Oct 13, 2015 - Food and Drink

The Great Pumpkin Beer Crawl: Your guide to Charlotte’s seasonal autumn beers

Laura Beck

This weekend, my husband and I charged ourselves with a very important task: Try all of the local pumpkin (or autumn seasonal) beers that Charlotte has to offer. We know and love NoDa Brewing’s Gordgeous, but what else were we missing out on? We paced ourselves and visited 11 local breweries over three days. Here’s what we found.

NoDa Brewing

Brew: Gordgeous
Size: 16 oz.
ABV: 6.4%
Price: $6

Notes: Pumpkin ale. Super smooth, not too strong but has good flavor. Uses allspice, cardamom, cloves and freshly shaved whole ginger root. Excellent with a cinnamon sugar rim – I know Bad Daddy’s serves it this way.

Also of note: We visited the original North Davidson Street location on a Friday night and it was pretty dead. The new North Tryon Street location must be booming.

Heist Brewery

Brew: Saison de Pon Pon
Size: 16 oz.
ABV: 6.5%
Price: $5.50

Notes: Brewed with true pumpkin, not just cinnamon and nutmeg. The pumpkins come from a local farm and are cut, quartered, and roasted in Heist’s wood-fired oven, giving a sweet, carmelized flavor. The pumpkin is added at the end of the brewing process with a fermenting period of about 21 days.

Also of note: We ate the spinach artichoke flatbread while sipping this. So tasty.

Birdsong Brewing Co.

Brew: St. Tuber Belgian Abbey
Size: 12 oz.
ABV: 6.7%
Price: $6

Notes: Belgian style brewed with North Carolina mashed sweet potatoes and cloves. Nice and sweet.

Also of note: Birdsong gets bonus points for the free peanuts and cinnamon sugar pretzels that they offer. Shoutout to our new friends Patrick, Kara and their dog Wrigley for sharing their picnic table with us.

Wooden Robot Brewery

Brew: Sweet Tater Pie Red Ale
Size: M – 10.1 oz.
ABV: 8.0% – this is sneaky
Price: S – $2.50 / M – $5

Notes: Malty sweet potato beer with nutmeg coming through. Brown sugar and spices. The best way to describe this is cozy.

The Unknown Brewing Co.

Brew: Teleporter
Size: Unknown (no pun intended). I forgot to ask and could not reach them by phone.
ABV: They told me 6.7% in the taproom, but their website says 8.0%.
Price: $5

Notes: We walked in right as Unknown was closing for the evening for a private event. They were kind enough to offer me a sample of their current seasonal brew, which was a robust porter with milk sugar and local coffee from Notorious Coffee in Marshall, N.C. It was chocolatey, and in my mind, not necessarily autumnal.

Also of note: This was a strange experience. The bartender told me that they would be coming out with something new around Halloween but wouldn’t disclose any details to me since I was “media.” Interesting.

Triple C Brewing Co.

Brew: Lil’ Red Rye’dn the Hood
Size: 16 oz.
ABV: 6.0%
Price: $4.50

Notes: Rye IPA collaboration with RJ Rockers Brewing Company. This didn’t seem particularly fall-ish to me, but what do I know?

Sugar Creek Brewing Co.

Brew: Biere de Garde
Size: 14 oz.
ABV: 6.8%
Price: $5.50

Notes: Malt forward amber with caramel and candy apple notes. Artisinal ale sold by the bottle at Sugar Creek. Light, sweet, and refreshing. Big fan.

The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery

Brew: Mecktoberfest
Size: 16 oz.
ABV: 5.4%
Price: $4.95

Notes: Märzen-style amber lager.

Also of note: Olde Meck was absolutely packed on a rainy Saturday night. There wasn’t an open seat to be found so we chugged this and called it a night.

Sycamore Brewing

Brew: Gourd Have Mercy
Size: 16 oz.
ABV: 6.2%
Price: $5.50

Notes: Amber Ale. Brewed with nutmeg, cinnamon, and pumpkin. The pumpkin comes from a farm in Oregon. If you like flannel shirts, you’ll like this beer.

Brew: Autumn Lager
Size: 16 oz.
ABV: 5.9%
Price: $5.50

Notes: Malt flavor. The transition from light to dark beer is made to emulate the transition from summer to fall.

Lenny Boy Brewing Co.

Brew: Sweet Potato Pie Kombucha
Size: 16 oz.
ABV: Non-alchoholic
Price: $4

Notes: Made with local, organic North Carolina sweet potatoes and spices. This tastes like a pumpkin muffin in a glass. In terms of kombucha, I wish it was a little more fizzy.

Brew: The Magellan
Size: 16 oz.
ABV: 5%
Price: $5

Notes: Spiced brown ale. Similar to Lenny Boy’s Burn Down Brown, but slightly more sweet and spicy.

I should also mention that we paid a visit to Red Clay Ciderworks, but they weren’t brewing anything seasonal. We aren’t quitters so we still got a cider flight (pick any four for $9) and some mac and cheese with barbacoa from American Bebo’s Bistro food truck ($5).

Did I miss something? Did I abuse all of the proper beer-reviewing lingo? (Probably.) Let me know on Twitter or shoot me an email.

Add Axios on Google