How many more breweries can Charlotte Support?

I actually asked the same thing on twitter the other day. We have close to that many in the Triangle, and theres still breweries popping up.

on a side note, Id be at NoDa and Olde Mecklinburg the most. NoDa is freaking legit.

 

I'd say that from a pure population standpoint we could support many more. Asheville still has a few more breweries (17? something like that) than Charlotte but only has something like 1/10th of the population. The big thing is the culture in the city. Luckily that's changing pretty quickly as well. This year we'll have a few new breweries open and I'd suspect that we'll continue to see a couple open every year for the next few years.

 

If you guys don't want some of your breweries, we will gladly take them down in South Carolina.

 

More Head, Free Range, Kind? Where are these breweries? I think your desire to list Charlotte breweries got away from you a bit.

 

Don't know about more head, but Free Range is definitely an up an coming brewery in Charlotte. Check it out http://www.facebook.com/FreeRangeBrewing?ref=ts

 

I'm not sure how far along I would call them but I definitely wish them the best.

 

The better question is how many average breweries can one area support? A great brewery turning out world class beer would be most welcome. The same applies to Asheville to a large degree, lot of good beer, and with the exception of a Olde Hickory and a few Foothills brews all are pretty average.

 

Speaking as someone who has drunk the world's great lagers in their original settings (Prague, Pilsen, Munich, Bamberg, Cologne, Duesseldorf, etc.), I can honestly say that Olde Mecklenburg's beers are truly world-class. Perhaps you just underappreciate world-class lagers? As for how much the market can support, OMB, which only distributes locally, believes the Charlotte market can support them to the tune of 20,000 barrels per year. So obviously they, for one, believe there is still room for significant growth.

 

Yes Foothills and OHB are two of my favorite AVL breweries for sure....

 

Any of you fellas up for a trade for some NoDa brews? Would like to try them. I have CCB

 

I don't think Asheville has anywhere near 17. Off the top of my head:
Highland
Green man
French broad
LAB
Craggy
ABC
Wedge
Pisgah (close enough)
Oyster house (really a restaurant)

By my count that's 8, maybe 9.

 

Yeah the list I looked at had a bunch from other areas nearby but not actually in AVL and also some that aren't open yet. My point remains the same though.

 

NoDa does not currently have a packaging line. They have released one limited edition bottle, TriUmphant (Belgian Tripel) and plan to bottle a limited edition DIPA in the coming months. Perhaps someone still has a bottle of the tripel they'd be willing to part with.

 

It would be nice if you could send your excess breweries to Greensboro

 

Davidson Beverage Company and Grape and Barley in Gastonia had bottles of TriUmphant long after most places did. Not sure if they still do, though.

 

I wish we had that kind of competition around here. more choices are always good, the market will shake out one day, or inbev will die out and there will be good beer for all.....lol