City Brew Tours has a great Charlotte presence, but offers tours in a number of other cities as well.
I love to explore breweries in other cities, and a recent trip to Charlotte provided the perfect opportunity. I visited a few breweries on my own and had a chance to visit breweries with City Brew Tours of Charlotte.
I decided to take the City Brew Tours’ Beer and Pizza Tour, which included three beer stops, with pizza at the second stop.
The tours start at the Westin Hotel in downtown Charlotte, convenient to public transportation and other downtown attractions. We loaded the van, and our guide Vinny drove us to our first stop, Armored Cow Brewing, located in a shopping area north of the city. (One of our group members forgot the “no open-toed shoes” rule and had to stop at a nearby clothing store to buy a pair.)
Armored Cow is named for military-issued milk in cans. Vinny taught us the “wet, wet, sip, sip” method for tasting beer, which gives the taste buds time to appreciate all the nuances or a beer. The technique involves wetting your pallet twice with the beer, at one-minute intervals, then taking your first two sips at one-minute intervals.
Guide Vinny pours Crushin’ It orange seltzer at Armored Cow.
Guide Vinny (left) talks with tours guests at Armored Cow.
Taps at Armored Cow Brewing in Charlotte
Armored Cow is known for gluten-free beers, which will excite those who have to avoid most beer due to gluten sensitivity. Whole Lotta Rosie (a tribute to Rosie the Riveter) is a caramel cream coffee blonde ale, gluten-free, with a sweetness to it.
We toured the production facility, where we learned the ins and outs of beer production, from the mash tun to the brew kettle to the fermenter. Next, we tasted Sleepless in Seattle, an imperial Tiramisu stout with a great flavor. We wrapped up the tastings with Crushin’ It, an orange creamsicle seltzer that is also gluten free, which turned out to be a favorite of our group, with its crisp, orange taste.
Next, we took a long drive to the Southend of Charlotte, where we visited two more breweries. The first was Protagonist, where we ordered a pint with our pizza. The pizza – a meat lovers and veggie for us – paired well with the Julia sour (orange zest and rosemary). We left not one slice of the two large pizzas we ordered, along with harambe bread, an Italian pull-apart bread with cheese and pepperoni.
Tour guest pulls away a piece of Protagonist Harambe, Italian bread made with cheese and pepperoniOrdering beer to go with pizza at Protagonist
Our final stop before returning to the hotel was Lower Left Brewing, also in the Southend area. Just ahead of a rainstorm, we tasted Juicy McJuiceface, a hazy New England IPA; Six-Hour Tour, an imperial coconut blonde ale; Tech Noir porter and Bravetart strawberry shortcake sour.
I really liked the tour’s strategy of offering everyone tastes from a small pitcher of beer. That way, you didn’t feel pressure to consume something you didn’t like or sample more than you really wanted. With each pour, there seemed to be enough beer left over for those who really wanted more.
Lower Left Brewing has lots of outdoor space to enjoy spring weather.
Vinny was a fun guide and offered interesting information about all the breweries we visited. I thought his “wet, wet, sip, sip” method of beer tasting was very helpful in allowing us to see how our perception of a beer changed. City Brew Tours is a franchise, so look for other tours in cities around the country.
Three more Charlotte brewery recommendations:
Legion Brewing near Charlotte’s South Park Mallis a lively, fun place to eat and drink, inside and out. Their food and beer menus are both outstanding. You can visit them in three other Charlotte locations as well. 5610 Carnegie Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28209
Suffolk Punch, South Park: During warmer weather, you’ll find most guests to this brewery location enjoying the outside seating, and quasi-outdoor seating, with large doors open to catch the breeze. They have a nice beer selection, and a food menu that includes some things you don’t always find on a brewpub menu, including a Korean barbecue bowl. 4400 Sharon Road, Unit G23D, Charlotte, NC 28211
Sycamore Brewing’s new location features lots of outdoor space, a coffee bar and food.
