Charlotte-area breweries adapt to drive-thru to-go sales after taproom closures

You could use a beer, right? The good news is that, although our local breweries can’t serve beers in their taprooms, most are selling beer to-go and some are even offering delivery. They will desperately need your help, however, to get through the coming weeks.

“There is a very deep sense of concern out there,” says Craig Nunn, founder of Blue Blaze Brewing. “I think that the Charlotte breweries are strong and putting on a good face. Folks are genuinely trying to do the best that they can given the new environment. But we definitely need the community support.”

In this “new environment,” many of the bars and restaurants that Blue Blaze distributes to have canceled their orders, and some are temporarily closing their doors. Now, the brewery is loading up its vans — and occasionally its bicycles — and delivering beer directly to residents around town.

“We had to pivot pretty hard from wholesale to retail, from a delivery perspective,” Nunn says.

Like most local breweries, Blue Blaze is still allowing patrons to purchase beer to-go from the taproom. You can even order ahead by calling 704-565-9573 or visiting bit.ly/BBbeer.

NoDa Brewing Co. is offering a drive-thru model where patrons can drive up, order beer (by the case, Crowler or keg) or merchandise, and then have it loaded in their cars. It’s a model that the brewery had considered earlier this year for the Super Bowl, but couldn’t pull it together in time.

They opened the drive-thru for the first time this past Monday from 4-7:30 p.m., then decided to expand hours from noon to 7:30 p.m.

“We’re actually very pleasantly surprised at how well it’s going,” says Suzie Ford, founder and president of NoDa Brewing Co. Still, Ford notes that the sales won’t come close to a typical day at the brewery.

NoDa is also offering different daily deals through the drive-thru, like 20 percent off cases (you can even mix and match cans). Many other breweries, bottle shops and restaurants continue to offer incentives as well, like discounts on food, beer or gift cards (the latter is a great way to support the breweries now, even if you’re practicing social distancing).

Brewers, by nature, are a pretty sanitary bunch. There’s a joke that brewing is 90 percent sanitation, but there’s a lot of truth to that. As a result, NoDa Brewing Co. and other breweries are taking extra steps to ensure even these limited to-go interactions are as sanitary as possible.

“We are going overboard if you can call it overboard, but I don’t think it’s overboard,” Ford says. “We’re already freaks about sanitation.”

That means that all employees are wearing gloves and the tablets that are used to order beer are cleaned with disinfectant wipes before and after every use.

Things are much the same just over the border in South Carolina, though breweries there have some restrictions that North Carolina breweries do not. They can still sell beer out of their taprooms, but they may only sell 288 ounces to each person, daily (the equivalent of a case of beer). They also cannot sell curbside, offer a drive-thru or deliver their beer. The South Carolina Brewers Guild is sending an action plan to the state’s governor in hopes of removing some of these restrictions, at least temporarily.

Like many other Charlotte-area breweries, Fort Mill’s Amor Artis Brewing has focused exclusively on selling their beer to-go out of the taproom. All of those orders have been handled by the owners of the brewery — brothers Steve and Travis Tolson, and Travis’ wife Khara Tolson. They have sent their employees home with pay and are also distributing all of the tips they get back to the employees.

“The tips have been unreal, which shows how much they support us and enjoy our staff,” Travis Tolson says. “We’ve been open a little more than two years now. We’re from Fort Mill, we grew up here. This is our home. When we opened, we wanted to give back to the community as much as we could. We’ve given back a ton, but in the past three days the way the community has given back to us is just amazing right now.”

Tolson is hopeful that’s enough to keep the brewery going in the weeks to come, but is concerned about potential changes from state or local governments.

“As long as they allow us to keep doing sales out of the taproom, through growlers and bottles, I think we can continue to pay our bills and our staff,” Tolson says. “Our fear is that it’s just changing by the day and by the hour. Our biggest fear is that they’re going to stop all sales.”

For now, brewers hope that people will continue to support them as well as their local bars, bottle shops and restaurants. Several websites are now providing updated lists that share which local establishments are offering to-go or delivery, as well as their specials. You can find these at www.supportlocalorelse.com, www.takeoutclt.com and www.beercharlotte.com.

This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 2:35 PM with the headline "Charlotte-area breweries adapt to drive-thru to-go sales after taproom closures."