Charlotte, NC

Going to be staying in downtown Charlotte (Marriott City Center) in a couple weeks. Is there a good shop to grab bottles/cans in the downtown area? Looking to keep it as close as possible to where I'm staying. Walking distance would be ideal but looking at the maps it looks like Salud or Good Bottle Co. are my nearest choices. Any fresh releases I should be on the lookout for?

Time is limited and I just have a few hours on a Friday afternoon free but I hope to be able to check out a couple breweries. Anyone have opinions on these places or others in the downtown area I have not mentioned? I go for just about all styles.
- Bold Missy
- Free Range
- Hyde
- Lennyboy
- Resident Culture
- Sycamore Brewing
- Unknown Brewing
- Wooden Robot

Heist is on my list so that's a given. I visited NoDa and Birdsong several years ago at their old locations so unless there is something I can't get in a shop or some reason to check out their new spots I'll probably skip those and stick to beers/breweries Ive not yet had.

TIA!

 

IMHO:
Bold Missy - Pass
Free Range - Eh
Hyde - Haven't been, but heard space is nice, beer OK.
Lenny Boy - Decent
Resident Culture - Must Hit
Sycamore - Fun to people watch. Beer is usually descent
Unknown - Eh but cool rooftop patio
Wooden Robot - Must Hit

Add Divine Barrel to your list (its across the street from Bold Missy if you do happen to go)
Add Legion - Must hit
Add Noda back- Their new taproom has like 28 beers on tap, most you have never had. $5 uber from any of the other breweries in Noda.
Add Southern Tier/Victory if you are in the area, need dinner, and like their beers. Beautiful spot with good food and lots of taps.

 

If you're looking for a bottle shop and are already planning on going to Heist, you should definitely stop by Salud. Downstairs is a bottle shop with what's usually a great taplist. Upstairs is Salud Cerveceria, their brewery. They seem to quietly be making some pretty good stuff.

If you're looking for best beer quality, my recommended list of places to stop at would be Heist, Resident Culture, Wooden Robot, and Salud. There's definitely some places that have really nice spaces but they usually come with beer that's not quite as good.

If you're willing to go outside of Charlotte, I'd throw High Branch onto the list as well. Unfortunately it's kind of out of the way.

 

I get that lagers aren't sexy, but the fact that no one ever mentions Olde Mecklenburg, one of the top German-style producers in the country, as a recommendation for Charlotte is mind-bending to me. It hasn't even been mentioned in this thread once. That's absurd to me.

Capt. James Jack Pils is one of the best pilsners made in the US, and Mecktoberfest is similarly amazing for märzens. It's one of the best breweries in the state, let alone Charlotte itself. Definitely check them out.

 

Thanks for the direction! I have a nice list of options. Should be able to easily get in a couple stops. Are there any specifics can/bottles I should be on the lookout for to bring back with me to VA?

I do enjoy Olde Mecklenburg but you're right @THANAT0PSIS . It is often overlooked but their beers are excellent. When a friends of ours visits a couple times each year she always brings at least a couple of their current bombers. Have heard their facility is a good place to check out as well.

 

I don't recall any big releases coming up in the next few weeks. If you're looking for cans from Heist or Resident Culture, just check their social media near when you'll be here. I believe Heist pretty much announces the day they're available (their cans stick around for weeks now) and Resident Culture will tease any releases they have at least during the week leading up them being available.

Nothing else is coming to mind off the top of my head for other NC breweries you may not have access too that would be available in bottle shops around the area. We do get decent distro from the state. Anything/anyone in particular you looking for? Styles you like?

 

I don't hate Wicked Weed, I saw them building a very powerful brand very quickly. I know these guys pretty well and realized they were on a mission. I'm happy for them: they hit a ripe market!
Go see Brawley and listen to these other Charlotte hands

 

I second Olde Mecklenberg impressive brewery great beers and the food is amazing. The wife and I always split a pizza. Cool note I was picking up some swag for a BIF I was in and they were out of whatever it was I was looking for so the bartender GAVE me bunch of neat random stuff after I told her what I was wanting it for. Great group of people there, always a great time.

 

Ill echo nMBB. Skip Bold Missy 100% and go to Divine Barrel instead. Their tap list right now (typing this from the bar) is amazing. You're a Towel is probably their best NEIPA thus far.

Wooden Robot, Resident Culture, Legion, Heist, Salud, and this place are my current must go recommendations. As of bars..Hattie's and Common Market for variety and late night fun.

