Charlotte NC beer and food

Spending a weekend in Charlotte for a wedding and will have some free time. Would love any input on local breweries and good food so I don’t end up at TGI Fridays and drinking BMC… :lol:

Any input greatly appreciated! :cheers:

I am from the Queen City, but haven’t lived there in 13 years.

They have a nice homebrewing scene as it is the home of the former “green board.”

Friends of mine rave about a 4 year old brewery called OMB, Olde Mecklenberg Brewery. Makes German style beers and used to make a good kolsch before suiting up for lagers and switched to a helles as there go to along with an altbier.

There is also a chain called Southend Brewing as well as Asheville, NC’s Highland brewing is pretty big in Charlotte.

Have fun!!!

Thanks. OMB is on “the list”. Plan to try as much local beers when down there.

Am I right, is a good barbecue joint a must try?

I really do not recall any specific restaurants, but bbq is world class all over tha region. Be sure to try a pulled pork sandwich with the vinegar based bbq sauce.
Different, but terrific. You can actually taste the meat instead of sweet, sticky, red bbq sauce.

Already back… So much wedding activity there was not much time to venture off. I think my in laws woulda freaked out that we actually left the hotel… (we snuck out)

Let me preface that I am filled with regret with some vacations I’ve taken in the past (High School class trip to London and no british beer, no fish and chips, nor Abbey Road; but I met Paula Abdul and David Gilmour, no bs…) Anyway, these days I make it a point of ensuring I hit the essentials of the locale even if it pushes limits with my family. DAD! Where are you take us?!

With a little window of opportunity I got some good local brew and cue. I want to make sure anyone who stumbles across this thread gets some info. The only brewery I got to was NoDa Brewing Co. http://www.nodabrewing.com/home Ultra progressive. Brewery is set in an old industrial area and family was not digging the neighborhood but I pushed on and was pleasantly surprised. Definite hipster spot. I was easily one of the oldest there (I am 41) and was one of the few men with no beard… Had their IPA and GABF silver coconut porter. Both excellent. I give two thumbs up and would recommend this place to others. Rugged brewery startup feel and clean modern facility. I saw no food and bartender had to fetch a Coke for out 13YO from a fridge.

For the cue I agree with Dan’s comments. The consensus from talking with locals is all the cue is above par/chains. We decided to go to a place called Saucemans. http://saucemans.com/home/saucemans-home.php Good stuff. Location was an old fast food joint with picnic tables out side. Half oak/hickory. I like oak in my smoke. Partly the reason I chose the place. Sat outside and got a meat sampler and of course the pulled pork was the bomb. I took a pint of OMB copper and all was right with the world. Having been to SC I had an idea of the cue already. I would describe it as balanced. Nothing like Applebees/Fridays… Also, family as well as I loved the hush puppies. Carny corn dog batter that was slightly sweet and killer crunch. Of course the girls got a sweet tea chaser…

Hope this info helps someone.

Sorry you missed OMB. We were there 4 or 5 weeks ago. Nice place, nice people, and good beer.