Charlotte Brewery Power Rankings

  Information Satellite vs. HQ:  HQ Non-Beer Options?:  Yes - F ull bar, cider, etc. Food Options:  In house Google Rating:  4.3/5 Yelp Rating:  3.5/5 Untappd Rating:  3.99/5 Normalized Rating:  31.57/100 (29th) Website:   https://www.heistbrewery.com/ Area:  Noda Address:   2909 N Davidson St STE 200, Charlotte, NC 28205 My Evaluation Beer Rating:  2.5/5 Atmosphere Rating:  0/5 Overall Rating:  1.25/5 Evaluation: Heist is a marginally pretentious restaurant in Noda that happens to masquerading as a brewery while actually making some surprising decent beer. I wish I could end this post there, because everything I'm about to say will come back to that underlying thesis. The bottom line is that if you don't care about a typical brewery experience and are just looking for a dinner option that happens to have some of their own beer, this may be a place for you. I've found that Heist's beer is typically hit or miss. Surpri...

Information Satellite vs. HQ:  HQ Non-Beer Options?:  Yes - seltzer and wine Food Options:  Food trucks Google Rating:  4.7/5 Yelp Rating:  4.5/5 Untappd Rating:  3.79/5 Normalized Rating: 58.35/100 (13th) Website:  Vaulted Oak Brewery (vaultedoakbrewing.com) Area:  Cotswold Address:   3726 Monroe Rd, Charlotte, NC 28205 My Evaluation Beer Rating:  1/5 Atmosphere Rating: 1/5 Overall Rating:  1/5 Evaluation:  My guess is that Vaulted Oak's ratings on Google/Yelp/Untappd is simply a product of low sample size due to the fact that this is one of the newest breweries in Charlotte. Fortunately for me, I am unswayed by recency bias. My experience at Vaulted Oak was remarkably unremarkable, and I do not have a strong desire to go out of my to back there. While Vaulted Oak scores identically with Suffolk Punch and D9 Brewing, I have given Vaulted Oak preference in the pecking order on account of the fact that are new and things could i...

Information Satellite vs. HQ:  HQ Non-Beer Options?:  Yes - wine, cocktails, cider, and seltzers Food Options:  In-house restaurant  Google Rating:  4.4/5 Yelp Rating:  4/5 Untappd Rating:  3.7/5 Normalized Rating:  28.6/100 (31st) Website:  https://thesuffolkpunch.com/ Area:  Middle Southend Address:  2911 Griffith St suite a, Charlotte, NC 28203 My Evaluation Beer Rating:  0/5 Atmosphere Rating:  2/5 Overall Rating:  1/5 Evaluation: If it wasn't for my recent trip to D9 Uptown, Suffolk Punch would be my clear-cut choice as worst brewery in Charlotte. In fact, if this ranking was solely about the beer, Suffolk Punch would still be in last place. And while it scores an identical 1/5 with D9, I have given the tie breaker to Suffolk punch because they have a restaurant with mediocre food you can enjoy if you aren't keen to the brewery scene. As a reminder, a 0 on my beer rating means I would rather be drinking Natty Lig...

Depressing Information Satellite vs. HQ: Satellite Non-Beer Options?: No Food Options: Light snacks Google Rating: 4.2/5 Yelp Rating: 4.5/5 Untappd Rating: 3.75/5 Normalized Rating: 31.6/100 (28th) Website:  https://www.d9brewing.com/ Area: Uptown Address:  650 E Stonewall St Unit D, Charlotte, NC 28202 My Evaluation Beer Rating: 2/5 Atmosphere Rating: 0/5 Overall Rating: 1/5 Evaluation:  Until I recently visited D9 Uptown for the first time, I was adamant that a certain other brewery that I loath would come in last place (more on that in my next post). However, I can confidently say after visiting D9 Uptown that this place takes the cake as the worst brewery in Charlotte. First, I have to apply two quick caveats in D9's defense: 1) This is a satellite location for D9, with their main brewery up the road in Cornelius. As far as I can tell, this is meant to be a local spot for the apartments on Stonewall St. I don't believe they do any of the brewing at this locati...