Sycamore Brewing and Beer Garden, Southend is a new, really large location, with food, beer and a coffee bar. The location sits next to the light rail tracks, and I feel sure there’s a station nearby. Excellent beer – I recommend the Lager with Lime to go with a house made pizza. 2151 Hawkins St., Charlotte, NC 28203
A look back at the top experiences of the last year
2023 was a great year for wine and beer activities, so I decided to rank the highlights of my beer and wine activities. Here’s to doing even more in 2024!
Happy New Year from North Carolina wine influencers, 2 Winey Friends, NC Wine Guys, Blends & Bubbly, NC Wines, Tarheel Taps & Corks and Wine Mouths
8: Special events in wine, beer and cider Events at North Carolina wineries, breweries and cideries are getting better all the time. Here are just a few that were memorable in 2023: A wine and food pairing dinner at Gioia Dell’Amore Cellars. They promise more wine dinners in 2024. A Raclette cheese tasting at Botanist & Barrel, because who can resist this melted cheese poured over vegetables, bread and more? So many celebrations at Glass Jug Beer Lab, including a Girl Scout cookie and beer pairing in RTP and a Mardi Gras celebration in downtown Durham. And fellow wine influencer Dave Nershi shared his love for and expertise in South African wines by hosting a food and wine pairing dinner at his home. And Dathan and Jen of Triangle Around Townhosted a fun “Open that Bottle” night in their home.
Guests gather around tables in the Gioia dell’Amore tasting room for the food-wine pairing dinner.
Mardi Gras celebration at Glass Jug Beer Lab in Durham’s Central Park downtown.
Raclette cheese tasting at Botanist & Barrel.
South African wine dinner at with Dave Nershi of Vino-Sphere.
7: Mead tasting with friends at Starrlight Mead I think The Plant in Pittsboro is such a fun place to visit, so I invited some friends to taste mead at the Starrlight tasting room in the beverage district. After our tasting, we toured the production room and strolled through The Plant to see other businesses, including ax throwing. We wrapped up our afternoon with a beer at Fair Game Beverage.
6: Food and beer tours I started guiding food tours with Triangle Food and City Tours, which provides tours in Raleigh’s Historic Oakwood and Boylan Heights. I also began working with People1Tourismto offer some beer and cider tours in the Whitaker Mill neighborhood. Please look for opportunities to participate in both of these tour groups!
5: Wine tastings with Merlot2Muscadine Fellow wine influencer Arthur Barham hosted several wine tastings this year, and I participated in two of them – sparkling wine and Tannat tastings. Arthur is a real expert in planning such events, and I hope he’ll do more of them in 2024!
With candles and lanterns, the tasting continued even without lights.
4: NC Winegrower’s Association meeting This year’s wine annual meeting was a real celebration, and as one participant described it, like a family reunion. The sessions were great fun, including a Reidel glassware demonstration. You can read more about itin the blog or Screw-it Wine (shop for the digital issue).
A Reidle glassware demonstration was part of the wine conference. Nearly 300 participated.
3: Judging the 2023 NC Wine Competition After a surprise last-minute phone call from Brianna Burns of NC Wine and Grape Council, I found myself with a group of wine experts judging the top wines entered in the state wine competition. And this year’s top pick was a Seyval Blanc from Shadow Springs Vineyards.
Judging the NC Wine Competition for 2023
2: NC Wine Digital Media Summit Having hosted this event in Yadkin Valley, as well as online during the pandemic, the @ncwineguys took this event to Western North Carolina to explore wineries in the Crest of the Blue Ridge AVA. In advance of the Summit, participants spent two days touring wineries and cideries in the Hendersonville area.
1: Trip to Napa and Sonoma A Big Highlight of this year’s wine experiences was visiting wineries and more in Napa and Sonoma. It was a wonderful opportunity to taste some of the best wine produced in the world, but it also left us with a true appreciation of what North Carolina’s wine industry and how accessible it is. You can read all about the trip in three recent blog posts – yes, it took three posts to get it all down! Before Christmas, Arthur Barham and I took the opportunity to trade notes on recent wine trips, including his to the Finger Lakes region of New York.
Arthur, Natalie, Kyle and Mary enjoyed dinner together and swapping wine trip stories.
