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| - Went on a mini brewery crawl this weekend stopping at Triple C, Heist, Birdsong, and finishing with dinner at Growlers Pourhouse. Started with Triple C, then Heist Brewery, now on to one of Charlotte's newer craft breweries; Birdsong Brewing...
Located directly across the street from NoDa Brewing. Unlike NoDa, Birdsong is a bit more of a mystery. While the entrance to NoDa is directly in the front of the building, Birdsong is situated in the back by the old railroad tracks.
There is a fairly large patio area with outdoor seating, large enough to accommodate live music and plentiful seating. As you walk in you see that the interior is long and narrow, with an unfinished feel. The walls are metal siding and cinder block with posters/artwork featuring dogs and beer. Not nearly as polished as most of the other Charlotte area breweries (with the exception of Four Friends). While the place lacks the artistic touch and finish of Heist, it is cozy and comfortable, and you feel at home when you are there...
There is really not much in the way of service... You have the bar tender and that is about it, if you want another beer you either walk up to the bar, or signal to the bartender; and luckily the place is small enough that this system seems to work well. We did not sit on the patio, so I don't know how the service was there. Unfortunately, unless you are talking to the brewer, the bartender/waitstaff does not know much about the beer besides whats on tap and whats not.
There is no kitchen; sometimes there is a food truck outside, but otherwise the bowls of peanuts on the tables will have to suffice. So it's best to either eat before you come or call ahead to see if one of the food trucks will be on site.
Now... on to the beer. I have tried a few of their beers in restaurants/bars around town, but there were some on tap that I had not tried yet so I got a flight of all of their offerings. There was a pale, a saison, a witbeir, a brown, an IPA, and a jalapeno pale ale. I am not a big fan of saisons, but as far as saisons go this one was decent. The brown was decent, the IPA was decent, the pale ale was pretty good, the witbier was quite good and the jalapeno pale was terrific. All in all the best beer selection of the night!! I am quite impressed with this little hole in the wall brewery. I will be on the lookout for Birdsong beers around Charlotte...
Well, now that I have samples or pints of beers from Triple C, Heist, and Birdsong I am ready to get some food... On to Growlers Pourhouse.
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