Microbrewery Text Amendment — Meeting Three on Thursday, March 7

March 6, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Charlotte Microbrewery Text AmendmentA third meeting to discuss a possible microbrewery text amendment in Charlotte will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. in room 280 of the Goverment Center on Thursday, March 7. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Department has sponsored this process to determine if microbreweries might be appropriate in additional districts other than the industrial districts known as I-1 and I-2, to which they are now confined.

During the first microbrewery text amendment meeting, attendees (known now as the “Citizen Advisory Group”) were tasked with coming up with some potential definitions for a microbrewery. The meeting minutes provide a good recap of the discussion. In the second meeting, we discussed which other districts might be suitable for microbreweries, and what sort of restrictions might need to be applied to microbreweries if they were to enter these districts.

After this second meeting, the planning department issued a proposed amendment that, if approved at a public meeting on March 19, will add a definition for breweries (there currently is not one). While this step in the process won’t allow breweries to exist in the urban districts, it will loosen restrictions for them in I-1 and I-2. An attempt to get the breweries in urban districts should come later. John Marrino of The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery seems pleased with this approach — you can read his statement here.

Bridget Dixon of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Planning Department sent this table outlining the conditions breweries would be held to in the urban districts if this were allowed. This will be a topic of discussion for the third meeting before being pushed forward.

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Duckworth’s Cask Festival – March 17

February 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Duckworths Cask Festival

For the third year in a row, Duckworth’s Park Rd. location will hold a cask festival during Charlotte Craft Beer Week, and they want you to come out and crown a victor in “The Battle of the Casks.” Tickets, which are $30 and available at the Park Rd. location or by phone at  704-527-5783, get you a 6 oz. souvenir tasting glass with which you can drink unlimited samples of the 10 casks in attendance. The festival will take place outside in the Duckworth’s parking lot. And I’ll be there, signing copies of the new Charlotte Beer book!

Never had a cask beer and don’t know what to expect? All the more reason to come check it out. Instead of using CO2 or Nitrogen for carbonation, cask-conditioned beer is naturally carbonated. These beers are also unfiltered and unpasteurized, resulting in a very different taste profile. Some brewers will add additional ingredients to casks to create a one-off version of existing beers.

You’ll be asked to vote on favorites from this lineup:

  • Terrapin: Wake ’N Bake Coffee Oatmeal Stout
  • Heavy Seas: Barrel-Aged Siren Noire
  • Birdsong: Honey Pie Double IPA
  • Olde Hickory: The Redeemer
  • Four Friends: Chipotle Lime Basil IPA
  • NoDa: To Be Determined
  • Triple C: To Be Determined
  • Natty Greene’s: To Be Determined
  • New Belgium: To Be Determined
  • + Randall

Call 704-527-5783 for tickets and more details.

This is an official event for Charlotte Craft Beer Week. Visit www.charlottecraftbeerweek.org for other events going on around town.

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A Valentine’s Day with Charlotte Beer

February 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Valentine's Day Charlotte Beer

Let’s skip all of the puns and cut right to the chase: several Charlotte bars are celebrating Valentine’s Day by tapping some special beers, including one that’s always popular this time of year, Foothills Brewing’s Sexual Chocolate. Check out how some Charlotte bars will be celebrating Valentine’s Day this week.

Wednesday, February 13

Chocolate, Vanilla, Oysters, Fruit, Floral Tap Takeover at Good Bottle Co (Feb. 13)

Chocolate, vanilla, oysters, fruit and flowers — or at least beers brewed with those aphrodisiacal ingredients — will be on tap at Good Bottle Co. the night before Valentine’s Day. Here’s the full lineup.

Taco Mac Huntersville taps Cupid’s Revenge (Feb. 13)

You may remember that Four Friends recently released a Double Chocolate Imperial Stout. That would be worthy in and of itself as a Valentine’s Day treat, but the brewery has done one better by filling a cask with said stout, throwing in some raspberries, and dubbing it “Cupid’s Revenge.” Taco Mac Huntersville will tap this cask at 6 p.m. on Wednesday night.

Thursday, February 14

I Love Beer at Growlers Pourhouse

Spend time with your one, true love — beer — at Growlers Pourhouse on Valentine’s Day. They will be pouring Bell’s Hopslam, Ballast Point Sculpin, Heavy Seas Siren Noire and Bell’s Smitten Golden Rye Ale. In addition to these beers, they will also tap three casks: Heavy Seas Black Cannon Black IPA, Heavy Seas Bourbon Barrel-Aged Below Decks Barleywine, and Heavy Seas Winter Storm Imperial ESB. More info here.

