Brewery

Last weekend, I visited the Waterworks Visual Art Center in Salisbury, North Carolina, northwest of Charlotte. It is located right around the corner from the New Sarum Salisbury Brewing Co. (https://newsarumbrewing.com). After the art center, I went to the brewery. The brewery was having its ninth anniversary, and I was unaware of that. So I first had Gose the Gozarian, a sour ale at 8.0% ABV, with sea salt, coriander, HI-C punch, Chlorophyll, pineapple juice, orange peels, lemon peels, and grapefruit peels. This beer poured green. It was to be in homage to HI-C Ecto Cooler.

Once you taste this Gose, it’s a different experience. It is worth trying if you get the chance. They had various vendors and food trucks with live music. I had a small sample of Dunn Mountain cucumber, which was fantastic without overdosing the cucumber flavor. It had the right amount, making a refreshingly delicious beer. My second and last beer was Old Stone House IPA. It was a typical fruity IPA that was good but not outstanding. It is worth trying. The whole atmosphere was great and was a wonderful addition to a Saturday.

I have a few New Sarum beer reviews on here. Feel free to check them out. I really enjoy their beer and the brewery. Make a day of it and check out the Waterworks Visual Art Center (https://www.waterworks.org) and New Suram Salisbury Brewing Co. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

The Birdsong Brewing Company here in Charlotte, North Carolina makes some of Charlotte’s best beer. Last night I went over to check out their brewery tap room. When I got there a little before 7:30 it was a bit crowded. I started off with Birdsongs newest beer (introduced this past Wednesday) Hotel Yorba, a barrel aged Belgian Blonde.

This is their All Knight Long Belgian Blonde aged in NC white wine barrels for six months. It has nice sour green grape notes with some nice tartness. I found it to be refreshing. The atmosphere of the tap room is very open with a big bar and a few bar tables and sizable patio area outside. They don’t serve any food they have free peanuts and will usually have some sort of a local food truck outside. Towards the end of Hotel Yorba, the brewery became less crowded and I then moved to Eat A Peach, Pale Ale.

This was big with peach flavor with hops on the end and finish with out being overly or too hoppy, it has just the right amount of hoppy flavor. I also found this refreshing. The staff at the Birdsong Brewery are very friendly and quite knowledgeable about their beers. The service is fast here. This beer went down easy and once I finished this I over heard the staff say that this is unusually slow for a Saturday night. I think it was due to people being on vacation and Charlotte Restaurant Week. I then decided to have their Paradise City Session IPA.

This one has a small IPA flavor profile, you get nice hops, earthy pine with slight citrus. The one was also easy to drink. I enjoy this and found the flavor to not be so in your face with hop bitterness. By this point in the evening (9:15) A few people came in for a drink or two but it was not that crowded at all. I slowly enjoy this and when I finished it I had one my favorite Birdsong beers Lazy Bird Brown Ale. 

This is creamy with a sweet slight nutty flavor with touches of coffee. It is one of my favorite brown ales. The brewery was getting close to the last call so it was pretty much empty except for a few people. I finished this and decided to call it a night of enjoyment at Birdsong Brewing Co.           Continue reading Birdsong Brewing Company

I have recently been getting into Sugar Creek Brewing and really enjoying their beers. They brew great Belgian style beer, and it a local Charlotte brewery, one of many. I went over and checked out the brewery for myself. Down in the Queens Park area of Charlotte of Olde Pineville Rd down Southside Dr. you’ll find a lively place, The Sugar Creek Brewing Company, named after the Sugar Creek that runs through Charlotte. The build in which the Sugar Creek brewery occupies was once the Olde Mecklenburg Brewery which is further up Southside Dr within walking distance. They have a wide selection of Belgian style beers on tap and a couple bottle, they do have a food menu. They do have a flight for four beer that you can pick whatever draught you want.

The atmosphere is nice, as the inside isn’t too big nor too small, with a few tables outside where you can play a round or two of cornhole, with live music inside on the weekends. The staff is quick, friendly, and knowledgeable. I got there around 7:15 pm, not too crowded then and started with their Pilsner (Czech Pilsner).

This Pilsner is great, crisp, clean, refreshing and easy to drink. A good beer to start off with. But you can find this only in the Sugar Creek Verity twelve pack or on tap. Good session beer. As the night wore on more people start to make their way in for the wonderful beer. After finishing the Pilsner I then went to the Sugar Creek Saison, a draught-only beer. 

This Saison is probably one of my favorites from Sugar Creek. It smelled banana like with a slight spice, clove, and banana flavor. So around 9, the brewery started to get a bit crowded but not where you could find a nice drinking spot. At this point, the bar was nearly full of people sipping on their beer and carrying on conversations. So I sipped on this lovely Saison for a little while watching the bar staff hustle about serving the thirsty patrons. When I did finish the Saison, I took a little time but finally chose the Sugar Creek Belgian Dubbel. I have a 750ml bottle in my refrigerator, so a full review of that will be up soon. But it was pretty tasty.

Half way through this beer I look around the crowded bar room as the music jammed across the room, man this place is hopping. Then I finished the Dubbel and made my way across the crowded room and outside to head home from a great fun night at the Sugar Creek Brewing Company. I will be back. You all should come too! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!