Drinking Beer in Charlotte

[kermit]

Some light stats on the beer industry by state here:

https://vinepair.com/maps-american-craft-beer-data-2017/#chartDescription-1

It appears that NC ranks 5th in terms of number of barrels brewed and growth in barrels brewed.

[JRNYP2C]

And here's the latest.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article152689119.html

Nah, there's nothing to see here.  Move along.  Move along.

[Desert Power]

On 5/21/2017 at 5:13 PM, tozmervo said:

My review of the Bold Missy standard four is best represented by a picture of my finished flight. Honestly not bad overall for a week old brewery, I've definitely left brand new breweries with less nice things to say - everyone improves after the first few weeks though. The brown definitely needs a do-over, but the IPA is decent and the seasonal dubble was quite good.

They do have a few items to work on - no one seems to plan on acoustic control until it's obvious you need it. I also predict they'll rearrange the bar at some point, the layout seems very inefficient for busy times. Their dogs are great though, I didn't even know they'd have food. (Or wine.)

All in all, I look forward to going back. Mark it as the beginning of NoNoDa.

 

The bold were my thoughts exactly.  Let's not go no "NoNoDa" though

[grodney]

On 5/15/2017 at 1:32 PM, grodney said:

New quoted dates for Resident Culture (shooting for June)

 

Along those same lines......somebody on Instagram asked Resident Culture when they're opening....the response was "We hope very soon! Stay tuned!".

 

[videtur quam contuor]

Chinese craft (I read 'em all)

 

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2096300/chinese-gang-refill-empty-cans-budweiser-beer-plastic-tub?utm_content=buffer7655d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

Chinese scam filling old Budweiser cans with beer and resealing. Likely better than Bud.

[elrodvt]

The party in the park series started tonight in Romare Bearden without a macro in sight. 3 Micro tents: Birdsong, FreeRange, Legion.

Nice!

 

[grodney]

11 hours ago, elrodvt said:

The party in the park series started tonight in Romare Bearden without a macro in sight. 3 Micro tents: Birdsong, FreeRange, Legion.

Nice!

Outstanding!  The promo materials don't say anything about beer at these events.....at least not that I've seen.  That makes your report doubly-excellent.  Thanks!

[grodney]

I'm so confused about Hyde.  Either this is poorly written, or it's Friday and I'm not too bright.  Where is this cafe?  No taproom for the brewery?  What is the Plaid Penguin and where will it be?  What other buildings?

http://www.charlottefive.com/hyde-brewing-opening/

Anyway, July.  But *what* in July, I have no idea.

[Guest]

48 minutes ago, grodney said:

I'm so confused about Hyde.  Either this is poorly written, or it's Friday and I'm not too bright.  Where is this cafe?  No taproom for the brewery?  What is the Plaid Penguin and where will it be?  What other buildings?

http://www.charlottefive.com/hyde-brewing-opening/

Anyway, July.  But *what* in July, I have no idea.

I think they are going to actually have two seperate buildings. @Jayvee should be able to elaborate more than me. His ear is more to the ground with this project.

[InSouthPark]

1 hour ago, grodney said:

I'm so confused about Hyde.  Either this is poorly written, or it's Friday and I'm not too bright.  Where is this cafe?  No taproom for the brewery?  What is the Plaid Penguin and where will it be?  What other buildings?

http://www.charlottefive.com/hyde-brewing-opening/

Anyway, July.  But *what* in July, I have no idea.

Sounds like more of a shared space with the brewery/coffee/restaurant. Plaid Penguin is just a marketing company that is going to have an office there.  I like the idea and think it will do well (if that is indeed what it is).  

[kermit]

16 minutes ago, InSouthPark said:

Sounds like more of a shared space with the brewery/coffee/restaurant. Plaid Penguin is just a marketing company that is going to have an office there.  I like the idea and think it will do well (if that is indeed what it is).  

If they can manage issues of smell and crowd debris then shared office/coffee/tap room/brewery space this could really be the holy grail of neighborhood development -- a steady flow of people on the site from 7am till midnight and (perhaps) some complementarity between the different uses. This would be one of the most intensively utilized parcels in town.

But if its badly managed......