On a trip to Asheville in 2016, we headed out to visit Highland Brewing, a 40-acre site on the east edge of town. Though it was still early – before 9 pm – the brewery’s taproom was already closed, and we missed our chance to have a beer and hang out for a while. (Lesson 1 about Asheville breweries: Pay attention to the hours!)
We were back in Asheville recently and planned a little more carefully for a visit to the brewery that included a tour and tasting (tours are offered Fridays through Sundays). We gathered in the taproom with our tour guide Douglas, who took us through the ins and outs of the brewery.
Highland holds a key place in the history of this Beer City USA as the first craft brewery in town, opening in 1994. Today, the Asheville Brewers Guild has 40 member breweries, accounting for about 10% of all breweries in the state of North Carolina.
On our tour, we tasted as we strolled through the facility. First up, Highland’s signature Gaelic Ale, then a dark seasonal beer. We got a look at different shades of malt and learned how the variations from dark to light can influence the flavor profile of beer. We finished our tour in the Annex (merch store), where we tasted AVL IPA, Pilsner and Oatmeal Stout.
Tour guide Douglas Mostyn shares his passion for Highland Brewing.
Pallets of aluminum cans are stacked to the ceiling.
Post-tasting empty glasses in the Annex.
We toured the brewing facilities, saw the lab where Highland monitors beer quality, and finally visited the packaging area, with both canning and bottling lines for distribution. In the brewery, pallets of pre-labeled aluminum cans were piled to the ceiling, ready for the canning line.
Highland’s founder Oscar Wong opened the first brewery location in downtown Asheville, but when Highland outgrew that facility, they moved to the current location, once home to Blue Ridge Motion Pictures, a sprawling film studio. It’s history also includes stints in manufacturing (veneer flooring and ball bearings) and as a railroad depot.
In recent years, Wong handed over the leadership of the brewery to his daughter, Leah Wong Ashburn. As CEO, she has expanded the events space at the brewery, which is now booked through the end of this year. She also rebranded the beer and doubled production in 2017-18 and again 2018-19. The brewery also decided to limit distribution of its signature beers to just four states, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee.
This old water tower at Highland Brewing bears the name of a former tenant, Blue Ridge Motion PicturesSand volleyball courts at HighlandOutdoor stage and biergarten
In addition to the spacious taproom and patio space, the brewery caters to outdoor enthusiasts with sand volleyball courts, a disc golf course and hiking trails. There is also an outdoor concert venue and biergarten with lots of picnic tables.
The site doesn’t serve food, but there are usually food trucks onsite to tame your hunger. And you should always be able to find a seat in the spacious taproom. The next time you visit Asheville, make the trek to East Asheville, or visit Highland’s newest taproom in downtown’s historic S&W Market.
Highland changed its branding under new leadership, from Old Scottie on the right, to the brand shown on the coasters to the left.
Highland Brewing 12 Old Charlotte Highway, Suite 200 Asheville, North Carolina 28803
Note: This article appears in the latest issue of Screw it Wine.Download the complete issue to learn more about NC beer and wine.
They say that beer sales are good in good times and even better in bad times. And that would make sense when you look at the number of Triangle area breweries that opened second and even third taprooms during COVID.
Two years ago, North Carolina breweries, wineries and restaurants remained closed under a state emergency declaration that began with the spread of COVID 19 in the United States in March 2020. It was the end of May before breweries were able to reopen to the public.
At least 10 Triangle breweries opened additional taprooms during or right before the pandemic shut businesses down. But according to Chris Creech, owner and head brewer at Durham’s Glass Jug Beer Lab, without COVID, there might have been even more.
Before COVID, brewers understood the profitability of selling beer through taprooms, rather than distributing beer to grocery stores and other sales outlets. While a six-pack might cost $10-$12, with only a slim profit margin going to breweries, there was a higher profit margin in selling $5-$6 pints of beer in a taproom, Creech said.
Glass Jug Beer Lab Glass Jug Beer Lab’s original location on the edge of Research Triangle Park had already expanded one time in 2018 from a bottle shop with a tasting bar to a much larger space in the same shopping center, with more indoor space, as well as the bottle shop and an outdoor biergarten.
A large outdoor biergarten helped Glass Jug RTP draw guests back to the brewery during COVID.
