The Charlotte beer scene is growing so quickly it's hard to keep up. I wrote about this in a prior column -- and saw it first hand at last weekend's Hickory Hops Brew Festival. Most new brewery tents I visited had one thing in common: Charlotte.

A handful of Charlotte breweries are starting to appear more regularly in the Triangle. Beer Study in Chapel Hill is a good source for Olde Mecklenburg bottles and NoDa taps. Even the new Steel String Craft Brewery in Carrboro has a full slate of guest Charlotte taps for its opening, including Triple C. (More on Steel String in next week's column.)

To help get you up to speed, our colleague at the Charlotte Observer has a good primer of the seven breweries now in operation. Bookmark it for your next trip.

From the Charlotte Observer's Kathleen Purvis: A lot of guys like to say they majored in beer in college. Daniel Hartis actually did something with it: He wrote a book, “Charlotte Beer: A History of Brewing in the Queen City.”

Hartis, 30, is a Waxhaw native who now lives in Monroe with his wife and two kids. And he swears that when he went to UNC-Asheville to finish college in 2005, he didn’t know a thing about beer. But since he was older than 21 and knew how to write, the school paper sent him to visit breweries and write about Asheville’s craft beer movement.

“I’m ashamed to say I was drinking Busch Light. Craft beer wasn’t a thing for me.” But within a few sips of Highland Oatmeal Porter and Asheville Brewing Ninja Porter, Hartis was a beer man. Read the full story here.

Otto Environmental Systems North America plans to expand its Mecklenburg County facility, according to release from the governor’s office.

The plastics manufacturer will added 32 jobs and invest $7 million over the next three years in Charlotte. The company, which opened its Charlotte facility in 1988 now employs more than 330 people in the city.

Its plastics are used in the waste, automotive and material handling industries.
The average annual salary for the jobs will be $37,500, below the county average of $57,144 a year.

The company will receive $48,000 from the One North Carolina Fund if it meets job creation requirements. It must also receive matching local funds.

Peter St. Onge of the editorial board at the Charlotte Observer wonders what happened to Pragmatic Pat.
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Long, long ago, in one of his final days as Charlotte’s mayor, Pat McCrory looked out the window of his 15th floor Government Center office, and he swept his hand toward all that had changed in his city.

Uptown had filled out and shot upward, its streets vibrant and busy. There was a new school out there – Johnson & Wales – a promising NASCAR Hall of Fame, an arena that might help bring bigger things. Each had happened, McCrory said, because he had brought together diverse teams of leaders who had different backgrounds and different political philosophies, but a common desire to make their city better.

It was good for Charlotte, and it was good for McCrory, and when the book on Mayor Pat was finished, it told how a Republican leader got things done in his New South city. It was the story of Pragmatic Pat.

So now he’s governor, and McCrory would surely like to keep that image intact. He’s called himself a moderate “Eisenhower Republican,” and when the New York Times featured him in a January front page article on GOP soul-searching, he emphasized problem solving and cooperation, not ideology. It’s the McCrory that moderates embraced last November.

So what’s our new governor done, less than two months in?

Read the rest
here

What’s On Tap

Foothills’ Sexual Chocolate Release Party

5 p.m. Friday at Foothills Brewing Company in Winston-Salem.

The first keg of this limited beer is tapped at the pub downtown and 22-ounce bottles go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday. Line begins forming when the pub closes at 2 a.m.

World Beer Festival - Raleigh ticket sale

Thursday, online at allaboutbeer.com.

The 2012 event in Moore Square Park sold out, so don’t wait long to get tickets. Festival features two sessions. General admission: $45 VIP tickets: $75

Queen City Brewers Festival

1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday at Neighborhood Theatre in Charlotte.

The North Davidson district (NoDa) plays host to a celebration of Charlotte’s craft beer scene. Tickets for both sessions are sold out.

Of the many ingredients in Page Skelton’s tangy Cackalacky Spice Sauce – including the secret ones – one is missing: ginger.

Skelton compensates in his newest venture, showcasing the spicy root in a unlikely but delectable collaboration with Fullsteam Brewing Company’s founder, Sean Lilly Wilson. Together, the longtime friends and beer lovers produced Cackalacky Ginger Pale Ale.

The copper-hued, malt-forward, subtly spiced GPA (as it is called) debuted Sunday at the brewery in Durham with a fanfare befitting the zest of the two local companies. The launch party celebrated National Kazoo Day-eve and included Cackalacky-spiced chicken wings.

“This takes our brand beyond just a spice item and into a lifestyle item,” Skelton said. “It’s a way to go beyond whatever we’re being defined as.”

Click "Read More" for the full column.

"American Idol" doesn't air its North Carolina auditions episode until next week. But an unusual performer from Durham was featured on Thursday night's show, which was devoted to auditions from Chicago last year.

Kez Ban, a 27-year-old street musician who says she also sometimes performs with fire, doesn't look anything like your typical "Idol" auditioner. With her jaunty hat and a boot wrapped with crime scene tape, Kez Ban, right, seems like the kind of quirky cannon fodder we often see on the auditions. Somebody who sings terribly and gets giggles and pained faces from the judges.

But when the Durham resident sings, we're all in for a surprise. Kez Ban is actually pretty good! She sings "I've Got No Strings" (yes, from "Pinocchio") first. Then she asks if she can play her guitar and perform one of her original compositions. The song, "Wandering," is nice. And it certainly stands out amid some of the overwrought ballads or screechy rock anthems that other hopefuls audition with.

Claim: “Three times when I was in the N.C. Senate, and as lieutenant governor, I took a voluntary cut in pay to empathize with state employees because I think if they are suffering you have to lead by example. At the height of the financial collapse in Charlotte, when unemployment was at its highest, the mayor took at 19 percent pay raise.”

Speaker: Democratic candidate Walter Dalton, gubernatorial debate Oct. 3

Context: In making a point about leadership during the debate, Dalton makes two claims: one about his salary and one about McCrory’s record. Both need context.

Great American Cookie Company stores will be giving away free cookies during the month of  October.

Everyone who stops by on Monday, Oct. 1, will get a free chocolate chip cookie to publicize the chain's "Reading is Sweet" book drive.

The rest of the month, you can snag a free cookie of your choice when you donate a new or gently used book.