A Trip to ACC Country

Years ago, Maryanne was a frequent business traveler to North Carolina. Having a rental car on the company's dime resulted in many invitations to favorite faraway lunch spots. The food was always delicious: barbecue, plied high and served with hush puppies and endless pitchers of iced tea. Sitting on picnic tables, in buildings that sometimes looked like a garage in the hills, was a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of downtown Manhattan with its three-martini lunches.

The cubicles in the office building were filled with ACC bumper stickers, hats and even basketballs. The most interesting, or so it seemed at the time, included: "God May Be a Tar Heel, but Sampson is a Cavalier," and "If God Isn't a Tar Heel, Why is the Sky Carolina Blue?"

On one visit, someone pointed out that the lunch routine had changed this week. It was ACC tournament time, you see. The local bars filled long before tipoff. As I sat down at a long table underneath a TV, the person next to me poured me a glass of beer. I have no idea when I left. It was after the last game was over, sometime well into the next shift.

The hospitality was infectious and the friendships developed over barbecue and basketball have lasted a lifetime. Unfortunately, the beer, as it was in most places back then, was forgettable.

So it was with fond memories of Southern hospitality, and after many of our own attempts to smoke barbecue at home, that we returned to North Carolina last fall. Despite Mother Nature's attempt to drown us in a hurricane, we meandered through the state for several days. This time, however, the beer was worth remembering.

The North Carolina legislature recently passed a bill nicknamed "Pop the Cap," which allowed breweries to produce beer with more six percent ABV. Local brewers were ready to prove that they could compete with out-of-state rivals in all styles. And that they did.

Let's begin by visiting old stomping grounds, Greensboro. Not long ago, downtown was a step away from becoming a ghost town. We're happy to report that an anchor in its revitalization is Natty Greene's Pub & Brewing Company (345 South Elm Street). It's only a couple of blocks south of the site of the historic Woolworth's where students sat in at the lunch counter to desegregate it.

As we walked down the street, we smelled the mash and knew we had our target in sight when we spotted the grain silo. When you enter the converted storefront with its large picture windows, you immediately notice the mural on the dining room wall depicting Elm Street during horse-and-buggy days. The bar and seven-barrel Crevelier brew house are beyond the dining room and marked by a large wrought-iron chandelier hanging from the exposed wooden ceiling.

Brewmaster Scott Christophel keeps five beers plus a seasonal on tap. The lineup includes Guilford Golden Ale, a light-bodied golden ale brewed with English malt and hops; Natty Greene's Pale Ale; General Stout, an Irish-style dry stout; Old Town Brown, an English-style brown ale with a hint of baker's chocolate; and Scott's Honest Ale, a name given to the rotating seasonals.

Nearby Winston-Salem is home to the Foothills Brewing Company (638 West 4th Street). The brewery, which opened in 2004, is located right downtown. Metered parking is available outside the front door. As you enter, the sleek, modern-looking, blonde wood bar catches your eye. The brick walls make an interesting backdrop to the poster-sized labels of the house beer. Together with the 15-barrel E-Z Flo brew system, they remind customers that "beer is brewed here."

Brewer Jamie Bartholomus makes six standard beers, along with four seasonals. The menu beers are Salem Gold, a light golden ale with wheat and pale malt, the lightest in the lineup; Pilot Mountain Pale Ale, an American pale ale aggressively hopped with Perle hops (and yes, we couldn't resist asking if that was the "Mount Pilot" referred to on the Andy Griffith Show); Torch Pilsner, a Czech-style pilsner with Saaz hops; Total Eclipse Stout, a full-bodied stout; Rainbow Trout ESB, made with all English ingredients; and Kind Ale IPA, which features organic American malts. Also on the menu when we visited were Foothills Oktoberfest and an altbier--one of the best we've ever tasted.

Much of the food incorporates the house beer. In addition to good homestyle Southern fare, the menu includes a wild game sampler with venison, quail, ostrich, wild boar, either duck or rabbit, and bacon-wrapped North Carolina rainbow trout. There is even a smoked buffalo pizza available, along with a South Dakota buffalo burger.

Home of the Tar Heels

Of course, no trip to North Carolina is complete without a visit to Chapel Hill, where we quaffed at both Top of the Hill Restaurant and Brewery and Carolina Brewing. Both are downtown. While we drove between the two, we could have easily hoofed it if it weren't for the buckets of rain inundating Chapel Hill that afternoon.

Top of the Hill (101 East Franklin Street), which opened in 1996, is on a busy corner near campus. Owner Scott Maitland went to law school at UNC and decided the town deserved something better that chain restaurants.

Unless you're Michael Jordan, you'll need to ride the elevator to the third floor where in addition to a restaurant and brewery, you'll find the South's first "microcannery." The brewing vessels and canning equipment, made by Cask Systems of Calgary, greet you as you enter.

The patio has an outstanding view of the historic downtown, and you're guarded by gargoyles. Can you find the one holding a basketball? Members of UNC sports teams have been known to pose among the gargoyles too, so go ahead. They won't tell.
The brewer is John Withey and his beer is gosh-darned good. He came here after stints at Shepherd Neame and Whitbread in England, which accounts for a darker, maltier, less-hoppy IPA than one usually finds in the America.

The beer menu includes Top of the Hill's Leaderboard Trophy Lager (golf is another favorite pastime in these parts); Big Bertha Brown Ale; Ram's Head IPA; Frank Graham Porter (politics junkies will recognize the play on an obscure North Carolina senator's name), a rich smooth creamy beer with dry espresso flavors and hints of chocolate and hops; Chuck Stone Black and Tan, which is an IPA layered with porter; and Pop the Cap Barley Wine. The slogan on one style was "My other beer is a water hazard."

The food menu is eclectic, with everything from smoked barbecue chicken and shrimp cocktail pizza to a turkey pretzel po'boy to a Kobe beef burger. Don't forget to check out the collection of historic Chapel Hill photographs before you leave.

From there it's only about a half a mile to the Carolina Brewery (460 West Franklin Street), our next stop. The word-count police are watching, however, so you'll have to join us again in the next issue when we cover "Beer in College Towns."

All About Beer magazine, Volume 27, no. 4, September 2006.