EDIT: With all these breweries someone really should go into the Marmite / Vegimite business (too bad the stuff is so awful)

Edited June 2, 2017 by kermit

[grodney]

Here's a pretty good article on the women of Charlotte breweries: https://americanwaymagazine.com/these-women-are-reshaping-charlotte’s-craft-beer-scene

Mentioned is Rachael Cardwell of NoDa opening a new brewery (small...2bbl) with her husband next year.  Anybody know what that is, before I go searching?

Edit: Looks like it's "Pilot Brewing Co LLC".  Logo on Rachael's facebook page.  Also says she's now "former" brewer at NoDa as of April.  Now to find out more.  

Edit 2: Plaza Midwood, "winter 2018", according to the tweeter machine at PilotBrewingCLT, and www.pilotbrewing.us

 

Edited June 2, 2017 by grodney

[CLTProductions]

As per usual with copy and paste job articles it's a bit hard to gather. Here's the 411:

theyve revamped the entire deal. Hyde is production. Suffolk is everything customer facing. Plaid penguin is marketing. 

It's still one facility which will essentially be known as Suffolk punch and serve Hyde beer. Why they're going this route I have no idea but their branding is sick and they have a ton of money behind them. Suffolk will be the taproom, restaurant, bar and coffee shop. 

The investors are ALSO buying up neighboring property to add more creative space and expand on concepts. 

[InSouthPark]

1 hour ago, Jayvee said:

As per usual with copy and paste job articles it's a bit hard to gather. Here's the 411:

theyve revamped the entire deal. Hyde is production. Suffolk is everything customer facing. Plaid penguin is marketing. 

It's still one facility which will essentially be known as Suffolk punch and serve Hyde beer. Why they're going this route I have no idea but their branding is sick and they have a ton of money behind them. Suffolk will be the taproom, restaurant, bar and coffee shop. 

The investors are ALSO buying up neighboring property to add more creative space and expand on concepts. 

That wasn't so hard to explain (in a paragraph no less)! 

[KJHburg]

Catawba Brewing is already expanding with new private function space. http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2017/06/02/brewery-eyes-expansion-will-tap-charlotte-s-event.html?ana=RSS%26s%3Darticle_search&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bizj_charlotte+(Charlotte+Business+Journal)

[InSouthPark]

^^ The private space in the South Slope location is pretty cool. I have walked back there (it's just in the back of the building) and it was hopping with a bridal party the night I was snooping around.  I know my company scoops up these kinds of spots (like Olde Meck) all the time for after work functions but the options are limited. 

[Desert Power]

On 5/9/2017 at 7:52 AM, grodney said:

UP Scoop: Eleven Lakes Brewing in Cornelius (just down the road from Ass Clown) is now open.  Their "Grand Opening" is Jun 3 at 1pm, but for now they are open to the public Thu 4-10, Fri 4-10, Sat 12-10, as confirmed on the social media machine.

I didn't know about this one at the end of last year, so it didn't make our "brewery prediction" pool.

Updated map: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zvfji2eVQoVE.kz5BFo-0quQ8

Bold Missy still looking good for this Saturday....but it ain't open 'til it's open.

Going to check it out for the Grand Opening tonight.  Anyone been?

[grodney]

Two or three things.

We went to the newly remodeled Sauceman's last night.  It was the most un-aggressive local tap selection I've ever seen: Sugar Creek Rasp Wit, 3 lagers (Sycamore, Lenny Boy, Legion), and Unknown IPA.  That's it.  Not that that's bad, necessarily.

Cans of local at BB&T Knights game are $8......so the walking vendor that charged me 9.50 or whatever at an earlier game obviously was running a scam.  By the way, for the first time I realized the concession booth behind home plate has a fridge full of cans, including HDR.  8 dollars.  Always cold.  No tip pressure.  No chasing around walking vendors.

Oh and the "16oz" cups have a 0.45L line on them, fairly near the top.  0.45L is 15.2oz.  Another 0.8oz above the line is probably possible, but I imagine the head usually takes it up.

 

[grodney]

Interesting Instagram fight between Appalachian Mountain CEO and NoDa on NoDa's page. Apparently AMB has been in bed with AB Inbev for a couple years.....not that they were hiding it.....but take exception to the manner NoDa pointed it out.  Anyway, AMB is dead to me now.

[Dale]

Not beer, but drinking related. Just moved back from Florida and a couple of things are puzzling. In Florida, liquor stores carry everything. But here you have to get beer and wine in a grocery store, whereas liquor stores only carry hard liquor. The other thing is that hard liquor is pricier up here. Does Meck have a bodacious liquor tax ?

