There isn’t enough session or sessionalbe beer out there, and I think there should be. Not every beer needs to have big bold flavor with a high ABV percent. Sometimes you want something a bit lighter with low ABV. Melee Session India Pale Ale5.2% ABV and 35 IBUs from Champion Brewing Company in Charlottesville Virgina is a lighter take on the IPA style which can range anywhere from lighter hoppy and bitter all the way to extremely harsh and bitter with loads of in your face hops that destroy your taste buds. Melee IPA pours a clean yellow color with a two finger quickly fleeting head that leaves nearly nothing behind, giving off light grapefruit notes. Male is brewed with Citra and Amarillo hops. So you do get toned down citrus notes upfront with a little bitterness in the middle of the mouth with bitter orange grapefruit in the back that finishes crisp with little bit of citrus bitter hops. Aftertaste is pretty tame with faint bitter citrus notes. Nothing on this beer is really memorable, it’s not bad Champion Brewing Company Melee Session India Pale Ale is a C+. Yes, it is sessionable, refreshing and easy to drink but the flavor is overly or too sessionable. This drinks more like a slightly hoppy pilsner than an IPA. But you can taste that this is a session IPA to much so. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!
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The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery Reinheitsgetbot Party
My favorite Brewery in Charlotte, North Carolina The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery, they brew mostly German-Style beer and have been doing that for eight years now. This past Saturday the Olde Mecklenburg celebrated the one-hundred anniversary of the German purity law, Reinheisgetbot. Which I would say was more of a thought than a celebration or party. Seemed like an average Saturday at the brewery. But for the brewery itself is pretty cool. It’s a Munich Germany beer hall with a vast beer garden or Biergarten outside. All table at the Old Meck are communal so you have to be somewhat of a people person. They have a food menu. Beers on tap are mainly of the Greman style. 
I start off on a very hot Saturday afternoon with the Hornets Nest Hefeweizen. Which a pretty straight forward true to the style Hefeweizen
This is a great beer with the familiar Hefe banana flavor and refreshing. The service is quick as this place is usually busy especially on weeks. Olde Mecklenburg has a lot of staff. Almost the entire inside was filled with thirsty patrons. I finished the Hornets Nest, named after Charlotte’s nickname during colonial times because Charlotte was then a hornet’s nest of activity. I decided to have Captain James Jack Pilsner, named after Captain James Jack a tavern owner who on May 20th, 1775 rode to the Continental Congress with important documents declaring they would be part of the now United States. This is a German style pilsner and I will be putting a previous review of this beer up as this coming week’s Throwback Thursday review. The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery is a fantastic place to go and have a great beer to two. But I thought the Reinheitsgetbot Party was not much of a celebration. It seems more like a normal busy Saturday. I had a good time and really enjoyed my favorite beer. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!
Benford Brewing Company Irish Honey Ale
I haven’t heard to much of the Irish Honey Ale style in the craft beer world nor have I have very much of it. Benford Brewing Company Irish Honey Ale, 5.1% ABV of Lancaster, South Carolina is the first I’ve had in a while. This Benford pours a clear orange color with a big four finger pillowy white clean head, giving off a sweet honey aroma. The taste is sweet and sticky with honey, slight crispness. This Irish Honey Ale get sweeter the more you get to the bottom, but finish with a nice crisp sweetness and a lasting aftertaste that is sweet with clove honey with a thick mouth feel that coats you mouth which causes the aftertaste to really linger. This Benford Irish Honey Ale is a C. The sweetness is just a little to much but it is a bit refreshing. After two or three of these and I think the flavor would become to much. It not so bad just a little to much sweetness and a somewhat bland sweet honey flavor, nothing to really write home about. I won’t be rushing back to this beer. I might try this again. If you like sweet its okay, but Olde Mecklenburg Hornet’s Nest Hefeweizewen is a better choice for a sweeter beer. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!
The Unknown Brewing Co. Revelry Brewing Sunshine Over Phuket Dry-Hopped Radler
You don’t see Radlers much here in the US, they are predominantly a European drink. But you occasionally find them in here in the States. Radlers or Shand are blonde lagers either Pils or Helles with fifty-percent lemonade (Shandy) or fifty-percent lemon-lime soda (Radler). Well this, The Unknown Brewing Co. & Revelry Brewing Sunshine Over Phuket Dry-Hopped Radler with Grapefruit, 4.0% ABV isn’t really a traditional Radler. This is a collaboration between The Unknown Brewing Co. of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Revelry Brewing of Charleston, South Carolina and is relatively new, two weeks old today. This Sunshine Over Phuket pours a deep orange color with a two finger off white head with nice slow retention leaving behind nice wispy lacing and an aroma of slight hoppy grapefruit with a tiny touch of a semi sweetness. This Radler smells like an IPA. This leads you into a taste of slight hoppy grapefruit, light grapefruit juice with slight sweetness up front and as it passes over the middle of the mouth it gets a touch hoppier and finishes similar to a low IBU IPA with nice grapefruit notes and a slight hop flavor. The aftertaste is of grapefruit with a low hoppy flavor. This drinks like an IPA. So I give The Unknown Brewing Co. & Revelry Brewing Sunshine Over Phuket Dry-Hopped Radler with Grapefruit an A. This is a surprising beer and is good. If you like grapefruit and IPA with low hops then I recommend this beer to you. I think it can’t get better than this refreshing Radler. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!
