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.

"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.
