Heist Brewery – Charlotte, NC

Brewery/Taproom

Heist Brewpub is a fairly large, seemingly well-established place. Located in Charlotte’s NoDa neighborhood, Heist has become well-known for the quality of their beer; Heist is also known for their massive whiskey selection and their kitchen, which turns out a nice selection of shared plate offerings, woodfired flatbreads, sandwiches and Charcuterie boards (note that the brunch, lunch and dinner menus are different). When I visited about 2 PM on a holiday weekend Saturday, it was predictably busy but not over-crowded.

The exterior is a clean, classy blend of brick, dark anodized aluminum and glass. The interior is brick and heavy wood, with hanging ventilation ductwork and exposed beams and girders lending a bit of an industrial feel. Tables are wood slab atop minimalist black hardware that matches the chairs, while the coloration of the flooring pairs with the table tops themselves, resulting in a unified, consistent feel. The larger dining area provides an excellent view of the brewing equipment.

Heist has three bars: the main bar is up front as you come in, at the back of a smaller dining area, and there’s a smaller bar (seats about 10) at the back of the larger dining area; the third bar is in the Canteen Taproom, a self-contained second taproom in the back that is often used for special events and live music. Given that we had stopped in just for flights, we chose to sit in the Canteen Taproom as it was less crowded than the dining areas.

The Canteen Taproom has sixteen taps, fourteen of which were in service when we were there. Three of them were guest taps, which is kind of unusual at a brewery, but since Heist’s beer offerings are so IPA-heavy (ten of the eleven Heist taps were IPAs or IIPAs), having a few guest taps makes sense. Flights of five generous pours were served in four-ounce rocks glasses, which is a not-uncommon choice for flight pours. All other pours were in style-appropriate glassware; many beers were available in two pour sizes.

I don’t see that much Heist beer in Wilmington, so I stuck to their beers for my flight, and I’m glad I did. Four of them were fantastic- Room For Activities, Mo-J, Überquench’l, and All Is Ripe- and the fifth, Lupulin For Lupus, was a solid IPA, just not on the level of the others. I would rank them loosely in the order listed, with Room For Activities being my favorite of the bunch and the next three being so close in quality that the ranking is frankly tenuous. This was certainly an enjoyable flight.

I didn’t get any food, and I wasn’t seated in a dining area, so I can’t speak to the food. Beer-to-go was available in crowlers and cans. Staff was friendly, efficient and knowledgeable.

I will definitely be back to Heist.

(c) 2018 Old Man Metal