A few weekends ago, I decided on a whim to visit Charlotte, NC. My friend Bethany and her husband Tim had just moved there at the end of the summer, I checked out tickets and found them to be incredibly inexpensive, and I booked a nice 3-day weekend! We were planning on a day-trip to Asheville, which is pretty high on my list to visit and now revisit. Bonus is that a friend from high school who I hadn't seen in years, Mayanthi, lives in Charlotte as well, so I was able to catch up with her. My accommodation for the 2 nights there was at a Airbnb very near to Uptown. The person I rented the room from didn't have any reviews before I signed up (but it was SO cheap), but once it got closer she had a few and they were all great! She was very thorough in explaining how to get there and in, which I appreciated because it was my first experience on my own. Absolutely looking forward to trying out Airbnb more after my two great experiences as of recently.
VBGB Beer Hall: We literally left the airport and drove straight here. This is an excellent beer bar with cool wooden seating and a whole beer hall/garden out in the back that I didn't get to see. Also in the summer, they have a sand volleyball court as well as other outdoor games, looks like a crazy fun place! They had so many local (NC and area) brews, so I got a flight. I had just eaten a bit before, so I ordered a side of potato latkes and they were very yummy. I also tried some of Bethany and Tim's food, which was also good. The bar seating also had a swatch of ice to set your beer on to keep it cold :) Overall, I would absolutely frequent this place if I lived in Charlotte!
NoDa Brewing: First actual brewery stop was to the NoDa Brewing in the NoDa district. NoDa stands for North of Davidson, similar to in Boston the SoWa area with these amazing markets on Sundays is called that because it means South of Washington. This brewery just graduated into a much bigger facility and it looked great. It looked like an old warehouse-type place that has a huge garage door that opens with nice patio seating. The beer I had here was pretty good, but nothing really stood out that I had.
Birdsong Brewing: I loved the feel of this place, very hipster-like with a great taproom inside and a beautiful patio outdoors. They had a band playing music, and while we were leaving we noticed they were setting up for an event for the local Animal Shelter and were bringing LOTS OF PUPPIES to hang out with! I was in heaven and squealing a bit :) But back to the beer. I enjoyed their beer quite a lot, actually. I liked their Jalapeno Ale that Bethany had raved about, as well as their Mexicali Stout that tasted very similar to El Lechedor from Night Shift that is basically one of the best beers ever made. Overall, impressed with Birdsong and I would definitely return.
Queen City Q: Bethany and Tim decided I should get some good ole' Carolina BBQ, and I concurred so we went to Queen City Q, which is supposed to have the best BBQ in Charlotte and was recommended to them by family. I was starving by this point, and so ready to have some BBQ. North Carolina BBQ is not your "typical" or at least what I am used to type of BBQ sauce, it's more vinegar-based. I was a little skeptical of it, but it turns out that it tastes pretty great! I ordered the hand-pulled pork platter with my two sides of macaroni and cheese (obviously) and corn maque choux (which I didn't know what it was, but it turns out it's absolutely delicious!), as well as texas toast. SO filling and delicious. They had a few different kinds of "BBQ" sauces to try out, and the differences in the sauces were mostly based on region. I'm getting very hungry just thinking about it!
After this, it was only 7 but I was exhausted from little sleep the night before and then all of the beer, so I was dropped off and went to bed by 9! Earliest I've been to bed in a long time :)
We took the two hour drive to Asheville, and it was absolutely gorgeous! A regret I had is that we didn't have enough time to check out more of the mountainous region and the breathtaking fall foliage. Next time I visit, it'll have to be in Fall again :) Another small regret is that we didn't get to have any of the amazing food that is in this town. We arrived during brunch on a Sunday and it was pretty impossible to get in anywhere without wasting our precious time. High on the list to visit for next time is: Biscuit Head and Tupelo Honey Cafe.
The Bier Garden: We headed to the Bier garden because we figured we could grab a beer along with some food without having to wait. Except for we learned that the state law says that beer can't be served before noon on Sundays. Whatever. We ended up grabbing food there anyway, because of being pressed for time. I ordered a bowl of the beer cheese soup. This bowl was MASSIVE and I really only needed a cup. I was so full afterwards, when I just intended to get some lighter fare. Oh well. It was very good beer cheese soup, just very heavy and A LOT.
Off to the South Slope area of Downtown Asheville where it seems many of the breweries are. This whole area seems like a former warehouse district that is slowly being gentrified. But gentrified only by breweries and the occasional donut shop. I'm a fan of this type of gentrification.
