Alex's very serious Charlotte pretzel ranking

For National Pretzel Day, I'm dropping my list of top pretzels in Charlotte after two years of tedious research.

Why it matters: In a crowded pretzel market, only a few prevail as the city's best twists.

Editor's note: These are in no particular order. I'm a news reporter, not a food critic. But I have eaten a lot of pretzels.

The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery

This humongous knot comes with some high-quality salt. You are required to wash it down with a beer. That's the best part.

And I love a beer cheese that actually tastes like beer cheese. I want to visualize the pouring and stirring of brew in a giant cheese pot.

💵 $18 for the large. (You want the large.)

They claim it's famous for good reason. I will never go here and skip the jumbo grilled pretzel. Comes with beer cheese.

💵 $7

I was beefing with Legion when they took their pretzel off the menu, but they've recently brought it back in another form — ball form.

What's really slapping here is the sauce lineup: Pimento butter. Beer cheese. Mustard that'll clear your sinuses.
The only problem is that there are only four rolls. I could easily pop 20 of these in my mouth like Scooby-Doo.

💵 $8

Gilde's pretzel executes on four vital qualities: crispy outside, soft and warm inside, buttery dressing and a solid dipping sauce.

It earns a rare five stars, kudos to the originality of the "cold German" cheese dipped, topped with slivered onion and chives. A unique distinction from the typical beer cheese in our brewery city.

💵 $10

The buttery glaze on these Bavarian pretzels is insane and helps the warm dough melt in your mouth.

💵 $10.50