda.com/8947/ready-for-local-cider-red-clay-ciderworks-sets-date-for-grand-opening/

[CLTProductions]

And the cellar at duckworths is FINALLY opening July 20

[grodney]

Just realized Red Clay Ciderworks has missed out on thread love. It opens July 18 on Clanton Rd

 

http://www.charlotteagenda.com/8947/ready-for-local-cider-red-clay-ciderworks-sets-date-for-grand-opening/

 

I don't drink much (any) cider, but I'm excited to give this place a shot.  Cider descriptions here: http://redclayhardcider.com/cider

[HopHead]

Went to Free Range Brewing on Saturday night for the first time.. It completely lived up to the hype in my opinion. Both in terms of atmosphere (it was packed, had some good music too) and the beer. I had the Oyster Stout, Farmhouse Ale and Pale Ale. All excellent beers. The only downside of their location is that Birdsong is no longer there and NoDa's main brewery won't be there much longer. Aside from that, an excellent addition to the neighborhood. The guys that run this place totally get it. And being able to see them in plain site work on their craft with the fermenting tanks, etc right in front of you is cool. Can't wait to head back.

[SouthEndCLT811]

Looking forward to checking out Free Range.  Went to Wooden Robot yesterday and tried the What He's Having IPA, Paranoid Android Farmhouse IPA, Willie Saison and Good Morning Vietnam (vanilla coffee ale).  All really well done but from a Saison stand point the Mango Saison my girlfriend had was much better.  The GMV was surprising.  Normally not my type of beer but it was complex starting with a coffee taste before getting the vanilla.

 

We had a taste of their sour and it seemed comparable to what I remember La Folie from New Belgium tasting like. 

Another great addition to our brewery scene

Edited July 13, 2015 by SouthEndCLT811

[grodney]

We were at Birdsong Saturday and I was surprised to see Fistful of Steel (Cascadian) still on tap, since it was a Thirsty Thursday beer a week-and-a-half ago.  The server explained that they brewed it on their full-volume system at their old production facility, so they had much more to share than a normal Thursday small-batch.  Interesting that their old system is still at the old facility, and surprising that they're still brewing there.  By the way, the Fistful was excellent.

 

[Niner National]

Red clay Ciderworks is a solid addition. Service was a little slow (Sunday), but the product quality was nice.

Their queen city common wad a nice dry cider similar to white wine, but different enough that non-white wine drinkers would still like it.

Their southern sweet is a little more similar to what you buy from large manufacturers, but slightly less sweet.

The noreaster is tart and similar to mildly sour beers, of you're into that sort of thing.

overall, very impressed with the product. The location will be really awesome too once scalebark is more built out.

[InSouthPark]

We stopped in to Red Clay on Saturday and I was pretty impressed with the space. I am not a big cider guy (my wife has Celiac so this was a stop mainly for her to check out) but really enjoyed the tart Nor' easter.  There was quite the crowd Saturday afternoon but the ticketing system worked great and made the lines fly through. The tap room is really nice and I like that they "get" not everyone is into cider and will carry a few local beers as well. 

I think this place will work out well. I know one of their big plans is to have the reciprocating taps with local breweries. Brewery carry a tap of Red Clay, Red Clay carries a tap of their beer in the tap room. Perfect compliment to each other. Great way for both to help spread the love. 

One good thing is there seems to be ample parking around. 

We also stopped by Wooden Robot on Thursday and Saturday. Thursday there was some Southend meetup going on and was a complete zoo. I grabbed my beer and immediately headed outside to get away from the mob inside. Came back Saturday night to a much more pleasant sized crowd. Really nice space, big patio, decent amount of seating, and most importantly, some very good beers.  One thing I really like is the "small.medium,large" sizes.  While odd, I find it prefect. Most times I don't really want a pint...I rather a smaller pour so I can try more. Their medium size, to me, is the perfect size. Others prefer a full pint, others just the small tasters. 

[kermit]

Southwest Scaleybark may need to be dubed Brewer's Row. A new cidery is investigating a building next to SugarCreek: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/development/article28500910.html 

Charlotte could soon see its second hard cider producer joining the city’s craft alcohol boom: GoodRoad Ciderworks filed preliminary plans Friday for a building in South End as the company explores a location in the area.

Did we not see this one coming?

Edited July 24, 2015 by kermit

[ah59396]

A friend of mine with similar tastes to me said he was at Workman's Friend last night and it was "awful".  Full bro-crowd with club music playing.  RIP interesting Workman's Friend.

[ah59396]

Went to The Cellar.  Can confirm.  Best bar in Charlotte.  No competition.  At all.

[grodney]

Our kids are out of town the next 4 nights.....so you're saying we should maybe possibly consider going to the Cellar?  Okay, Cellar one night. Birdsong and Cabo one night. Something and Bakersfield (never been) one night. If anybody has Thai recommendations to go with a brewery stop, I'm listening....I don't get out of the south side much!