How to spend 48 hours in Charlotte with Birdsong co-owner Tara Goulet
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Tara and Chris Goulet of Birdsong Brewing Company. Photo courtesy of Tara Goulet
Your tour guide: Tara Goulet, co-owner of Birdsong Brewing Company.
- Tara and her husband Chris opened Birdsong as a neighborhood brewery in 2011. Over the years, the 30-barrel brewhouse/taproom has become a go-to for unfiltered, American-style ale on North Davidson.
- Tara, one of the women paving the way in Charlotte's male-dominated craft brewing business, chatted with us recently about places she loves in Charlotte.
Next time you're in the neighborhood: Stop in for a pint of Pink Robots.
- A portion of the proceeds go to the Wade Family Fund, which benefits the family of Wooden Robot co-owner Dan Wade, who passed away in February.
One activity every Charlottean should try once: A brewery crawl.
- "Because of where Birdsong is located, I'd start there and then make my way down North Davidson to see all of our friends. Then I'd take 36th and loop over and back up."
- Spots Tara suggests include Wooden Robot, Salud, Free Range, and Divine Barrel, but she notes that you can't go wrong no matter where you stop. "They all have their own twist!" she says.
Here's Tara's perfect itinerary for hosting out-of-town family or friends.
Friday: Intermezzo and live music
We love to take people to Intermezzo. We always get the crostini with the lemon zest and the ricotta. It's incredible.
- The fungi pizza is also fantastic, and they have amazing, authentic Serbian dishes.
- The brothers who own the restaurant are so much fun to sit and talk with at the bar.
After dinner, we'd go check out some live music either at Petra's or The Evening Muse.
- We love those venues because they're smaller and more intimate.
- You can see some great local bands.
Saturday: Coffee, yoga and flowers
We love Central Coffee, so we'd start the morning there.
They make a brown sugar cinnamon latte that's fantastic.
- They also do these little quiches that are my favorite.
After breakfast, we'd go to Khali Yoga in NoDa.
- I love to go for a mid-morning hot vinyasa.
For lunch, we'd go to 300 East.
- I don't even need to look at the menu. I always get the ahi tuna salad.
- They also carry Higher Ground, which is our flagship IPA, so I'd get one of those, too.
From there, we'd do some bouquet picking at McLawland Farms.
- They have acres of beautiful flowers that bloom at different times of the year.
- You get a mason jar and some scissors and walk through the fields and cut whatever you want.
For dinner, we'd go to Good Wurst.
- That's walkable from our house, so we go there a lot.
- Chris and I are pescatarians, and they make a great veggie bratwurst.
- They also make their own bread, and the French fries are amazing.
To cap off the night, we'd stop at Workman's Friend. That's our neighborhood spot.
- We'd get a really good Irish whiskey, or maybe an Irish coffee.
Sunday: A sendoff at Eddie's Place
We'd finish the weekend with brunch at Eddie's Place.
- They do a Bloody Mary special on Sundays, so that's a good day to go.
- I love their shrimp and artichoke omelet.
- Whenever I see it on the menu, I have to order it.
