North Carolinian Beer

anything from wicked weed, is worth trying. ive yet to really dislike anything of theirs that I have tried, and most are very good.

 

This is likely of limited help, but...

Distribution is a funny thing, and the NC beers I most recently tried are in the western part of the state (Asheville, which has WW mentioned above, and Charlotte with NoDa). I think NoDa (I guess Charlotte is kinda towards central) is popular enough it might have some distro issues. Green Man is another from Asheville that I liked when in the western part of the state.

Another option to look for, since Holden beach is near SC, is any Westbrook option you can find (which is out of SC).

 

Mother Earth and Duck Rabbit are both in eastern NC and have some solid stuff. Grab some cans of Mother Earth's Park Day Pilsner for the beach. Foothills should reach there as well. Jade IPA is one of the best NC IPAs if that's your thing.

 

Not sure what distribution is like where you are, but: Green Man, Pisgah, Wicked Weed, Burial, Hi-Wire, Foothills, and NoDa are all very much worth checking out. Might be able to find some Westbrook (SC) stuff as well, not sure. North Carolina is a great beer state, maybe one of the best. As was noted above, not sure a lot of that makes it out of western NC. And, this probably goes without saying, but...Oskar Blues and Sierra Nevada (if you can find Rain Check, I recommend trying it...tasty spiced stout only available in NC (maybe only available in Asheville...note sure)) are both brewed in NC now as well.

 

Wicked Weed only bottles sours (for now) but fantastic if into those.
Another nod for Westbrook--recently in NC
Foothills Jade in bomber only format has recently shown up--in my top 3 IPAs for NC
Aviator in eastern NC has put out a few good ones--not up on them currently so some homework required.
Mother Earth does a decent Kolsch for the beach

 

Pisgah, Burial, and Hi-Wire are tiny breweries so I'd be really surprised if it gets that far east. Wicked Weed I'm pretty sure does make its way to Wilmington occasionally, but I'd be surprised to find it down east outside of Wilmington. No idea of the footprint of Green Man, though the stuff they distribute I find to be very hit and miss (some are good, some are boring, though the ones that are boring were meant to be pretty boring to start with ESB and the like). Foothills is the one that I'd say you have a really good chance of finding fairly easily.

 

I think if your at the NC beach your kinda beat. NoDa doesn't distro outside of Charlotte, I doubt Weed would be found outside of the Raleigh area. I've yet to see any Westbrook of any flavor so far. There's great beer around, a beer run to Raleigh might take half a day round trip and you could get about what is available.

 

I was in Asheville in April and there were NoDa cans everywhere. Was able to bring a 4 pack of fresh Hop Drop N Roll home with me, along with a variety of other NoDa cans. Very exciting! Also spotted plenty of Westbrook and WW (brewed in Asheville, not Raleigh...unless you meant you probably wouldn't find it east of Raleigh). That said, I have no idea what the situation on the coast is.

 

Individual retailers have been driving to NoDa to pick up beer, they were not delivering outside Charlotte. You want it you have to drive, Charlotte consumption was pretty severe. If it's changed and they now distro would be new to me, never say never it's in demand,,and they're producing more. But Bestway was buying 40 cases a trip, plus whatever Jam Session and what not you had to buy to be eligible to buy the HDR.

 

You're both right. NoDa only distributes to Charlotte (still), everywhere else is self distribution. And even if you want to drive down and pick up a van load or so, you still have to call and make sure they have the beer (which makes sense, but something people forget about sometimes). I'd be pretty surprised if the Wilmington stores wanted to make the drive.

 

Theres plenty of Wicked Weed around Wilmington. Westbrook drops every couple weeks. There should still be some White Thai and One Claw around though and maybe some Gose. And surprisngly the shops do make trips for NoDa every once in a while as I've gotten Hop Drop and Coco Loco around town. Hi-wire did do a kickoff release party for the coast a month or so ago.

 

The One Claw is well worthwhile too, it's better than their IPA, and most IPAs in general if it's fresh.

 

Wilmington stores get Noda ever so often, maybe every other month? and i know both Lighthouse and Fermental both will have WW beers right now!

 

One Claw is criminally underrated on here. Better than almost every IPA and pale ale I've had. I'd take it over sculpin every time personally

 

I have to agree with you, gents. One of my favorite summer beers.

 

Me too.

 

Will be visiting the in-laws in Holden in a few weeks. Any recommendations on bottle shops / bars in the Holden beach area? Anywhere without going all the way north to Wilmington or all the way south to Myrtle?

 

Check 6 Brewing is in Southport. That's probably the closest.