Beer lovers, I am planning a trip down to NC with my family of four for spring break. We will be in Asheville, Charlotte, and Durham. I’d like to hit a few breweries in each town. Note that the styles that interest me are: a) sours/wild ales (anything spontaneous, oak aged, mixed culture, etc. No interest in anything lactosed, over-fruited, yogurt-resembling) b) hazy IPAs (though again, nothing overly thick/sweet) c) stouts (same caveat) So far, my thinking is as follows: Asheville - Wicked Weed Funkatorium, Burial. Cellarist? DSSOLVR? Eurisko? Zillicoah (only family friendly on Sundays)? Charlotte - Resident Culture, D9, Fanta Flora The Optimist. Salud? Heist? Divine Barrel? High Branch (worth the drive?)? Durham - Barrel Culture? Brewery Bhavana? Funguys? Burial The Exhibit? The idea here is not volume of stops, but “will I regret missing this?” Also, in addition to beer quality, atmosphere and food availability are factors. Thanks so very much for any and all thoughts.
Skip D9 in Charlotte and add HopFly as a must stop along with Resident Culture (Plaza Midwood location) and Fonta Flora at Optimist Hall. Heist Barrel Arts is another to consider that would hit your requirements. I like Divine Barrel as a personal preference as well. High Branch is really good but I'm not driving out of my way to go. As for RDU..Funguys sours are heavily fruited...like thiiiiick. As for Asheville...you're crazy if you skip Sierra Nevada. You can also hit Fonta Flora on the drive to Asheville as well. They have a small tasting room in Morganton and the full brewery at the farm in Nebo (highly recommend the farm in Nebo if the weather is good...its on like 9 acres next to a state park and Linville Gorge). It's about 15min off I-40.
Thanks so much!!! I confess I looked at D9's tap list after posting this, and while I've liked some of their sour beers a lot, it was pretty boring. Interesting regarding HopFly - never heard of them. All their sours are listed as "smoothie," but I take it they make good hazies? Interesting to know about the other Fonta Flora locations. We'll be going from Asheville to Charlotte on a Monday, and the farm location is closed. We'll prob be driving through Morganton before they open on Saturday, though now that I realize Optimist Hall is a food court type of place, I'm way less interested, and I'm tempted to try to make it work. Their beers do look up my alley. I know Sierra Nevada's space is supposed to be amazing (and looks awesome from pictures). Thanks again!
HopFly started as a smaller brewery in Rocky Mount (way out east NC, middle of nowhere). They bought a defunct brewery in Charlotte and this is now their production brewery (and very nice taproom). Lots of great hazies and their sours are middle of the road fruited, not super thick. They also have some mixed culture, barrel aged, other fun stuff. As for Fonta Flora at Optimist Hall...yes the Hall is a food court. However FF is in their own part of the building and on a different level, not "in" the food court. They have there own inside and outside seating. So you can grab some good food from the hall and bring it down to the taproom to eat. Just whatever you do, don't skip FF in some form or fashion. I LOVE the farm...its literally in the middle of no-where in nature. Their barrel aged and sour program is pretty much unmatched.
A lot depends on the route you take. If you are driving to Charlotte from the Triangle, High Branch is a short detour off of I-85. I agree that it is really good and I would stop there if I were on that road. I would also consider Forgotten Road which is just off I-40 in Graham as you leave/head to the Triangle. If your route takes you from the Triangle to Asheville, or vice versa, Incendiary in Winston-Salem is not to be missed, particularly if they have any barrel-aged stouts available. In my opnion, they have the best barrel-aged stout program in North Carolina and would compete well on the national stage. They just don't get the exposure given where they are based.
That’s great to know. When I went to Crooked Stave in Denver, I felt like I was at the mall. Totally ruined the experience for me. The farm does look awesome. I’m bummed it’s closed when we could practically stop. Great info. I will see how these might fit along our route. Of the question marks I included above, I think I’m leaning trying Zillicoah and Barrel Culture, and now I’ll look more into HopFly, High Branch, and the others mentioned here. Thanks so much for the info, guys!!!
