What I did on my winter vacation
Whenever we visit family in North Carolina, my favorite thing to do is sample the local beer. North Carolina has a large and active craft brewery scene, and it’s always fun to track the new memes working their way through the industry. So first stop in town is usually at a beer and wine store to select single cans of local and seasonal brews.
just a fraction of one aisle of 3
Once we’ve collected a good sample, my other favorite thing to do is record reaction videos and post to Instagram stories.
This year’s local beers
all the feels
Some conclusions
The field this year had a lot of complex stacked flavors. Sour ales seem big. There was a good cider in the mix but there is definitely a tendency for ciders to be a little too sweet (or a lot too sweet) and lack a well rounded flavor profile. The full bodied beers were exactly that.
As with hot sauces, sometimes these flavor combos come with this attitude of “you wouldn’t get it” or “I dare you to try this.” It’s very American, to take an idea to the edge or fixate one one defining trait to the detriment of all else. In the example of the popular sour ales, sometimes the brewers fixated on the maximising sourness and dropped any concern for the ale. And so, a number of these beers struck me more as alcoholic sodas.
By far, my favorites were the salty beers, the ones with peppers, and the 2 with peppercorns. The spicy notes were novel— maybe more of a meme though, and not something I would reach for regularly— but my gosh, the peppercorns. Flowery, herbacious, a wee kick— fantasic.