Best Place to Buy/Drink in Downtown Charlotte

http://www.beeradvocate.com/place/city/58/

 

For take-home purchases, you don't really have any options downtown unfortunately.

If you want to grab a beer and some food, I'd suggest Queen City Q, Brixx Pizza, Dandelion Market or the new Mellow Mushroom.

From bars, to bottle shops, to breweries, Charlotte has a great beer scene. Unfortunately most of that is evident in neighborhoods like SouthEnd and NoDa, and not as much downtown.

 

Which begs the question, will we ever truly get a bottle shop downtown? I can't see why a concept like Good Bottle Co wouldn't work downtown, especially in the right location (3rd or 4th ward). Maybe throw in a NY style deli as well to supplement income during the day. I have never had a problem finding a bottle shop in most any downtown...except my own. :-(

 

There are 3 Total Wine locations in Charlotte.

 

Take a quick cab ride over to Brawley's on Park Rd. and you'll be glad you did. Uptown Charlotte is not a retail place.

 

Salud is in NODA witch is just outside of downtown, maybe $10 cab ride, or $2 if you take a bus ( think it's the 3 & 23 ). Common Market Southend is also very close and would be a short cab ride, as well as Common Market Midwood. My point is all you have to do is travel a short distance from the craft beer desert that our downtown is and you'll find gold.

 

Glad to see this post - Im planning a trip to Charlotte within the next month or so.
Has the availability of HDnR changed since they won gold at the GABF?

 

Yes. It is harder to get and sells out quickly everywhere. Honestly, it's only because it's a great beer. I buy it when I see it. Charlotte will always have more than anywhere else.

 

How about at the brewery? How often is it brewed/released?

 

I think they have HD'nR regularly. Some Charlotteans might back that up with more precise info. Anyway, it's a great place to visit near Uptown- as they prefer. Cheers.

 

Hop Drop was scarce in the days immediately following the brewery's gold medal win, however they seem to have adjusted and gotten more beer out in the market. I don't think you should have a problem finding it, but you might want to call around first. It is brewed all the time and a year-round beer for them.

 

Mellow Mushroom has Sexual Chocolate on tap right now. FYI.

There WAS another Salud location downtown, but it didn't do well. Keep in mind, downtown is not an ideal retail location for anything... There's not adequate parking for proper shopping. If you're buying beer, would you go downtown where you have to fight for a spot that's likely 3-4 blocks away and then haul the beer back or go to one of the many locations within a 5 minute drive of downtown? There's a reason that downtown retail real estate is like 90% restaurants and coffee shops.

Negative. Still readily available. People were swarming at first, but that was a good thing... Got any older stock out of stores so now you only have super fresh HDnR

 

On that note, if you're driving and you're going to be downtown...

About 2 miles north on North Davidson is Salud and you'll pass NoDa, Birdsong, and Heist on the way. Salud has awesome taps and a great bottle selection.

About 2 miles east off Central is Common Market PM. Grab a beer at Twenty Two and you may meet one of the brewers for Free Range there. They have great taps too.

About 1 mile south off Tryon is Common Market SE. Good food, nice bottle selection. About a mile further (off South Blvd) is Good Bottle Co, which has great taps. Then, as someone else mentioned, Brawley's is worth the drive to visit, and is also a few miles south from there. Brawley's only has bottles at this time, but he's adding in taps soon... Great selection though, staple of the beer scene, and he'll have some hidden gems from time to time. You can also swing by Duckworth's, which is right by Brawley's. When it comes to restaurants that get killer beers, Duckworth's can't be beat... They have a small selection of bottles too and you can sometimes find some gems there because most people don't know, but mainly it'll just be good restaurant food and awesome taps for a sports bar.

 

Bump! Any additions or changes to this list?

 

As mentioned in the previous post we currently have 14 taps for on premise which we did not when this thread was started. Within a week or so we will have 22 taps.

 

Tank's Tap in the 7th Street Market is pretty great for Charlotte-area brews, and there is now a bottle shop at 7th Street Market too.

 

Specifically downtown? Duckworths on 7th and trade (i think), largest tap selection in charlotte.

 

This. Duckworths just opened downtown. Also, Hop Drop is not really an issue anymore. Any of our great bottle shops (Brawleys) should have it.

 

Birdsong Brewery is now walking-ish distance to downtown (about a mile from Trade/Tryon). Also Sycamore Brewery has opened and is a quick stop off the light rail (along with Triple C, Lenny Boy).

But if you just have one stop to drink, Duckworths uptown.