 

I have 3 nights coming up where based on flights I'm splitting between Charlotte and Asheville. Any thoughts on how some of these highly recommended breweries in Charlotte compare to Asheville and whether I should do 1 night Charlotte and 2 nights in Asheville or skip Charlotte beer completely?

 

Honestly at this point there are only a handful of Asheville breweries I feel like I "need" to hit. Hi Wire, Burial, Sierra Nevada if you haven't been....the rest are all fun places in their own ways but I don't have any musts in there. I'm sure others will disagree and/or I'm forgetting someone. Whereas in Charlotte I can think of 6-7 must visits.

 

Depends on what else you want to do on your visit. I live in CLT but go to AVL for beercations. But I love the outdoors and spend my morning/early afternoons hiking, tubing, etc in Asheville (and the evenings drinking away). I can almost always hit most of my must-stops in Asheville in one night however. The close proximity of most of them on the south slope makes it easy. Charlottes must hits are scattered about and take some more time to hit. Also to note, AVL hotels and Airbnb are expensive AF. Charlotte is cheap (compared to AVL). You can stay downtown Charlotte in a nice hotel for half the price as downtown Asheville. That said, I love visiting Asheville.

 

Any exciting must-visit spots in Charlotte that are interesting for more than just hazy IPAs? Of the few I added I'm now quite excited for Olde Mecklenburg based on a few posts above. Resident Culture and Legion seem exciting mostly for the hazy IPAs and fruited kettle sours. I love a good hazy but my experience traveling outside of most established breweries (Tree House) is often I'm not that impressed by what I find. Anyone doing fantastic barrel-aged sours?

FYI the main reason we are going through Charlotte was it worked out better to get flights that way from San Diego to Charlotte and then flying back out of Asheville. Going to Asheville had too many ridiculous stopovers.

 

Resident Culture has their first barrel aged sour in bottles conditioning at the moment. I don't think there's been any official word when that will be released quite yet. Wooden Robot periodically releases barrel aged sours as well but tend to be smaller batches that run out pretty close to the weekend they release. Lenny Boy does usually have several wild ales on at their taproom, however the quality isn't quite on the same level. They're always a brewery I forget about but do enjoy going to occasionally.

If you're going to be in Asheville too, you'll probably have better luck there with sours. If you haven't excommunicated Wicked Weed after the InBev deal, the Funkatorium should be able to provide you with quite a few options of bottles/drafts as far as funky/sour beers.

 

So you're driving from Charlotte to Asheville?

If so, Fonta Flora is right on your way. They're in the vein of a Jester King/Scratch and do very good barrel-aged sours (among other things).

Zebulon is in Weaverville (just north of Asheville), and they also do great sours, but their hours can be difficult to work with.

 

Thanks for all the tips to my questions above. Going to be in Charlotte this weekend and appear to have couple hours Friday afternoon free. First thing I'm going for as soon as we get into town is to grab lunch since it will be at the end of as 5 hour drive that morning. Ends up Fri afternoon I will be on the opposite end of where I was thinking. It's between Sycamore and Wooden Robot. What the best lunch spot with a good beer list? A brewery would be preferred but not a requirement. Someone above mentioned Southern Tier / Victory. That could be an option but I'd like to keep it true local CLT. Olde Meck serves food I see too. Anywhere else that is a can't miss lunch/beer spot in that part of town?

**I'll probably be arriving between 12:30 - 1 so wherever we go has to be open at this time.

 

Also, any good bottle shops in that area other than Good Bottle Co.?

 

Just thought I'd post on here that I was in Charlotte for work last week, and utilized the suggestions in this thread and hit up the following: Heist, Resident Culture, Legion, Wooden Robot and Salud.

I'd say they were all good, but Heist was my favorite and Salud was probably second. I've loved Citraquench'l since first having it a few years back, so Heist was already a step ahead for me - the rest of their beers were good too, and I took a crowler home of Strange Clouds. Salud had a really nice variety of beers to try, from hazies to fruit sours/berliners to stouts.

Resident Culture was a bit of a disappointment just because I was there right before their anniversary party. So, a few of the taps were not being utilized and they just had "Coming Soon" on the board and you could see what the beers were (a couple hazies and a sour, I believe). It would've been great to try a bit more of their beers, especially some of those they were bringing out for the anniversary - if I make it back to the area I'll give them a try again.

My liver took a beating getting to all of those places in 3 nights after work, that's for sure.

 

Good Bottle is closed for remodel. Pop the Top is a new bottle shop down that way. Can't say I have been but its only been open like a month so there shouldn't be a lot of shelf turds!

Oh and skip Sycamore and hit Wooden Robot. They have a restaurant attached the brewery so you can eat there.