Hey guys, I'll be heading to Charlotte tomorrow (more specific Concord, NC). I'll be there from Thursday-Sunday. I was wondering if anyone can help me out with recommendations of breweries, craft beer bars, brewpubs, bottle shops, etc... Thanks in advance!!!
High Branch Brewing in Concord. Doing great things. Other than that, there should be plenty of recent threads a page or two back on Charlotte "to-do". Not a lot has changed in the past 6 months so any recent thread will do.
This. Haven't been able to visit yet, but tried there stuff a couple times now and they're absolutely doing good things. If you're already in Concord you should absolutely check them out.
I'm not too familiar with shops in Concord, but Salud is the best bottle shop in the state and should be <25 minute drive from Concord area
I'll also second High Branch, they're nailing it with IPAs, and their saisons are really well done as well. Also, right across the parking lot from High Branch is Cabarrus Brewing Company. Their beer is pretty much all mediocre, but they have a really cool ambiance. If you go on a Friday, the parking lot they split has multiple food trucks lined up as well.
High Branch has McGill Ave IPA in 25oz crowlers to go starting at 4pm today! Their haze game is on point!
Figure I would temporarily threadjack instead of creating a new one for a question...... Have a friend, who lives in Charlotte, coming up in a few weeks and will be bringing some CLT beers. I know the brewery scene fairly well but have not been down in about a year so not sure what's currently the "must have" beers that are readily available and easily accessible. Does not need to be whales so basically what the best packaged beers CLT has to offer right now or will be coming out in the next 2-3 weeks. They live/work around downtown so can be something that is brewery only (cans/bottles) or available in the wild. Just do not want then running all over the place for me. TIA! p.s. Their favorite local brewery is Free Range so a couple growlers of what they are currently pouring will be part of their haul. Since it's their favorite spot they will surprise me with what comes from there. TIA!
I like Birdsong/Free Range Rice Rice Baby (4pcks). Any of the Heist IPA crowlers. Noda Par 4 is a nice session IPA (check the dates tho). I would have them get you any/all Burial IPA's they can find (not CLT local but NC local). Birdsong also has Beebop-A-Reebop in cans, and while i haven't had it yet, I plan to get some as soon as I see it out.
Thanks for the suggestions. I did not think of stouts but those could work since my fridge is IPA heavy at the moment. I did snag a 4 pack of Par 4 last year. I like my IPAs with more citrus / fruity tones and I recall that being more West Coast. I enjoyed it though.
You might like Noda Pacific Reign...however...I am not sure when the last time they brewed this was. They started canning it middle of April but I don't know if it was multiple batches or not. Kegs still pop up at restaurants but I don't know if they brewered this recently or just getting rid of inventory before it gets really old. Also if you like Hazy IPA's, have then run up to High Branch in Concord. Not a bad drive from uptown. They can/crowler and their NEIPA are very good.
Tom, Thank you for all the help you have supplied me recently! I know you are aware of Heist and their NE IPA'S but just about everything they brew is worth taking home. Nomorebeerbelly mentioned High Branch in Concord and he couldnt be more right. They are killing it. There are Fonta Flora bottles around on the shelves. None of the high demand ones but just like Heist....everthing the do is worth bringing home. Triple C does some great BA stouts, specifically Eyes of the World and Chocolate Covered Pretzel. They may be able to find some of those around. If you have any specific questions, feel free to BM me. Cheers!!
I was just in CLT last week visiting so I'm not an expert but I visited Heist and their Citraquenchl was superb (I know it was just a single but I liked it better than Trip X Valhalla they just dropped). I don't know how often they have it or if they still will but I got a crowler. Their Blurred is the Word was good too so got the feeling their big IPAs are likely solid all around. tl;dr I liked Heist IPA crowlers
Thanks for the info! They are coming up the end of next week so I'll probably scope out current tap lists closer to when they come up as well as see what local shops are posting on their social media about bottle/can deliveries and then point them in a direction so they have an idea what to be on the lookout for.
Final check on recommendations to be brought up from CLT when my friends come this weekend? So far I mentioned Citraquench'l and Bright Ass Tank Top along with anything from Free Range, High Branch, Heist and/or Wooden Robot if they happen to be nearby today or tomorrow. Other than those just about anything local they would go for IPA and hoppy. Have had lots of NoDa and Birdsong so asked them to skip those so I would not have a beer I've already tried. Would prefer to stick to CLT beers. My one exception was Mexican Cake (if they are not already gone) since I saw those hit a few shops earlier in the week.
Salud Cerveceria (new brewery from the Salud bottleshop guys) is up and running near Heist. I know they do crowlers at Salud (bottleshop), so I assume they'll be crowlin' over at the brewery. Haven't been down there yet, but I imagine their stuff is pretty tasty. If you have time, your buds might want to swing over to Legion. Probably not as high of a priority as the breweries you mentioned, but their Easy Rye-der hazy rye IPA that's out now is pretty tasty, as is their flagship IPA Juicy Jay.
Thanks for the tips! Funny you mentioned Legion. I have never heard of them but someone actually brought it up last without me even asking about breweries in CLT or even mentioning that I had friends coming up this week bring me stuff. Said they recently had Juicy Jay and Carolina Sparkle Party on a trip down there and loved them.
