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Visited Friday, January 17-Sunday, January 20, 2020 for MLK Jr. Weekend
We drove in during night time after a day at work. The city skyline looked fun lit up. We stayed at an apartment in a confusing as heck building! It was a good apartment space for the weekend but the light from a window you couldn’t close and the thin walls where you could hear everything were the downsides (again, besides figuring out how to get in and out). All of the highlights from the weekend are on my Instagram here.
Across the street was Moo & Brew. It was a 40 minute wait but luckily it’s attached to a building with a location called The Hop Shop This location was like a revamped garage area with international, local, unique and all-time favorites beer and wine choices. I had Dansk Mjod Viking Blod which was mead with hibiscus and hops (honey wine) 19 percent in 5 oz.
At Moo and Brew I ordered their local love flight. All were awesome but the Zest Me Up was sour! I got the Way Out West Bison Burger but was sent the wrong order. When they corrected it, the burger was extremely rare, WAY too rare, …… and a very long not-mine hair came out. Done. Nope!
Moo & Brew Menu
Flights
Local Love Flight
A 5-7 minute walk down the street gets you to a downtown bar district. We went to the party spot, Thomas Street Tavern.
There were several parties going on as they had indoor and outdoor space to drink, play games and more. Soul Gastrolounge was our last stop of the night for a fancy cocktail drink on the way home. Their sushi did look delicious though and we wish we would have eaten here instead!
On Saturday, we had a change of plans because of overcast and rainy weather. There were parades going on ‘downtown’ (which is called Uptown) for MLK so we Ubered to Uptown. We went to the Discovery Place Science museum which was really cool for any age!
It was also my first experience in an IMAX Dome where we added on an inexpensive ticket for the Super Dogs movie.
By the time we were leaving Ubers were really expensive so we jumped on the metro (This is a great option to travel to different areas!) and much better to travel quickly under cover from the weather rather than using a rented scooter. A 10-minute walk from the last stop was Brewers at 4001 Yancey.
We still think back to how cool of a spot this was. The inside was HUGE but they were still really busy on a Saturday so make sure you get there earlier or prepare for a possible wait! We got there just before 4 p.m.
We highly recommend everything we tried. Fro drinks, try their CLT Brewed Peach Cobbler from Southern Tier, Cloudwalker Hazy Juicy IPA from Victory, Dirty Wolf and Puff Puff Double IPA from Sixpoint. I’m not sure you could go wrong with food but their Curried White Bean Dip was a starter we don’t usually order. It was already too much for us but The Grind Pizza was also delicious.
A walk down the street gets you to Queen Street Social which is also a blast. There are areas to bowl and play games or you can sit at your table, order a pitcher and play table games like we did.
Across the street from Queen Street is OMB (Old Mecklenburg Brewery). This was far from the coolest brewery we’ve been to but it is one you’ll find at every store or restaurant while living here.
We rounded out the night at The Broken Spoke. They offered us some new cocktails they were creating and we can’t be rude!
Sunday was finally time for the U.S. National Whitewater Center which would be the coolest thing we did on this trip! We left just after 10 and stopped to pick up breakfast so it was only a 30 minute drive. You can choose the combination of tickets you want for the activities you’d like to do but we wanted to do a majority of what was offered. We started on the rock climbing wall then did a mini ropes course.
The ziplines and high ropes course are long and tall which make them even more fun, one of which is a series of rope and wood plank bridges through the woods.
The Hawk Jump is a 100-foot-base jump which is terrifying but you HAVE to do it. Since we went in the winter the water wasn’t out yet but, when it does, whitewater rafting there would be SO fun! They also had ice skating and, when it’s warm, host events like musical festivals.
Our friend Rucy lives in Charlotte and came out to the center’s bar and restaurant called River’s Edge for a drink. This was the day of the playoffs to decide who will play in the Superbowl and WE WON! (Kansas native/Chiefs fan here. It was worth the wait.) We were disappointed that the bar didn’t have any outside channels besides the loop of the Whitewater ads so we played the game on our phone and checked the score on our way home.
As you can tell, Charlotte is broken up in to several different neighborhoods so you can drive to one, get out and pretty much walk around. We ate supper at the flagship Cabo Fish Taco location which was recommended to us and had the Carne Asada tacos, Queso and their complimentary corn salsa dip. Drew ordered beer battered white fish and shrimp. All were delicious and, yes based on the name, I should have ordered the fish tacos.
A walk down the street was Heist Brewing. I ordered the 20/20 which was ok but too hoppy/skunky for me. Drew got Momentum Drift which was delicious! Next door to the entrance you’ll see a pizza place featuring Virginia slices which are supposedly bigger than New York slices.
Downside of Sundays even on a long weekend? You face Sunday hours which means places would be closed. Remember the Pour Taphouse from Wilmington? We Ubered back near our apartment to visit the Charlotte location and, even though it said online they were open, they were closed. Across the street is the diviest-dive bar, the famous Thirsty Beaver. It was a small area and we stood around for a while but they didn’t take our order so we walked down to a Workman’s Friend. They had the coolest interior which was a mix of an Irish pub, refined Old English and Southern. It was laid back and there was a door which connected the pub to another large dance floor type area with an open air bar that looked on to the street.
Here are some other food suggestions that we haven’t tried yet.
- Good Food on Montford: $$$ small plates, rustic, wine list.
- Kid Cashew: Mediterranean.
- Bakersfield East Blvd: Cocktail bar.
- Zeppelin: Tapas bar.
- Peppervine: Looks super nice.
- Sabor Latin Street Grill: South American food.
- Stoke: $$$ Woodfired plates. Near Discovery Science.
- The Asbury: Next to Discovery Place Science. 5 min drive from Airbnb. Brunch is served on Saturdays and Sundays, from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. Looks really nice but no notes on dress code.
DRINKS/BREWERIES
Brio Tuscan Grille
Napa on Providence
The Manchester
Lincoln Street Kitchen and Cocktail
Lost and Found
Barcelona Wine Bar
Birdsong
Noda
Triple C
Sycamore
Want to go out for the night?
- Roxbury: 80s/90s nightlife.
- Slate: Dress code for billiards club (no hats or athletic wear) 200 E Bland Street Charlotte, NC 28203. FRI/SAT open until 2 am. Sunday 11 am- midnight.
- 8.2.0: Pizzeria and bar. FRI 12-2 am, 5 pm-2 am. SAT 5 pm-Midnight. Sunday Closed. Located in Uptown. 820 Hamilton St, Suite A3 Charlotte, NC 28206
Cheers!
Marin
Now through March 31, 2020 every first-time client gets 20 percent off their Branding + Positioning Strategy! Start by booking a Free Discovery Session here.