Vintner Wine Market taps 2012 Sexual Chocolate (& Much More!)

Drop by Vintner Wine Market this Valentine’s Day for a pint of 2012 Sexual Chocolate. They will tap the keg at 6 p.m. Also on tap are these other great stouts: Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast, Thirsty Dog Bourbon Barrel Aged Siberian Night, Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, Noda Hope’s Stout, Peak Organic Oak Aged Mocha Stout, Sierra Nevada Narwhal and Pisgah Vortex II.

JJ’s RedHots taps Sexual Chocolate

Go grab a pint of Sexual Chocolate at JJ’s RedHots — but please, don’t dis’ the dog!

Duckworth’s Ballantyne taps 2013 Sexual Chocolate

Celebrate Valentine’s Day out Ballantyne way, where Duckworth’s will tap this year’s Sexual Chocolate.

Duckworth’s Park Rd. Taps New Belgium’s La Folie

To love something “à la folie” means to do so passionately or madly, which fans of New Belgium’s La Folie know all too well. This beer is a yearly release in the brewery’s Lips of Faith series.

World of Beer taps Starr Hill’s The Love

World of Beer will tap Starr Hill’s The Love hefeweizen to benefit Pretty in Pink.

The Kilted Buffalo (Huntersville) Anti-Valentine’s Day Party

Part bar and part barber shop, The Kilted Buffalo will host an Anti-Valentine’s Day party on Feb. 14. To celebrate singledom, they’ll tap a keg of Sexual Chocolate at 8 p.m.

NoDa Brewing taps  Ménage à Quad

NoDa Brewing will celebrate Valentine’s Day with Ménage à Quad, a Belgian quad coming in at 11 percent ABV.

Triple C Brewing taps Chocolate Porter

Triple C Brewing will tap their limited Chocolate Porter on Valentine’s Day.

Common Market SouthEnd tasting with Birdsong Brewing

Birdsong’s Mexicali Stout, which is brewed with local coffee, cinnamon and chile spice, is the perfect Valentine’s day beer. Head brewer Conor Robinson will bring a cask of Mexicali Stout to Common Market SouthEnd, and he’ll also have  The Pride, Jalapeno Pale and Pomegranate Berliner Weise.

Friday, February 15

Four-Year Vertical of Sexual Chocolate at Common Market Plaza Midwood

It’s always fun to see how love changes over time. At Common Market, you’ll be able to do just that by tasting four different vintages of Sexual Chocolate. Full pints as well as flights will be available.

Filed Under: Charlotte Beer Bars & Restaurants, Charlotte Beer Blog, Charlotte Beer Events Tagged With: , , , ,

Custom Home Pubs Owner to Open Sankey’s Next Door

February 4, 2013 By 2 Comments
Sankey's Taproom and Grille

Logo courtesy of Sublmnl Design (http://sublmnldesign.com).

Many patrons of Custom Home Pubs in Matthews are well familiar with the term Sankey, a manufacturer of kegs and keg valves used in bars and restaurants the world over. This May, they will become even more familiar with the name as Custom Home Pubs owner Geoff Goss opens Sankey’s Taproom and Grille next door to his current business.

The restaurant will be a new venture for Goss, who opened Custom Home Pubs in 2007. The company specializes in supplying kegs and building home bars, but in its Matthews location you can also find a small bottle selection and a bar with eight taps. Each month, Custom Home Pubs hosts a monthly tasting where, for $10, you can enjoy unlimited samples of a brewery’s beers. For most of these events, a food truck parks outside to supply the food.

Now, patrons will be able to walk next door to Sankey’s for food (there will be a door inside connecting the two businesses). The building, which was previously home to a Quizno’s, has room for around 50-60 seats inside and a few more outside under a covered patio. The bar area will seat another 10-15 people.

Custom Home Pubs will continue to fill its eight taps with smaller batch offerings, whereas Sankey’s will have 12 taps with an emphasis on year-round, local beers. Goss also wants to use local ingredients in the food menu, which will include such items as wings, burgers, express lunches (salads, sandwiches and soups) and a Cleveland-style panini with roast beef, french fries and coleslaw inside the sandwich.

