Brewery Reviews, Craft Beer Travel, Travel, United States

Olde Hickory Brewery Review in Hickory, North Carolina

September 8, 2015

I love a craft beer story where a founder has a vision beyond just brewing quality craft beer. It’s why I geeked out so much a couple of months ago when I wrote a review of Fullsteam Brewery in Durham, North Carolina. Both the craft beer and business nerd in me stood in admiration of brewery founder Sean Lily Wilson. Not only is Fullsteam Brewery producing high quality beer, they also helped…

Fullsteam Brewery Review in Durham, North Carolina

April 8, 2015

Fullsteam Brewery – Beer Brewed the Hard Way. Many a craft beer fan wanted to throw their can, bottle, or pint glass at the TV when they saw Budweiser’s “Brewed the Hard Way” advertisement during the Super Bowl. But then again, none of us wanted to waste good beer in such a frivolous manner. (I guess that’s because we’re all beer dissectors?) Instead, we began an intellectual war through blogs and YouTube….

Queen City Brewers Festival in Charlotte, North Carolina

February 5, 2015

Seriously? Another craft beer festival? Less than a year ago I was saying the same thing about craft breweries. How many is too many? It seemed like every week the Charlotte Business Journal published an article about another proposed opening. Don’t get me wrong, I like beer (just look at my belly), but was the mug about to spillover? While I’ve come to the conclusion that the craft beer market has not…

Raleigh Rare Beer Festival

January 29, 2015

The Craft Beer Festival Movement I kind of feel like a hippy going to Woodstock when I attend a craft beer festival. The whole craft movement is still pretty new and the festival phenomenon is even newer with multiple popping up in almost every major metropolitan city (We have well over a dozen here in Charlotte). When I tell friends that I’m going, it’s like I’m wearing a renegade badge of honor where…

Unknown Brewing in Charlotte, North Carolina

October 1, 2014

It’s easy to be unknown in Charlotte’s exploding craft beer scene. From the time Brad Shell, Boss Man at Unknown Brewing, decided to open shop in Charlotte and the taps started pumping beer, the brewery count jumped from one lone brewery to five. Today, a little more than a year after opening, the city boasts ten plus breweries with weekly announcements of additional breweries in the works. Up until I had the…

Charlotte Craft Beer Week’s Annual Cask Ale Festival at Duckworth’s

March 17, 2014

What is cask ale? According to the web site Cask Toronto, cask ale is “beer that is brewed from traditional ingredients and matured in the cask from which it is served. This means that it is fresh and unfiltered and therefore has a unique flavor. Cask ale is naturally conditioned as a by-product of the secondary fermentation that takes place inside the cask. It is then served directly, without the use of…

Conversation with Claudia – A Wine Tasting Dinner at Aria Tuscan Grill

October 27, 2013

I was sitting at my computer staring blankly at an empty white screen trying to think of the perfect blog post to summarize our week long culinary tour of Tuscany. I flipped through pages of my journal, browsed the hundreds of photos we snapped, and wrote a somewhat decent but brief introduction before getting stuck. The synapses of my brain just weren’t connecting the gluttonous wine and food filled adventure to a…

Charlotte, Eating

Fighting to Get Fit at Title Club

August 22, 2013

It’s not easy being The Wandering Gourmand. Having this “expert” knowledge of food and drink comes with a price. There is a lot of sampling – roasted pork belly, brewery tours, wine tastings. I didn’t realize the toll my love of food and drink was having on my body until I saw a New Year’s Eve photo. I had become that “chubby” kid. My back-pain had also reached the level of excruciating…

Charlotte, Travel

Oh Christmas Lights of Charlotte!

December 29, 2012

I grew up in Northeast Ohio where Christmas was white. My father and I would set out on the day after Thanksgiving and begin the ceremony of hanging the Christmas lights. We wanted to gain an early start to avoid the snowy days that often befall December. After spending the day testing lights, running extension cords, and climbing ladders, we would stand back to inspect our work, but the lights never looked…

Travel, United States, Wine

North Carolina Muscadine Wine Trail – Treehouse, Dennis, and Rocky River

October 29, 2012

It started with a comment, a persistent friend, and a Groupon, and resulted in a day touring wineries specializing in Muscadine grapes. Yep. You heard me. Muscadine wine. I do live in the South ya’ll. What it didn’t end in (thankfully) was a massive headache (or hangover) from the sugar in the sweet wines. The Comment from The Wandering G – “I’d like to try a Muscadine wine. I love all things…

North Carolina

Olde Hickory Brewery Review in Hickory, North Carolina

Fullsteam Brewery Review in Durham, North Carolina

Queen City Brewers Festival in Charlotte, North Carolina

Raleigh Rare Beer Festival

Unknown Brewing in Charlotte, North Carolina

Charlotte Craft Beer Week’s Annual Cask Ale Festival at Duckworth’s

Conversation with Claudia – A Wine Tasting Dinner at Aria Tuscan Grill

Fighting to Get Fit at Title Club

Oh Christmas Lights of Charlotte!

North Carolina Muscadine Wine Trail – Treehouse, Dennis, and Rocky River

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