That expansion served them well during COVID, Creech said. Having the bottle shop allowed faithful Glass Jug customers to continue buying take-out beer while the taproom was shut down. Bartenders made the transition to beer delivery drivers, while that was allowed. And once Glass Jug reopened, having the outdoor space made customers feel more comfortable about getting back out.
Glass Jug began looking for taproom space in downtown Durham before COVID and didn’t want to lose the space they had identified near Durham’s Central Park. The ongoing pandemic allowed the business to get concessions to pay lower rent, in the event businesses were forced to close again.
The new taproom opened in March 2021. This was the third construction project for the owners and it went smoothly, despite skyrocketing lumber costs. And then, “we thought we were opening at the end of the pandemic, but (the variants) Delta and Omicron proved us wrong,” Creech said.
Glass Jug Beer Lab expanded from this RTP location to a downtown Durham location.
Glass Jug’s downtown location has some outdoor space, but Creech is hoping that Durham will soon open the Central Park as a “social district” where drinks from nearby businesses can be consumed. Such a measure would essentially turn Durham Central Park into a biergarten for Glass Jug customers, Creech said.
Gizmo Brew Works Across the Triangle, Raleigh’s Gizmo Brew Works was looking for a downtown Raleigh location to add a taproom, along with additional space for brewing, said Joe Walton, co-owner, chief operating officer and head brewer. But the cost to lease space in the area was too high to accommodate the production space.
One day on a visit to Chapel Hill, Walton was walking through a familiar downtown alley when he saw a “for lease” sign. He didn’t realize at the time that the space was the former home of Chapel Hill’s iconic Rathskeller Restaurant. In its heyday, customers lined up down the alley, spilling out onto Franklin Street to dine on “the Rat’s” pizza and lasagna that many remembered from days as UNC students.
Gizmo’s new Chapel Hill location is in the old Rathskeller Restaurant space, but with windows added.
The building’s owners had spent time and money to bring the space up to code, and it was ready for a new tenant. About the same time, Gizmo’s Raleigh brewery was offered a lease on nearby space for beer production, a move that kept all the brewing in one location. Problem solved.
The Chapel Hill location – much brighter than the former cave-like Rathskeller — opened to the public in December 2019, only to close again in March 2020 due to COVID. As people seek out breweries and other entertainment, traffic to the taproom has grown. And though Gizmo doesn’t serve food, the brewery partnered with two Chapel Hill restaurants to allow customers to order food that is delivered to the brewery.
But Gizmo didn’t stop there. In late March, the brewery opened a third taproom in a Durham shopping center off 15-501. It is also home to BB’s Crispy Chicken restaurant, a yoga studio, a coffee roaster and 25 outdoor murals.
Lonerider Brewing Co. Sumit Vohra, CEO of Lonerider Brewing Co., opened the brewery’s second location in Wake Forest in July 2019. Both the Raleigh and Wake Forest locations offered drive-through beer sales when the businesses were shut down in 2020, which helped Lonerider keep its staff employed. The brewery also sold hand sanitizer as a service to the community, at a time when the product was hard to find on store shelves.
Lonerider planned to open a downtown Raleigh location before the pandemic, but those plans fell apart during COVID. Vohra was a regular at Raleigh’s The Point restaurant at Five Points, and during the pandemic, the owners let him know they wanted close the business. They asked if he was interested in taking over the space.
“The Point was my Cheers bar,” Vohra said. “We asked ourselves, ‘is this the right thing to do for Lonerider and for our future?’ So we said yes, and we learned how to operate a restaurant.”
Lonerider’s Five Points location in Raleigh is it’s first with a restaurant.
The biggest problem with opening a new space during the pandemic was the availability of cash, Vohra said. “We had to take a big risk. Because we were opening during the pandemic, we were not eligible for (federal COVID support) money. Everyone was struggling and suffering from it. Everything was inefficient, from supply chains to employees getting sick,” he said.
The new Lonerider location has lots of outdoor space, a benefit during the pandemic for diners and beer lovers. From tables on wooden decks to picnic tables in the yard with bistro lights strung above, the outdoor space attracts families and dog owners. Outdoor TV screens offer viewing opportunities for sports fans.