Any reason to do one Resident Culture location over another? We are staying in Plaza Midwood, so I thought we'd do that, but the South End space looks kinda cool. Also, we're staying in Cedar Grove in Durham area, so Forgotten Road makes a good stop. Thanks again!!!
Co-sign Fonta Flora. Wicked Weed is ABI-for-tourists. I've never met an AVLer who goes. Cellarest is the most original, interesting brewery in town. Hi-Wire, Zillicoah, Zebulon (Weaverville), Sideways (Etowah), and Sierra Nevada are all excellent. Burial is basically a hazy + candy stout mill (they all taste alike), but when they deviate from the big-ABV boring stuff they make very good lagers.
I realize Wicked Weed is owned by ABI at this point, but the lineup of sour beer at Funkatorium still looks amazing. And I've wanted to go for many years, so I feel like I still have to. That's disappointing to hear about Burial's stouts, though I have liked the NEIPAs and sour beers I've had from them, and as someone who is into metal and street art, I've heard the taproom is a must. Thanks for the other recommendations. Maybe I should try to prioritze Cellarest. It was near the top of my maybes list already...Zebulon also looks cool. Thanks again, everyone!!
Note that Zebulon's taproom hours are very limited. Only open Fri/Sat from 1-6. Mike Karnowski is a brewing legend and brews very interesting beers, often with a historical context. You may be aware of this, but he was formerly the brewer at Green Man back when people would line up for hours when they released their fruited sours, of which Snozzberry received the most renown. What he is not good at, unfortunately, is social media. The last time I went to Zebulon on a Saturday, the taproom was closed without any notice. It is also hard to figure out what they have on tap. If you want to make the trip (and it is a bit out of the way from the rest of the Asheville scene) I would suggest trying to contact them beforehand. They were responsive to me after my last trip as I was seeking a bottle of a specific beer and I learned that they do ship bottles. I think this link is updated with what they have in bottles: https://www.zebulonstore.com/
Thanks very much - that's helpful info. I kinda wondered if Green Man was still worth a stop. I know people used to talk about it, and it seems like not so much at this point. I assume the snozzberry tasted like snozzberry. Sad to have missed it haha.
Their Southend space is like if you put a taproom, in a club, that serves tacos. Zero reason to go there if you are staying in Plaza Midwood. The ONLY reason I would visit the Southend location is if I was already at HopFly (its around the corner) and needed some tacos and another beer. As a mid-40's something dad...the southend space just screams millennial hell to me. LOL. If you are a young millennial, you might like it! I stopped in once to check it out and obviously wasn't a fan (but their PM location is my one of, if not, my favorites).
Hahaha. Ok. Well, I'm 40 and will have my kids in tow, so I guess I have my answer! Thanks! Thanks again, everyone!
I'm not sure we will make the hours on Zebulon, but I'd like to try. Two questions: A. Can I find the bottles at local stores? B. If we make it there but they don't have sour beers on tap, do I assume correctly you can likely get sour bottles to drink in house/to go? Thanks so much!!
They just posted on Instagram that they are releasing a new sour this weekend at the brewery called Mixed Berry Sour (blueberries, raspberries and blackberries) and it wil be available at local bottle shops next week. Not sure what else will be on tap but you can go to the zebulonstore.com website to see what bottles are available. Their distribution is really spotty as they do it themselves. You are more likely to see their beers in Asheville bottle shops than in other parts of the state.
Oh, sweet, that beer sounds delicious! Thanks so much! We'll have to make a stop on Saturday. And knowing that local shops have their beers, maybe I'll see if Local 604 or The Whale (in W. Asheville near our lodging) have some other bottles to bring home (thought I might also look for High Branch beers and maybe a bottle of Salud Alma De Madera, which I loved when I had it). Thanks again!!!!!
I realize this thread is over a year old, but I wanted to give some love to Incendiary in Winston-Salem. Their stouts are top notch and not to be missed if you are in the area. Their location is pretty cool as well in a repurposed part of the Baily Power Plant in downtown.
