Going Home for Some Beering

Well I'm offshore right now, but will be going back to where I grew up for my 10 year high school reunion. Seeing as how I hardly liked any of those chumps, I will spend most of my time doing as much beering as possible. The main dude I was cool with in high school fell off the face of the Earth after freshmen year in college.

Sadly, Charlotte NC seems to bereft of microbreweries and brewpubs. I've found 2 brewpubs and a Flying Saucer for my beertinerary. The two brewpubs are chains, but I've never been to either so it should be a new experience. The Sauce's website says they are fiercely loyal to local beer, but I haven't noticed much on the beermenu.

There is no local brewery/brewpub within driving distance for a short weekend trip. A quick look on the beer map and it turns out frikken Asheville, NC has like 5 microbreweries and a brewpub. What the hell man? It's a good couple hours away and I doubt I'll have time to make it, but how is it that a town the size my laptop has that much beering, while the New York of the South has JACK to call its own? I remember we used to play a high school in country arse Asheville in football. Can't quite remember the name, but it was one of those situations where the only thing to do in town watch high school football. We beat them, but we had to run for our lives afterward. I think they poured pigs blood on an opposing school's team bus one time. COUNTRAAAAAAAY!

North Carolina has quite a few microbreweries, especially if you count Asheville, so I will be hitting up some grocery stores and good liquor stores for some bottled beer. The wife won't be making it this time, and my father will probably want to drag my daughter all over town to see his friends, so I'll likely be beering on the solo this time. I'm sure someone will want to go to lunch as a big group or hit the bar/club at night, so I'll probably be able to squeeze more local favorites with some other guys.

Any suggestions out there for North/South Carolina beers I should try to find, please send along.

By the way, I'm doing pretty well with the weightwatchers. I drank a shytload of beer last week during "Dontoberfest", a party I threw to have fun, and hopefully clear out some room in my kegs. Yet I still lost 2-3 pounds during that week. I started out the WW program almost exactly 2 months ago. I started out weighing 242 lbs butt naked first in the morning after hitting the throne. I now clock in a 219 lbs, without much of a muscle loss. My goal is 212 lbs, then getting back into serious weightlifting.