The food at the new location features some pub favorites like brick oven pizza and chicken wings, as well as items cooked with Lonerider beer, like Saloon Pilsner battered Atlantic cod in fish and chips or a fish sandwich and oven roasted chicken served with Shotgun Betty Hefeweizen lemon herb gravy.
This spring, Lonerider plans another expansion outside of the Triangle, to Oak Island on the North Carolina coast. If all goes well, it should be open for much of the summer beach season.
How has the pandemic changed the brewing industry? Vohra says those changes remain to be seen. Already, he knows that costs associated with brewing are rising, especially the price of grain and aluminum cans. So one change consumers will see is an increase in the price of beer, he said.
Still, pandemic business has been good enough to encourage a number of Triangle area breweries to expand. The list below includes some of the biggest expansions.
Triangle Brewery Expansions
Gizmo Brew Works of Raleigh has new taprooms in Chapel Hill (2019) and Durham (2022).
Glass Jug Beer Lab of Durham/RTP has a new taproom in Durham Central Park (2021).
Bull City Ciderworks, Durham, Greensboro and Lexington, opened a taproom in Cary in 2022.
Lonerider Brewery, Raleigh, opened a second Hideout in Wake Forest in 2019, and a taproom and restaurant in Raleigh’s Five Points in November 2020.
Bond Brothers Beer Co. of Cary opened a second Cary location in 2021 that is also a music venue.
Raleigh Brewing of Raleigh openedin Cary’s Arboretum in May 2020.
Cotton House/Triangle Beer Co. of Cary opened a new location in the former Jordan Lake Brewing site in Cary in June 2021, where they serve food.
Barrel Culture ofRTP/Durham opened a Raleigh/Wakefield taproom in spring 2020.
Fullsteam, which wasDurham’s second brewery in 2010, opened a taproom that serves food in Boxyard RTP in 2021.
Fortnight of Cary opened a second taproom, “Terminal B,” also in Cary, July 2019.
Enjoying a glass of white wine while overlooking the hills of West Wind Farm
Southwest Virginia has good selections for beer and wine, as well as bicycling and bluegrass.
We like to visit southwest Virginia for the traditional music and biking on the New River Trail. And we have found that there is some pretty good wine and beer to be found in the area.
Last summer, we looked for a winery where we could enjoy some outdoor space and where the staff were mindful about COVID precautions. We were very impressed with West Wind Farm Vineyard and Winery, a family-owned winery in Max Meadows, not far from Austinville or Foster Falls State Park
Just outside the tasting room is a patio with a porch swing and several tables where you can enjoy beautiful views of the vineyards and the mountains of Virginia. On the grounds of the winery there are a few more tables, and you could always bring your own blanket or chairs to find your spot. Last summer, we found a table under an umbrella where we sat from most of the afternoon until the sun caught up with us.
When we returned to the area in June, we decided to go back to West Wind. Though last year, the winery wasn’t offering wine tastings due to the complications of COVID, this year they had just begun offering tastings again. They still ask guests to come inside with a mask, and all staff were masked as well. It’s one of the few places you’ll see masks in that part of Virginia.
We each tasted four wines and each chose a glass of wine to take out on the patio — mine was Galena Creek White, made from Vidal Blanc grapes, and Kyle chose the Gerwurtrazminer. Only a few other guests came by on this weekday afternoon, so we had the patio almost to ourselves.
The winery makes small batch wines that are very high quality. In addition to the two whites tried, the winery makes a Pinot Gris, Riesling, Galena Creek Red (a blend of Chambourcin, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon), as well as a Chambourcin and Cab Sauv. There are a few sweeter wines as well.
The gift shop also has some nice snacks, including Ashe County Cheese from North Carolina. They also carry a number of fun wine-related gifts and some locally made crafts.
We picked up bottles of the Gerwurtrazminer and Chambourcin to take home. We highly recommend this quiet hillside winery for its hospitality, fine wines and beautiful rural setting.
In a more “urban” setting, we also had dinner at a favorite brewery in Galax — Creek Bottom Brewing Company. The brewery started out as a bottle shop with a few of their own beers on tap. They’ve always been known for their smoked buffalo wings and wood-fired pizza.
