NoDa Brewing Company – Charlotte, NC

Brewery/Taproom

We stopped at NoDa’s North Tryon Street location about opening time (noon) on a holiday weekend Saturday. The taproom itself is pretty good sized, and nice enough; there is a good bit of seating outside as well, which was really nice as it was a beautiful day. Parking was also plentiful, which is not the case at every taproom in Charlotte.

Since we arrived at opening, there were not a lot of people there, but that was not the case within half an hour. By the time we had been there an hour, the taproom was about fully seated (as was the outside seating area), and there were moderate lines for beer, but the place was not really crowded. Two things that one readily notes sitting outside are the play area and the numerous dog bowls of water; this venue is definitely both dog- and kid-friendly, and as it filled up it became obvious that a lot of patrons chose to come here with that in mind. The clientele was quite varied, but definitely featured a lot of families with kids and a number of dog-lovers.

There were about 24 beers on tap when we visited, most of which were NoDa beers, but there were a few guest taps too (including a kombucha tea and a cider). Flights of four generous pours were available, but not all beers were eligible (most ineligibles were high-gravity beers), which is not a policy that I am fond of. The flight pours were provided in straight-walled glasses (think beer-fest) and most regular pours seemed to be in shaker pints, which definitely leaves something to be desired; there were multiple pour options for most of the beers (half-pints and pints). The beers that I tried- Hot Pistol (American Stout), OG Kolsch, Hop Experiment #9 Citra (Session APA), and If You Don’t Know, Now You Know (IPA), ranged from decent (Hot Pistol) to good (If You Don’t Know) in the order listed.

Food was provided by a food truck from TIN Kitchen, which I understand is currently a seven-day-a-week engagement (though times vary weekday vs. weekend). The food truck menu featured tacos, quesadillas and sliders; the Chipotle Chicken and Jerk Pork quesadillas were both quite good, particularly with a half-pint of Bandito, which is a solid American Pale Lager.

If I’m honest, while Hop Drop ‘N Roll is a great IPA, nothing I’ve ever had from NoDa has blown me away, and I find most of their beers to be decent-to-good; my visit to their taproom did not change this opinion. In a city where there is fantastic beer to be had, a nice venue is not enough to pull me back on a regular basis.

(c) 2018 Old Man Metal