Atlanta brewery with outdoor garden sets opening date in Charlotte’s South End 

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was updated June 13, 2023, with the opening date.

An Atlanta-based brewery will open its first North Carolina taproom in Charlotte’s South End.

Monday Night Brewing Garden Co. will open June 24 at 2217 S. Tryon St.

Construction on the 8,000-square-foot former mechanic’s shop began last summer. It will be Monday Night Brewing’s fifth taproom in the Southeast.

Monday Night Brewing joins a growing list of over 30 breweries in Charlotte. The majority are in South End and Lower South End, as well as NoDa, CharlotteFive previously reported.

Another Atlanta-based brewery also plans to open in late spring in the Bainbridge NoDa development on North Davidson Street. Hippin’ Hops Brewery is Georgia’s first Black-owned brewery and will be Charlotte’s second Black-owned brewery after Weathered Souls opened in November.

Monday Night Brewing has two locations in Atlanta, and one each in Nashville and Birmingham, Alabama. Each location has its own “personality” reflecting the city.

The Charlotte brewery includes a 1-acre “garden” with green space, seating, fire pits and outdoor games. The family-friendly brewery also will have outdoor child-friendly space, Monday Night Brewing CEO Jeff Heck said.

“It’s a little oasis in the South End, a green space in the middle of a concrete jungle,” he said.

What to expect

The Charlotte site has high ceilings a main taproom, cozy lounge and a loft space.

Each Monday Night Brewing taproom serves 100 beers throughout the year including seasonal and limited releases, Heck said. Popular beers include Doctor Robot, a lemonberry sour, and IPAs Death Raptor and Blind Pirate.

The brewery serves several award-winning beers including Taco Tuesday, a Mexican-style lager. “We won the most awards of any brewery in the Southeast and second most in U.S. across styles and categories,” Heck said.

The majority of beers will be brewed in Atlanta with about 20 draft handles and beer cans available to go in Charlotte.

Monday Night Brewing also will have a full bar with cocktails, including its own distilled liquors under the label Sneaky Pete. The line includes gin, rum, whiskey and vodka.

A pizza kitchen, which the brewery added in August, serves wood-fired pizzas baked in two Italian-imported Neapolitan ovens at over 900 degrees, Monday Night Brewing said on its Facebook page. The ingredients include grass-fed buffalo mozzarella, locally sourced greens, and sourdough crust with homegrown yeast culture made at Monday Night Brewing garage location in Atlanta.

More Monday Night Brewing

Monday Night was one of three breweries in Atlanta when it opened in 2011. It was founded by three friends — owners Jonathan Baker, Joel Iverson and Heck — who started homebrewing together on Monday nights in 2006 in Heck’s back yard.

Late last year, the company went through a rebrand with a simplified name logo that better promotes its craft beer and is more inclusive, dropping the man in neck-tie, according to Monday Night’s website.

“It was a big change but Monday Night tries to be flexible and go where the industry is headed,” Heck said.

Monday Night’s Charlotte brewery will be led by women, including General Manager Amanda Buckley from Legion Brewing and Assistant General Manager Lauren Cooper, a former Monday Night Brewing employee at the Atlanta taproom who moved to Charlotte.

“We’ve always tried to cultivate a culture that’s diverse and inclusive, but also hire the best candidates for the job,” Heck said.

A minimum of 30 to 40 employees will be hired for the Charlotte location.

Monday Night Brewery’s beers are sold in stores throughout Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama.

This story was originally published March 21, 2023 at 9:42 AM.