Throwback Thursday: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Kellerweis
I haven’t had too many Sierra Nevada beers, but I did see this Hefeweizen, an unfiltered wheat, and though it would be good for a beer tasting on American wheat beer. This is an old microbrewery in Chico, CA and soon they will have another brewery here in the Asheville North Carolina area soon. They have been brewing beer since the eighties,& probably&older than me. I really enjoyed this hazy brew, but I can say the same about most wheat beer. Wheat beer is one of my top favorite styles. Kellerweise pours a rich hazy-golden color with a nice bright foamy white heat. There is a nice spicy clove and banana scent that is nice and pleasant and just wonderful. About the same can be said for this one’s taste, but there is a nice ripe banana too. Yes, there is a faint bit of wheat but you should know that if you’ve had a wheat beer before. The finish is nice crisps a tiny bit spicy and good. This Hefe is one I’ll try again very soon. A day or two after having this I still want more and couldn’t stop thinking of it. It is just really good but simple at the same time. Really good work on Sierra Nevada’s part. Well done! This is great with grilled sausages, a big juicy hamburger, or good chicken wings. This is also good on a hot day when you want to relax and feel refreshed, cause this Sierra is most refreshing. This is an A+. I loved it! Cheers! Please drink responsibly!
Epic Brewing Company Escape To Colorado IPA
I haven’t had too much from Epic Brewing out in Denver Colorado nor do I hear a lot about them, but what I do hear is things about their Brainless series and their Big Bad Baptist Stout. No, I don’t have any of those, I have Escape To Colorado IPA, 6.2% ABV. Escape To Colorado is brewed Mosaic hops and pouts a light yellow color with a two finger white head that sticks for a little bit then slowly fades into some nice decent lacing. The aroma is of lemon, lemon grass, hops with some faint sweetness. This aroma draws you in and brings you to a taste of slightly sweet lemon, lemon grass up front with a hop bitter lemon in the middle with a little more hop flavor on the back of the mouth with a hoppy yet smooth bitter finish and a nice semi-sweet hoppy aftertaste. The mouth feel is on the lighter side of the medium scale. This Epic Brewing IPA is good, A- good. After about three or four I think the flavor might be a bit much but still, you could drink three or four. I like out it finishes on the smoother side for an IPA with a huge kick in the gut of hoppy intense flavor. I recommend Epic Brewing Company Escape To Colorado IPA. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!
The Beer News
Here are this week happenings in around the Charlotte North Carolina Area.
- Wednesday, July 9th 7 pm Taste of Carolina Triple C Brewing taste at Social Bar & Kitchen Charlotte.
- July 5th-19th 4 pm Wooden Robot Generously Hopped VB benefiting Special Olympics North Carolina, for more info check here, https://woodenrobotbrewery.com/generously-hopped-charitable-ipa
- Thursday, August 3rd The Unknown Brewing Co. and Babalu will have a four-course beer dinner paired with Unknown beers and a special Babalu menu. $55 per ticket purchased here eathere.com.
- Saturday, August 5th 4pm-8pm 2nd annual Friends + Beerfest Legion Brewing IPA Edition, local breweries, food, and live music. Tickets $18.
- Sunday, August 19th LOSO Neighborhood, LOSO Neighborhood Block Party 11am-10pm, free admission. Yancy and Southside Dr.
- Saturday, August 19th 12 pm Triple C Brewing 5th Annual Block Party, 114-133 Fairweed Ave. 1-2:45 Jamorah with special guest Shortly. 3-5 Mojo Rucks. 5:30-8:30 Brushfire Stankgrass.