 

[kermit]

1 hour ago, Dale said:

Not beer, but drinking related. Just moved back from Florida and a couple of things are puzzling. In Florida, liquor stores carry everything. But here you have to get beer and wine in a grocery store, whereas liquor stores only carry hard liquor. The other thing is that hard liquor is pricier up here. Does Meck have a bodacious liquor tax ?

Liquor sales are state controlled in NC -- private companies (that are open to the public) cannot sell it unless its by the drink (and then they must serve food as well). ABC stores don't sell beer or wine because they did not want to have the state stores competing against provate companies. The blame for this lies with the very powerful Baptists political coalitions.

liquor by the drink was only permitted begining in the late 1970s and it must be approved by municipal referrendum (there is still one dry county in NC, most are 'moist' (beer and wine but no liquor). Generally the referrenda are framed in terms of economic development. 

http://www.charlottemagazine.com/Charlotte-Magazine/June-2013/How-Charlotte-Got-Liquored-Up/

Edited June 10, 2017 by kermit

[ah59396]

2 hours ago, grodney said:

Interesting Instagram fight between Appalachian Mountain CEO and NoDa on NoDa's page. Apparently AMB has been in bed with AB Inbev for a couple years.....not that they were hiding it.....but take exception to the manner NoDa pointed it out.  Anyway, AMB is dead to me now.

I had no clue they were part of Inbev.  That sucks.  Oh well, no more AMB.

 

And wow, does the AMB posts ever come off cringy.  Yeesh, what an awful way to go about that.  Makes them look worse.

Edited June 10, 2017 by ah59396

[Dale]

2 hours ago, kermit said:

Liquor sales are state controlled in NC -- private companies (that are open to the public) cannot sell it unless its by the drink (and then they must serve food as well). ABC stores don't sell beer or wine because they did not want to have the state stores competing against provate companies. The blame for this lies with the very powerful Baptists political coalitions.

liquor by the drink was only permitted begining in the late 1970s and it must be approved by municipal referrendum (there is still one dry county in NC, most are 'moist' (beer and wine but no liquor). Generally the referrenda are framed in terms of economic development. 

http://www.charlottemagazine.com/Charlotte-Magazine/June-2013/How-Charlotte-Got-Liquored-Up/

Interesting read. And it was a shocker, when I moved here in 2013, when I made my first grocery run, Sunday morning ... and the cashier commandeered my beer.

[videtur quam contuor]

2 hours ago, kermit said:

Liquor sales are state controlled in NC -- private companies (that are open to the public) cannot sell it unless its by the drink (and then they must serve food as well). ABC stores don't sell beer or wine because they did not want to have the state stores competing against provate companies. The blame for this lies with the very powerful Baptists political coalitions.

liquor by the drink was only permitted begining in the late 1970s and it must be approved by municipal referrendum (there is still one dry county in NC, most are 'moist' (beer and wine but no liquor). Generally the referrenda are framed in terms of economic development. 

http://www.charlottemagazine.com/Charlotte-Magazine/June-2013/How-Charlotte-Got-Liquored-Up/

It is more complex. The local option allows municipality to agree on some level of sales or not. There are many counties that are dry nonetheless. In other words, driving through N C you may stop at a store and find no alcohol, though the community a few miles away has sales. Convenience stores will most often site at the corner where the municipality begins and across the street there is no alcohol sales, thus no competition. Another store would never take this opposing corner because without beer sales the profit evaporates. I am surprised how many counties surrounding Charlotte are dry but they have enough towns to make it seem to disappear, plus no  stores outside the municipalities excepting a few country feed and seed, etc.

The last true dry county, Graham, now has sales in a new town Fontana and I presume the town was manufactured for that purpose. Graham county is 93% federal land or Cherokee Rez so an outlier in every way.

[wilmore]

On 6/10/2017 at 1:39 PM, ah59396 said:

I had no clue they were part of Inbev.  That sucks.  Oh well, no more AMB.

 

And wow, does the AMB posts ever come off cringy.  Yeesh, what an awful way to go about that.  Makes them look worse.

They aren't part of InBev, they use them as a distributor. As the guy is saying, they are a publicly traded (on the pink sheets) company; InBev or someone there could buy stock in them, like anyone could, but why would they.