Category: Breweries

The first brewery in Plaza Midwood, Legion Brewing lies right in the heart of the place. This is a brewery that places great focus on the value of friendship, the company itself came from the ethos that sharing great beer with your friends a great pleasure of life. Sporting a rather rustic setting, Legion has an urban farmhouse-style brewery and taproom, along with a mezzanine which overlooks the brew house. Armed with an in-house caterer (ROOTS), Legion serves some great food.

The best thing about the place perhaps is the fact that you can take your pets (four-legged, mind you) and children too.

The 15-barrel neighborhood brewery is a meeting place of the “olde world” methods and the seasonal and local influences, which come together to craft high-quality uniquely-flavored beers.

Contact Information:

Address: 1906 Commonwealth Ave., Charlotte, NC 28205

Phone: (844) 467-5683

Website: http://legionbrewing.com

Making the best of the situation – now this is one brewery that can definitely be credited for this. Charlotte’s first Belgian-style brewery, Sugar Creek Brewing Company made The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery’s former home on Southside Drive its very own and how!

Sugar Creek Brewing Company is fascinating in its own right, with several resemblances to as well as stark differences from the previous tenants of the property. Set up quite quickly courtesy the fact that the property was already set up as a turnkey brewery, Sugar Creek opts for showcasing old-world styles, much like its predecessor. Not to mention the fact that it maintains a fine standard.

Sugar Creek does, however, favor Belgium over Germany, and to that end serves its high-quality beer in a manner that strongly resembles the ways of the Belgian Trappist monks.

One of its main highlights is being served the saison, witbier, and dubbel-style brews in a setting that can best be called a blend of refreshed maritime and steampunk.

You most certainly cannot leave Sugar Creek without trying its award-winning Sugar Creek’s Belgian Dubbel. This drink is a recipient of the silver medal at the 2015 U.S. Open Beer championship.

Sugar Creek’s menu is not limited to Belgian styles though. They also offer other interesting items such as Mocha Java Porter and hop-forward pale ale, among many others. They also have solutions for those who’d like something to eat with their beer, with their house-made paninis such as juicy jalapeño-spiced chicken breast or the Thermal Nuclear Kraken.

All in all, if you like the old world charm, yet would like to try something different, Sugar Creek is the place to go.

Contact Information:

Address: 215 Southside Dr., Charlotte, NC 28217

Phone: 704-521-3333

Website: sugarcreekbrewing.com

Three Spirits Brewery’s motto is simple – it wants to offer great beers in a great environment. An idea of a former ER doctor who was perhaps very inspired the “A Christmas Carol,” Three Spirits is spread across a 9,100-square-foot, 10-barrel brew house, whose interiors strongly resemble the story.

Started by a couple who are parents to elementary-attending children, Tabu and Jennifer have worked pretty hard to make sure that Three Spirits remains the most family-friendly brewery.

Not only does Three Spirits serve great drinks, they have a great food truck to go along with that too.

That said, there’s a lot you can do here other than the great drinks and food, such as taking part in the only escape room inside a brewery with Charlotte’s Cryptex Games, or playing classic arcade games. Now that’s really rare.

You cannot leave here without trying out the award-winning Red Moon Rising, Honey Porter and Agate Have It brown ale. All of these have won the U.S. Open Beer Championship.

Contact Information:

Address: 5046 Old Pineville Road, Charlotte, NC 28217

Phone: (980) 207-4881

Website: http://www.threespiritsbrewery.com

If you’re someone who loves to try new things, then this is just the place for you. One of many of Charlotte’s many new and emerging breweries, Triple C is located in the city’s fast-growing South End area. Opened in 2012, Triple C has a tap list so diverse that it might just put Queen City’s best breweries to shame.

Not only is Triple C very accessible no matter where you are in the city (all you need to do is get on the LYNX Light Rail and stop at the New Bern station to reach there), the newly emerged construction all around it means that the modern taproom of the brewery is practically teeming with die-hard beer fans, young and dashing professional, AND their dogs (yes that’s right, Triple C allows dogs!). You can even spend time with your canine companions outdoors on the umbrella-covered picnic tables. While Triple C has no in-house kitchen, the many food trucks parked outside will ensure that you won’t go hungry or longing for food.

No matter who you are and what your taste is, you’re bound to find something worth liking at Triple C.

Contact Information:

Address: 2900 Griffith St., Charlotte, NC 28203

Phone: 704-372-3212

Website: http://www.triplecbrewing.com/

Yet another great brewery among the emerging breweries in the rapidly-growing South End, Sycamore is a one-of-a-kind brewery with a great variety of high-quality beers. Opened by the husband-and-wife team of Justin and Sarah Brigham, who wanted to brew a hundred original beers within their first year (a bit unrealistic, to be honest), one has to admit that they haven’t exactly failed, having brewed their 60th unique beer.

Not only does Sycamore have its set of mainstays, such as Southerly OPA and Peak Farm Double Pale Ale, it also keeps on dishing out something new. Guaranteed, this is one place where you will always find something new, fresh and unique. The space is great too, with its rich interiors and spacious garden. Do take a taste of Sycamore’s award-winning Southern Girl Lager, the recipient of the bronze medal at the 2015 Great American Beer Festival.