Funkatorium: This is a separate brewhouse of Wicked Weed Brewing. They are the most popular/well-known brewery in Asheville and they decided to open their own brewery dedicated to sours. BEST IDEA EVER. I love sours right now, as does much of the craft beer community and it was so cool to walk into a place that had over 10 different sours on tap all brewed by Wicked Weed. And dang were some of them tasty. If I didn't have to pay to check a bag for bringing liquids on the plane, I think I definitely would have bought some.
Green Man Brewery: Out of all of the breweries, this brewery was slightly lacking in the "ambiance." Most of the other breweries were beautiful, with lots of wood to make them look old and rustic, yet new at the same time. Green Man felt like more of a super hipster, small brewery, which I didn't dislike either. Methinks that this is their original brewery, where many of the others are newer. Onto the beers though, they had some good ones and some not as good ones. An average brewery.
Burial: We arrived at Burial around 1:30 or so. I think the "jazz brunch" was over by this point, so it was pretty empty, but there was still some live jazz going on. I liked this vibe. What I liked even better was their beers. They were brewing some interesting and experimental beers, a few of which I really liked. I would have bought a few of these if I had checked baggage as well. I also liked the look of the brewery.
Vortex Doughnuts: It's no secret doughnuts are one of my favorite food items, so what better a place to stop at for some sustenance on our brewery crawl than a doughnut shop recommended to us by a bartender at The Bier Garden? We got half a dozen of donuts. I wish I could tell you the types we ordered, but I can't remember and they don't have a list on their website of the different types :( But I do have a picture and I think you can easily see that whatever the flavor, they would be delicious. And they were.
Twin Leaf Brewing: This stop was more of a "why not?" quick stop. It wasn't anything super special in terms of beer, but I don't think they are very old yet. This place does get points for it's brewery design though. If you have limited time and could only visit a few breweries, it would be okay to skip this one.
Hi-Wire Brewing: By this point most beers tasted good, so I can't quite tell if their beers were that great or not. I think it was a pretty solid brewery. They had some cool shirts, so I bought one. The things you do when you are tipsy :)
Now, it was time to head back to Asheville where we picked up their dog, Molly (adorable) and they dropped me off at a restaurant. While waiting to meet with my friend Mayanthi, I went to...
Pint Central: Good places for craft beers and some light fare. I was pretty hungry and didn't know how long it would be until she got there, so I ordered a beer and some fried cauliflower. Fried anything is good, and it was delightful. I had to take half to-go though because Maya was coming soon! I downed my drink and then headed back to the restaurant.
Workman's Friend: Ended up at this restaurant instead of Soul Gastrolounge, but that's all good because the food was very good. I had more fried things of course :) I ordered fried okra-one of my favorite southern dishes, and these tasty sliders. There were a few mix-ups and things they were out of so to apologize for the inconvenience they gave me some fries (the potato-like ones) with this amazing aioli. See? So many fried and unhealthy things, but I didn't care. I was on vacation ;) It was SO good to catch up with Mayanthi! It felt like it had only been a few months since we last talked instead of a few years. Can't wait to meet up with her again :)
Again, very relaxed start to the morning. It was pouring out so I took an uber for me and my suitcase to Uptown where I was dropped off at the library. I got a tour of it from Bethany and then left my suitcase there while I went to the...
Levine Museum of the New South: See? I did something cultural while here instead of JUST drinking beer. This was actually a nice little museum. The price-tag wasn't bad, less than $10 and the set-up was great and pretty interactive. It's basically a museum that tells the story of the South post-civil war. I'd recommend checking out this museum if you are in Charlotte and figuring out what to do.
7th Street Public Market: This was literally right next door to the museum and super cute. It had a number of delicious looking eateries and it was tough to decide where to eat! I met Bethany here for lunch and I grabbed something from Local Loaf, a bakery. A girl in the market recommended that I get the Chicken and the Egg (Hand breaded chicken tenders, aged white cheddar, poached egg, mircogreens, chipotle cheerwine honey glazed sauce, southern buttermilk biscuit) and I am so glad I went with that recommendation. It was freaking amazing! I had some time to kill before heading to the airport so I poked around the "market" part for a bit, (this was actually really small and I would have liked it to be a bit bigger), then sat down at the little "pub"-Tank's Tap, they had inside to taste a few more beers and to read my book. Just before I left I grabbed a crepe from Hazelnuts Creperie, which was an incredibly hard decision. I ended up getting something along the lines of a curry crepe which was pretty good! I also needed some sweets so I grabbed two blondies (one peanut butter, one butterscotch) at Cloud 9 Confections for the road :) Both were excellent!
Then I was off to the airport via bus and made it safely back to Boston. A great trip to NC, and certainly a trip that I would repeat.