Beers.

We're negligent bloggers, but we have good excuses -- I swear.

I won't go into them because they're not that exciting - well, house buying is pretty big, but it's also incredibly tear-your-hair-out, cry-a-little-and-curse-a-lot stressful. Thankfully we're drinking away our stress. That's healthy, right?

Sure.

Last weekend we did a fun brews cruise by bike with our friends, a roughly 15-mile tour from south Charlotte to NoDa, just east of Uptown. We hit up Olde Mecklenburg, Triple C, Noda Brewing and Birdsong. My fave is NoDa, as you can nibble dishes from the food trucks conveniently parked in their lot, and they have a nice casual slab out behind their tasting room with nice benches to congregate and chill.

On Saturday, we hit up the NC Brewers and Music Festival near Huntersville,  with friends. The tickets get you several hours of unlimited tastings from breweries across North Carolina and a select number of out-of-state visitors. Scott was amused that New Belgium claimed in-state status, since they're in Fort Collins, Co. but recently opened up operations around Asheville. Despite some rain, our crew managed to enjoy the music, taste a LOT of beer and relax under a handy pop-up tent in between beer runs.

Here's one of the newest Charlotte-area ventures, Free Range, from near our neck of the woods in Plaza-Midwood. They took home the Brewer of the Year award. How could you not, with names like "Awesome Possum."


The Kinston-based Mother Earth was also in attendance.


And this dude, rocking a tuxedo. As his dad explained, "He's formal, but he's ready to party."


My favorite beer from the festival was NoDa's NoDajito, a Belgian Witbier with mint and lime zest. @NoDaBrewing tells me their growlers are good for about 7-10 days -- that beer may be my summer pick, and the tap room is just down the street from us -- for now. 

We're moving somewhere by July 1 -- cheers to moving!

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