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Charlotte’s Beer Scene & the DNC

August 27, 2012 By 3 Comments

Mother Earth DNC BeerLoneRider CNN BrewDNC stands for “Drink North Carolina” — or at least it’s starting to seem that way.

In the weeks before the Democratic National Convention, the national media has turned its watchful eye toward Charlotte, and our great beer scene is not exempt from its gaze. Several publications have already made mention of Charlotte’s breweries and bars, with likely more to come before and during the convention.

If you’re visiting Charlotte for the DNC, please make it a point to visit some of the Charlotte beer spots that have been mentioned, as well as those that haven’t (you can find lists of Charlotte breweries, bars and beer stores at the top of this site).

  • A piece in The Boston Globe makes mention of both NoDa Brewing and the NoDa Run Club.
  • If you’re looking to “wet your whistle” in Charlotte, the Chicago Tribune recommends Olde Mecklenburg, Al Michael’s Tavern and VBGB Beer Hall and Garden.
  • Mother Earth Brewing’s new DNC-label of Endless River is at bottle shops around town, including Brawley’s Beverage, Vintner Wine Market and Common Market.
  • LoneRider Brewing Company in Raleigh will be the official beer sponsor of the CNN Grill during the convention.
  • The Washingtonian recommends “the Olde Mecklenburg Brewery for traditional German-style brews, or hit NoDa Brewing Company for wild American concoctions.”
  • In its “breviloquent” travel guide, Esquire recommended stopping by Common Market for a beer.
  • For the week of the convention, Mellow Mushroom will fill all of its taps with NC beer.
  • Dilworth Neighborhood Grille will feature all NC beer during DNC week as well. Here’s a photo of their initial lineup.

Last, but certainly not least, CLT Blog and Charlotte In 2012 filmed a video profiling the Charlotte beer scene.

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JJ’s Red Hots to Open this Fourth of July

June 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment

JJ's Red Hots CharlotteThis July 4, declare your independence from the traditional hot dog.

Let’s face it: those Oscar Mayer wieners that so many slap on the grill during the Fourth of July are the Budweiser of the hot dog world. They’re cheap, they’re flavorless and they’re full of filler. In the case of Bud, it’s rice. In the case of Oscar Mayer, it’s — well, a little grosser than rice.

As JJ’s Red Hots would say, “don’t dis’ the dog” like that.

JJ’s Red Hots has a great respect for the dog, which I saw firsthand last night at a sneak preview event. The restaurant will open this Fourth of July in the East Blvd. building that previously held Boardwalk Billy’s (1514 East Blvd.). When they open, all four of JJ’s Red Hots’ taps will be devoted to North Carolina breweries. The initial draft lineup will consist of Olde Mecklenburg’s Captain James Jack Pilsner, NoDa Brewing’s Monk’s Trunks and Coco Loco Porter and Foothills’ Hoppyum IPA. These choices, as well as the restaurant’s selection of canned craft beer, were made by Jeremy Guthrie who, before becoming JJ’s Red Hots’ food and beverage director, was the man behind the great beer selection at Vintner Wine Market.

But of course, JJ’s Red Hots’ focus isn’t on craft beer, even though they do have a well thought out selection of craft beers on draft and in cans. You have only to look at the menu — filled with takes on hot dogs from across the nation — to see that they’re true allegiance is to the dog. They start with smokehouse hot dogs from Sahlen’s in Buffalo, New York. Then they chargrill the dogs before topping them with a variety of ingredients, depending on which of the eight signature dogs you select.

Everything I had last night was delicious, but my two favorites were the “Sonoran,” an Arizona-inspired dog topped with borracho beans, cilantro, salsa, cheddar and onions; and “The Whistle Pig,” which showcased some delicious house-cured bacon with cheddar, onion, and Weber’s mustard — which I’ve since discovered is highly-regarded in Buffalo. The “Maui Gold” was also great with its Hawaiian influences of vidalia onions and grilled pineapple.

If you asked most Carolinians what the pride of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana is, they would probably mention former Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme. JJ’s Red Hots insists that Jake’s been replaced by their andouille sausage sliders, and I have to think they’re right about that. You can check out the full menu on their Facebook page.

What would a Fourth of July opening be without a little theatrics? Nation Ford High School’s award-winning drum line will play at 2 p.m. right before the ribbon cutting, and a soloist will play The Star Spangled Banner to commemorate its 200th anniversary.

 

 

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