Contact Information:

Address: 2161 Hawkins St., Charlotte, NC 28203

Phone: 704-910-3821

Website: www.sycamorebrew.com

First things first, there’s absolutely nothing unknown about this brewery. Except the fact that they always seem to handle everything with a smile. Opened by Brad Shell in November 2013, this is one place that you are bound to never forget.

Perhaps the best thing about Unknown Brewing Co. is the fact that it can – and does – take many by surprise. So if you walked in looking for the same old reclaimed lumber, you would be surprised to see the Hunter S. Thompson quote on the wall and the neon-green-flooring.

Shell, who has had an impressive career brewing with bacon, Sriracha, cream cheese, and 99 scorpions, offers a core lineup of a IPA, wheat, and pale ale, which may seem uninteresting, but is definitely is worth a try. Don’t forget to try out the three signature craft beers here: Ginger Wheat, Over the Edge American IPA, and Pre Game session ale .

Special Mention: The Motto – “step into the Unknown.”

Contact Information:

Address: 1327 S. Mint St., Charlotte, NC 28203

Phone: 980-237-2628

Website: http://www.unknownbrewing.com

If you want your beers to be less of a guilty pleasure, then this brewery is one you should definitely go to. Though not very far from Sycamore in terms of distance, it is quite far from it in terms of its menu.

Lenny Boy Brewing is one rare (if not the only) brewery to have a unique set of distinctions. The first is the fact that it is the only certified organic brewery in all of North Carolina, and makes its beer exclusively from organic ingredients. A name that is famous just as much for its Kombucha as it is for its beer, Lenny Boy still has the fermented tea as a major part of its business. Not only does the low-key taproom of Lenny Boy serve traditional beer and traditional kombucha, they also serve “wild ales,” which are basically alcoholic kombuchas. Even the food offered here is made from When here, make sure to try its famous Burn Down for What, which took away the Best Organic Sour prize at the 2015 National Organic Beer competition.

Contact Information:

Address: 2224 Hawkins St., Charlotte, NC 28209

Phone: n/a

Website: http://www.discoverlennyboy.com

Now there’s a brewery with the history… (well, at least the building it is in does have one)

A popular, contemporary brewpub in Highland Park Mill, the building which houses the Heist Brewery was in fact a cotton mill that was originally constructed in the early 1900s. Charlotte’s only independent brewpub, Heist offers a smart combination of house-made beers, craft cocktails and “twisted eats.” A place where unexpected combinations are more norm than exceptions, Heist Brewery offers creative “eats” in small plates, along with a range of flatbreads.

Heist’s beer menu has two broad divisions – core beers (such as the Out to Pasture saison), and rotating batch selections. They also offer a branch buffet every Sunday.

Contact Information:

Address: 2909 N. Davidson St., Suite 200, Charlotte, NC 28205

Phone: 704-375-8260

Website: https://heistbrewery.com

A neat brewery with a clear motto – to brew high-quality beer that’s unfiltered and has great flavor. Known for its free-spirit ambience and fine brews, Birdsong is a great example of a successful business, having moved to its new location in NoDa after running into capacity issues a couple of years if starting the brewery. The new location has everything the old one did – and some more.

Fitted with a much larger and better-looking taproom, the furniture comprises rustic wooden tables that have been crafted from trees which fell at the general contractor’s home. Armed with 18 new taps, Birdsong offers its old favorites like the Jalapeño Pale Ale along with seasonal favorites such as Up on the Sun Saison and the Doin’ Thyme Witbier. Despite having no kitchen, there’s always a food truck parked outside. And then there are the complimentary peanuts inside.

Contact Information:

Address: 1016 N. Davidson St., Charlotte, NC 28206;.

Phone: 704-332-1810

Website: www.birdsongbrewing.com

Not only is The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery one of Charlotte’s most well-known breweries, it is also the oldest. Popularly known as OMB, The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery first opened in 2009, and has since then remained at the forefront of the local beer market. It has recently moved to a much bigger facility of over 8.5 acres of area, which stands a little far from its original haunt in the Lower South End.

OMB specializes in serving its beers German-style, and the brewery itself resembles an old German beer hall. Both the spacious interiors (especially the beer hall) and OMB’s flagship Copper ale have their inspiration in the brew dens of Düsseldorf, the city which is most famous for the Altbier style. The outdoors of the Olde Mecklenburg too is quite the spectacle, with its huge biergarten and almost endless rows of communal tables that sit beautifully underneath the tall oak trees. A family-friendly brewery, the OMB has a fantastic kitchen which traditional biergarten staples such as bratwursy and soft, alongside classic American bar-foods such as wings and pizza.

The Olde Mecklenburg is known for adhering to the “Reinheitsgebot,” which is the world’s oldest purity guideline. According to this law, beer can have only 4 ingredients: yeast, hops, malt and water. OMB is also the home to several events and tours, most notable among them being the Copper and Take the Brewery tour (which have been helmed as the best nationwide by readers of USA Today), and Mecktoberfest (the recipient of the gold medal at the 2015 European Beer Star competition held in Germany).

If you want to try something that’s both local and fresh, and also offers the old world charm, then OMB is the brewery to go to.

Contact Information:

Address: 4150 Yancey Road, Charlotte, NC 28217

Phone: (704) 525-5644 (Braunhaus), (704) 525-5654 (Office)

Website: http://www.oldemeckbrew.com/