Event

One year ago yesterday in Southend Charlotte, North Carolina a wonderful couple, Ketan and Kathy decided to open a craft beer bottle shop. This past Saturday I went to Pop the Top Bottle Shop (116 West Blvd Charlotte, NC 28203). They had a good turn out, there were a nice sized crowed of people there with a line to order beer from their bar which they had specialty beers on a few of their taps. I had Ponysaurus Brewing Co. Amber’s Ale, which was the first Ponysauras beer I’ve had, I will be going to more of this Ponysauras Brewing and their beers in the near future. Pop the Top also handed out free beer glasses to the first fifty costumers, as well as representatives from Souther Pines Brewing Co located here in North Carolina pouring free tasting sized samples of their beer. I had their Peach IPA and Vitamin Sea, both were very good and yes I will be looking into their beers. Pop the Top did have some food on hand but more like snacks and such, The food was good. Overall the one-year anniversary at Pop the Top Bottle Shop was great. It is a great place to go for a beer and take some home. Speaking of buying beer to take home, just recently they have had crowlers which is similar to a growler but it’s a 32 ounce can that is filled from the tap and then the open top is sealed. I think that a crowler is a bit better than a traditional growler. It’s sealed better and will stay some what fresher before opening it. My advise on growlers and crowlers is to fill it with a beer that you can’t otherwise buy in a can/bottle. I had a good time at Pop the Top Bottle Shop’s one-year anniversary. Thanks to the entire staff there for doing a fabulous job of service/selling fabulous beer. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

 

Yesterday evening Babalu Tacos & Tapas had a collaborative dinner with The Unknown Brewing Co., four courses paired with four Uknow Brewing Co. beers. The restaurant sat us at a bar table with all the other people in attendance, sitting at this type of table with a barstool is not so comfortable a table would have been more comfortable. The dinner started off with a snack of Charcuterie, house made sausage, Spanish cheese, beer bread, and paired with Unknowns Pre Game Session Ale. This beer is categorized at as a Pale Ale.

 

This beer is smooth and easy to drink. It is like a better craft version of Bud, Miller, Coors beers. it has a very light citrusy smooth flavor to it, and didn’t over power the any of the snacks. The first course Serrano and Melon; cantaloupe, red onion marmalade, whipped queso fresco was paired with Let’s Get Tropical IPA.

This American IPA was slightly hoppy with nice pineapple, mango, melon, a little bit of grapefruit and some faint coconut on the end and finish. I see why this was paired with this, it was the melon in the dish and the melon flavor of the beer. Nice touch and not a bad IPA but I’ve had some that are better. The second-course was Seared Scallops, sea beans, burgundy truffle, water melon radish paired with Hospitali-Tea Amber Ale.

I have had this before and very briefly talked about this beer in a review of the South Blvd Harris Teeter bar. In a nutshell, it’s like iced tea with some honey on the end. It has some nice sweetness to it. I found this beer to be quite good as was the second course. The third course was dry-aged ribeye, mole Amarillo, roasted vegetables, honey garlic, purple Peruvian chips paired with over The Edge American IPA.

This is there more hop forward IPA and you can definitely taste the hops on this one. It’s a big full hop flavor up front and slightly mellow though the rest of the mouth and finishing with a big hoppy note that is on the drier said. Not a bad IPA but there is a lot of hoppy flavor to this beer with some lighter grapefruit and earthy pine notes. I think this could use more of the earthy pine and grapefruit notes. Now the dessert was chocolate pot de creme, burnt orange syrup, Grand Marnier pearls, and thyme paired Unknown Craft Ginger Ale cocktail, which was Jack Daniels, muddled orange and Unknown Craft ginger ale, which is non-alcoholic. This Ginger Ale is great with bourbon and rum and great all on it owen. Much better than all the ginger ales you find at the grocery store. This isn’t so sweet like the average ginger ale. 

Overall the whole beer dinner was good but could have been better, the food wasn’t bad but I’ve had better, and the beer was good. Sit us at a table next time. Cheers! please enjoy responsibly! 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

  

 

 

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!   

 

 

Yesterday evening I attended The Wooden Robot Brewery tap takeover at Palmer St. Game Bar and Eats. Well the location was great, nice assortment of vintage video game and pinball machines. The take over part was not as cool. There were only four Wooden Robot beers on tap out of the fourteen or so taps.  The Wooden Robot beer that they did have was not bad; I had a A Darkly Sour, tasted like tart grape soda but in sort of a good way. They had Good Morning Vietnam, Mark It Zero IPA, and That’s What He’s Having IPA as well as the one I had.

I thought that every tap there should have been a Wooden Robot beer and some of the breweries staff should have been on hand to answer any questions and give out small stickers and things like that. It just could have been better, and the Wooden Robot Brewery is less than a mile away from Palmer St. Palmer St. is a good place for a group of people to go, fun games to play, food as well and the beer selection isn’t bad I had a Triple C Blonde Girl, which was interesting.

The location and atmosphere was good, but the event was not good. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!