Pour Tour: Brewery Hopping in the Counties Surrounding Charlotte – Charlotte Magazine

Breweries have set up in the far corners of the Charlotte area, and I catch myself thinking: I have to get out there one of these days. Father’s Day—what better day?—turned out to be that day. My criteria, entirely self-applied and enforced: I’ve never been there; they’re in different counties, none of them Mecklenburg; I highlight one (or two) of their bestselling beers. (I’m collecting four-packs, not drinking at each stop, and partaking when I get home.) This isn’t brewery-hopping. This is brewery-broad jumping. Let’s ramble, shall we?

Stop 1:  Lincoln County

Royal Bliss Brewing Co., Denver

Roll up North Carolina Highway 16 for 20 miles to Highway 73, near the southern tip of Lake Norman. Larry and Ginger Griffin opened this 6,500-square-foot taproom a month into COVID, and the business has thrived since. It’s in a good location: The Shoppes at Waterside, a hub of the fast-growing community. I arrive in early afternoon to find the turf-covered patio packed with families enjoying snacks at picnic tables and children roaming the space with dogs. (The brewery welcomes kids but has posted behavioral rules “to keep them safe and allow a blissful experience for all guests.”)

Beer: Denver’s First Pilsner (5.4% ABV), one of Royal Bliss’ mainstays. It’s just a good, crisp pilsner, nothing fancy—but I assign extra points for its refreshing qualities on a hot and muggy day and for the use of “Denver” in its name. It’s not just a metropolis in Colorado with a weird airport.

Stop 2:  Cabarrus County

High Branch Brewing Co., Concord

High Branch opened in 2015 as Concord’s first independent brewery. The main taproom squats in a corner of the historic Gibson Mill complex—overshadowed, at least physically, by Cabarrus Brewing Co. across the parking lot. But owners and native New Englanders TJ and Maureen Creighton have done well enough to open a second taproom in downtown Mooresville in June. They continue to offer a beer menu that spans an array of styles, from American light lagers to English bitter ales to IPAs to milk stouts—plus cider, wine, and hard seltzer.

Beer: Orange Dream (blonde ale with orange and vanilla, 5.2% ABV), which tastes like an orange creamsicle. Seriously. That’s all that needs to be said about this beer.

Stop 3:  Union County

Americana Beer Co., Monroe

I’ve been meaning to swing by here for some time. I’ve heard the beer’s good, for one. For another, Union County seems primed for more breweries—population growth, plenty of convertible spaces. Finally, something numerically curious is going on with Americana: It opened July 22, 2022, at … 222 N. Main St. Deuces wild!

The brewery is in the heart of downtown, just across from the old county courthouse. It’s housed in what was a pharmacy, then a shoe store, says co-owner Zach Hinschberger, who happens to be tending bar. Before Americana opened, it was a vacant space. Now, it’s a splendid small-city downtown hangout, a great spot to kick back and people-watch from the sidewalk tables or through the plate-glass windows. Americana doesn’t serve food, but you can order from nearby restaurants, including, as Hinschberger explains to a pair of customers, The Exchange Pizza Depot around the corner.

Beer: Appropriately enough, I go for two. Red Ass Rat Tail (5.7% ABV) is a red ale with three kinds of malt, two kinds of hops, one strain of English yeast, and a backstory: Co-founder Justin Moore, a redhead, had a particular hairstyle in the 1980s that looked something like what you see on the can. The second is Lager De Lima (4.5% ABV), a light lager with lime that I pick up because it’s hot outside and the can has a colorful label.

Stop 4:  Lancaster County

Benford Brewing Co., Lancaster, South Carolina

Owner Bryan O’Neal calls it “South Carolina’s Agricultural Brewery Destination,” and the man is not lying. The road from Monroe takes you 25 miles southwest, past country churches and cattle farms, to the left turn onto Boxcar Road. A little more than a mile through fields and woods brings you to the gable-roofed, non-air-conditioned prefab shed that serves as Benford’s taproom.

It’s late afternoon, temperature in the upper 80s, humidity considerable. Patrons catch a breeze outside beneath misters and umbrellas. The planned-for food truck failed to show up, so O’Neal went out, bought some smoked sausages, grilled ’em, and laid ’em out on paper plates with condiments and buns. Help yourself. (Don’t mind if I do.) The on-site golden retriever gazes longingly at the sausages. Refrigerators against one wall contain assorted meats (ribs, steaks, roasts) and eggs, billed on the fridge door as “FARM FRESH BUTT NUGGETS.” The business also offers “sawmill and kiln services.” You get the picture.

Beer: Senior Chief Lager (4.3% ABV) honors O’Neal’s maternal grandfather, Grover Cleveland Fewox, a Navy chief petty officer during World War II. I also pick up a sixer of Old Nitrolee (4.8% ABV), a hefeweizen named after the Catawba River access area another 20 or so miles southwest in Great Falls, the site of a Duke Energy dam. Benford calls it—what else?—“dam good bier.”

The final tally:  154 miles, clockwise on the map; acquisition of 16 16-ounce cans and 12 12-ounce cans. A good time was had by me. I may have to do this more often, regardless of where the nuggets come from.