During COVID, a few changes happened here. The brewery had expanded to a second location at a golf course on the edge of town, but that closed. However, they expanded their patio space at the original brewery to provide more quasi-indoor space (with garage doors for when the weather is nice.)
The brewery has a good vibe, with a small stage for live music (most evenings at 7), televisions for game night, a good draft selection, including their own beers and some guest taps. Their brewing skills have gotten better as well.
We ordered a Cucumber Saison and RB3 Flathead Pilsner, both refreshing summer beers, that go great with food. We like to order the smoked wings with a salad, and sometimes the homemade pimento cheese as well. You can’t go wrong with these choices when you’re near Galax.
Meet some of the brewers who got their start at Rocky Mount Mills
There are a few places in North Carolina where you can walk between breweries, and Rocky Mount Mills is one of them. The reason the brewers are here is a little different though — Rocky Mount Mills is the site of a North Carolina brewery incubator, where good home brewers can launch their beer into a business.
On May 15 at 1 p.m., Tarheel Taps and Corks will introduce you three brewers getting their operations started at the Mills through a live virtual tour on the People-First Tourism Facebook page.
The costs of starting a brewery are high — brewing equipment, canning or bottling lines, cold storage, and that’s before you even think about hosting a taproom. Rocky Mount Mills offers new brewers, and some expansion operations, the chance to rent equipment and other space while they hone their craft.
Here is a little information about some of the brewers you’ll meet during our virtual tour.
Koi Pond has partnered with local farmers to add North Carolina produce to their beers.
In 2016, Koi Pond Brewing opened at the Mills as Rocky Mount’s first brewery. Five years later, the brewery continues to operate in a large house on the property that was once a superintendent’s home for the mill, and Koi Pond has a strong community following. On May 15, Koi Pond will host their popular Pondapalooza event.
Koi Pond specializes in Belgian-style beers. And thanks to relationships with local growers, their brewers have also experimented with adding different types of produce — sweet potatoes, peaches and basil — to add new flavors to their beer, says Koi Pond co-owner and operations manager Josh Parvin.
RMM brewers Briana Brake and Celeste Beatty each have their own operations — Spaceway Brewing and Harlem Brew South — and beer labels. Together, they have opened a collaboration taproom in downtown called Rocky Mount Brewing.
Briana Brake with her favorite brew, Dondada Cardamom Stout.
Brake was recently featured in the documentary This Belongs to Us about Black brewers and how they have shaped the U.S. beer industry. African-American brewers, especially women, are rare in the industry, which is dominated by white men. The film, still a work in progress, was previewed at Sundance Film Festival.
Brake says coming to RMM to brew was an easy decision, with the equipment that was available to brewers. She is excited about her downtown taproom and is interested in opening another in the future.
Welcome to Mythic Brewing Taproom, at the Mills.
Chazz Oesch (pronounced Ay-sh) is the owner of Mythic Brewing, which has expanded from one taproom at the Mills to two others — one in Cedar Point near Emerald Isle and one in Zebulon.
The brewery’s first name was BDD, which had something to do with a cousin’s graduation from Virginia Tech, slurred speech and a seat belt. But the name took too long to explain, so Oesch changed it to Mythic Brewing, but kept the Sasquatch image for the logo. Other beer names are based on mythical creatures like Big Foot — the Loogaroo Double Milkshake IPA and the Queen Lavender Mohito Sour.
Find out more about these brewers, what appeals to them about brewing at the Mills and which of their beers are their favorites.
Rocky Mount Mills is a true live, work, play environment. In addition to the breweries, the Mills offers office and retail space, restaurants, condominiums and apartments, as well as event space.
Enjoy an overnight at River and Twine tiny house hotel.
There is so much more to explore around Rocky Mount Mills — a three-plus-mile bike trail along the Tar River, hiking trails in nearby Battle Park, and River and Twine, a tiny house hotel within walking distance. Since you can’t do it all in a day, book a night in a tiny house, bring your bike and take your time to explore the Mills and nearby attractions.
Tarheel Taps & Corks 