Wooden Robot Brewery 2nd Anniversary
The Wooden Robot second anniversary has come and gone with lots of exciting things music, food, art, and of course beer. This was an all day event and ran until 11:15 pm. Lots of people there at the brewery when I got there at 7. Twisted Eats Food Truck was on hand serving a special anniversary menu. When I got there I paid for a wooded Robot Glass which was the entrance fee that you were able to take home and a few drink tickets. The Wooden Robot doesn’t bottle its beers. I first went for Sesh Gremlin Session Farmhouse Ale, 4.0& ABV
This was good but has a lower Saison flavor profile and was easy to drink. I drank this Sesh Gremlin rather quick. The food was good there. They had the brewhouse open so you could walk through out to the side parking area where the Twisted Eats was along with the DJ. You got to see all of the brewing operations as well as their oak barrels 
They are aging a few of their beers in there. After about an hour the brewery became more crowded as I made my way for another beer, A-O River! Grapefruit IPA, 6.4% ABV.
This smelled like fresh grapefruit and had enough hops with out being overly hoppy and masking the grapefruit flavor. A solid grapefruit IPA. I the set up of The Wooden Robots second anniversary was pretty good, service was good with lots of staff that knew pretty much all you needed to know about the brewery and its beer. I finished my beer and found kegs around the brewer that were filled with water to either drink or rinse out your glass. A short while after finishing A-O River! I had something a little darker Optimus Vine, Red wine Barrel-Age Belgian Dubbel, 7.0% ABV.
- Optimus Vine Red Wine Barrel-Aged Belgian Dubbel
Optimus Vine is aged in a red wine Barrel for twenty-four months and then aged with red wine fruits. This beer smells like red wine, and drinks like soft red wine with a fig and raisin taste on the back of the mouth. If you like red wine then this is your beer. I am not much of a wine drinker but found this to be really enjoyable. Some of the crowd left and I was finishing this red wine beer and went for one more ticket and kept with the dark beer with Nuts and Bolts Nut Brown Ale, 5.2% ABV.
Nuts and Bolts smelled so creamy with just enough sweetness and had an easy cream nutty sweet flavor that wowed me. This was one great brown ale, one I would come back for. It was so good! So I finished this a little after 10 pm had some water and noticed that a lot of people had left, some tables were empty but a few people were coming in. Overall this was a great event beer was excellent as was the whole event. I will certainly be at the next anniversary. You should come too! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!
Pop the Top Craft Bottle Shop
Pop The Top Craft Beer Shop is a relatively new bottle shop here in Charlotte. This bottle shop is located at 116 West Blvd, Charlotte NC 28203. I went over about 7 pm and wasn’t overly crowed. Pop The Top has twenty-four beers on top as well as packaged, and single beers to-go. Their space isn’t huge but there is plenty of room for people inside and out on their patio for people to enjoy a good beer. I started off with Wooden Robot Brewing Good Morning Vietnam, a coffee Blonde, 5.0 %ABV
This is a sweet easy drinker (Wooden Robot doesn’t bottle or can its beers) and as I drank this Wooden Robot beer a few more people came in. The staff is really friendly and knowledgeable. So I finished this and looked up at the digital menu board for my next beer, Blue Blaze Brewing, Altbier Amber Ale, 5.0% ABV
This Altbier was good but Olde Mecklenburg Brewery Copper is still this best. Pop the Top selection of beer is great and after a little while I finished this Altbier and went on to beer number three. Four Saints Brewing That’s The Way Is Gose 3.0%
ABV, a Gose-style beer. This is my first beer from this local North Carolina beer, and Westbrook Brewing Co. Gose is still number one. So at this point, a few people came and went and inside become less crowded. So then I took a look around at the bottled/canned beer and saw Sunset Over Phuket, a dry hopped Radler collaboration between The Unknown Brewing Co. and Revelry Brewing. So I bought a four back and will be reviewing that soon. So stay tuned here.
I enjoyed my time at the Pop The Top Craft Beer Shop. I will be back to have and buy beer there and you should do the same its a cool place! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!
Great Lakes Brewing Co. Burning River Pale Ale.
Yes here is another beer from a recent Brewpublik delivery, Great Lakes Brewing Co. Burning River Pale Ale, 6.0% ABV, with 45 IBUs. This Cleveland Ohio beer is referring to the Cuyahoga River and the when it caught fire. Burning River pours an orange color with a two finger head that has not much retention to it but gives off a malt aroma with a little faint earthy resin hop note. Taste is slightly sweet on the front with what seems to be a malt flavor and on the middle, you get a little grapefruit with some bitterness on the back of the mouth. This all then finishes with a bitter note with a slight earthy note and the aftertaste isn’t much but what I did get was a slight bitterness that sort of fought a sweet flavor. This beer wasn’t so great but was finishable, so I sayGreat Lakes Brewing Co. Burning River Pale Ale is a C-. The flavors don’t really blend well and seem like they are sperate from one another and are bland at best. I don’t think this a one to go back too, so I don’t think you should try this one. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!
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