Download BEER NC to gain early access to monthly beer event guides.
Asheville Beer Week • Asheville • May 26-June 3
Asheville Beer Week is actually a nine-day celebration of North Carolina’s “Beer City,” with different events every night, from meet-the-brewer lectures to beer dinners. Look for special releases from the city’s breweries as well. Check out the homebrewer’s festival, Just Brew It, at the Wedge on Saturday, June 3.
Spring Homebrew Fest • Durham • June 3
Atlantic Brew Supply and Epiphany Craft Malt join forces to host a day of beer, food, and the final judging of the Carolina Quarterly Brew Off, where homebrewers compete for top honors. You’ll be able to buy Raleigh Brewing Company beer at the event and have the chance to tour the 7,500-square-foot Epiphany Malthouse.
1-6 p.m. • epiphanymalt.com
Avery County Beer and Wine Festival • Plumtree • June 10
Blind Squirrel Brewing, which has a spacious campground complete with a pond, is hosting an outdoor beer and wine festival. The price of admission gets you a flight from each brewery and winery. Some of the High Country’s finest will be pouring, including Beech Mountain Brewing, Booneshine Brewing, and Boondocks Brewing.
12-5 p.m. • $20 in advance, $25 at gate • averycounty.com
Unknown Brewing’s 3.5ish Music Festival • Charlotte • June 10
Unknown is celebrating its third (and a half) birthday with a music festival featuring a handful of bands, including Andy Frasco and Empire Strikes Brass. Expect plenty of food trucks, cigars infused with Unknown beer, and the release of a new beer, a geuze-inspired lambic ale called “3.5ish.”
2-10 p.m. • $10 • unknownbrewing.com
State of Origin Craft Brew Festival • Morganton • June 10
This small-scale beer festival is organized by Fonta Flora Brewery and will be held at Courthouse Square in downtown Morganton and features only breweries that are “embracing their unique flora and fauna in the creation of craft beer.” In other words, every brewery must bring beer that was created using ingredients grown in their “state of origin.”
5-9 p.m. • $50 • For tickets, click here.
Beer and Cronut Tasting • Concord • June 17
High Branch Brewing is teaming up with Charlotte’s Dessert Specialists to create a four-flight beer and cronut tasting. High Branch is known for their hazy IPAs, and really, any flavor cronut goes with a well made, unfiltered IPA.
Noon-2 p.m. • highbranchbrewing.com
Sierra Nevada Beer Camp On Tour • Raleigh • June 17
The largest craft beer festival in the world is taking a tour, and it’s hitting Raleigh’s Plaza at Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts. There will be food trucks, hundreds of beers to choose from, live music, and lawn games. Sierra Nevada invites every craft brewery in the country to this party, and a lot of them show up. You’ll also get to sample the new variety 12-pack that Sierra Nevada brews in collaboration with other breweries.
5-9 p.m. • $55 • beercamp.sierranevada.com
Brew Stash Bash • Charlotte • June 17
The U.S. National Whitewater Center is hosting a day of outdoor fun, music, and beer. Runners will race through the center’s singletrack for the Brew Dash 6K Trail Race, and bands will play on Belmont Abbey Island all afternoon. A $6 ticket will get you four samples from local breweries.
1-6 p.m. • usnwc.org
Mystery Brewing Summer Beer Release • Hillsborough • June 18
Mystery Brewing is throwing a party to celebrate the simultaneous release of its four summer beers, a Belgian blonde, rye saison, west coast IPA, and a tropical stout. It also happens to be Father’s Day, so you can buy a summer four pack and a tie for just $10.
Noon-10 p.m. • mysterybrewing.com
Brew Bern Beer and Wine Festival • New Bern • June 24
The eighth annual Brew Bern beer fest will take over the Riverfront Convention Center in New Bern’s historic Trent River waterfront. More than 40 craft breweries from all over the country will be pouring samples. Grab a VIP ticket for $50, and you’ll get into the festival an hour early and beat the crowds.
12-5 p.m. • $35 • For tickets, click here.
Download BEER NC to gain early access to monthly beer event guides.
In North Carolina, spring brings the scent of fresh-cut grass and memories of helping Dad mow the lawn.
Nostalgic burger joints are like time machines, delivering something extra special that keeps us coming back.
This tiny city block in downtown Greensboro once had a gigantic reputation. Not so much for its charbroiled beef patties — though they, too, were plentiful — but for its colorful characters and their wild shenanigans.
In the 1950s, as Americans hit freshly paved roads in shiny new cars during the postwar boom, a new kind of restaurant took shape: the drive-in. From those first thin patties to the elaborate gourmet hamburgers of today, North Carolina has spent the past 80 years making burger history.
