We started to write a post on breweries in Charlotte and quickly realized that there are so many, it’s impossible to get it all into one story. There are literally dozens of breweries in the Charlotte area. That’s why we decided to break it up by neighborhood, which we think is more fun anyway.
Let’s start on the west side of Charlotte in one of the few and precious historic neighborhoods: Wesley Heights. It is a special and beautiful historic neighborhood built in the 1920s on the grounds of Livery Farm owned by John Wadsworth. The Wadsworth house is still standing in the middle of Wesley Heights on South Summit Avenue.
Like most historic neighborhoods there is a retail and small business component. Wesley Heights has Pinky’s, The Open Kitchen, and several wonderful breweries. Let’s take a little tour.
Wesley Heights Breweries
Blue Blaze Brewing opened in 2016 and is located along the Stewart Creek Greenway and at the end of the Savona mill project. Savona Mill is yet another fantastic restoration project happening in Charlotte, but that’s a story for another day. Blue Blaze is a quaint, family-owned brewery that is bright, friendly and comfortable. They have guitars you can strum and a fire pit to sit around in cooler months. Blue Blaze takes pride in being the first brewery to open in Charlotte’s West End.
Town Brewing is a larger wide open space that can accommodate a lot of people inside and out. This bustling brewery is right in the heart of Wesley Height’s business corridor and is flanked by the coolest old delivery truck you’ll ever see. Town Brewing started when four homebrewers working out of their garages dreamed of creating something bigger. The brewery has grown since then, with distribution now across North Carolina and parts of South Carolina.
Legion Brewing has one of its four Charlotte locations on West Morehead Street, just down the street from Town Brewing. So you’ll never go thirsty, at least not for beer in Wesley Heights. This location opened in 2021 in what used to be a potato chip factory.
Midnight Mulligan brewery is located on Thrift Road. The website says their hard work, trial and error and late nights have led to perfection in a pint. If you haven’t checked out all of the really exciting things in this burgeoning design district you absolutely should head right over to get a beer and check out this area.
The Bevery formerly known as Summit Seltzer, is next door to Midnight Mulligan. Founded by Kristin Cagney, it’s not only the first seltzery in Charlotte (basically a brewery for seltzer) but on the entire East Coast. They ferment their own hard and non-alcoholic seltzers, using purees to flavor and condition them.
Good for resale value
Breweries have proven to be very good for resale value. Wesley Heights has also been a wonderful place to live, with beer it’s even better. Let’s look at houses and condos for sale in Wesley Heights and might as well grab a cold one while we are there.
We will delve into another neighborhood’s IPAs, wheats and lagers soon. For now, Axios put together a complete list of Charlotte’s breweries, with a map, if you want to check that out.