North Carolina Beer Invades The Black Squirrel
All this week The Black Squirrel is featuring bottles of North Carolina craft beer they brought up from the Tar Heel State that you can't otherwise find in D.C. I've met lots of North Carolina folks in town looking for their favorite hometown beers, so this gives them something to cheer for, whether they're still celebrating a national basketball championship or, like my fellow alumni, pretending this season never happened.
The standout of the haul is by far Highland Brewing Company, from Asheville, N.C., whose amber-tinted Gaelic Ale has a strong following farther south. In addition to that, The Black Squirrel has their St. Terese's Pale Ale and Kashmir IPA, plus bottles from four other breweries. They expect to have enough beer to last through Friday, and chef Gene Sohn is offering a menu of barbecue (vinegar-based!) and barbecue-friendly vittles as well. Full beer list and menu after the jump.
Vittles (This is verbatim from Black Squirrel; please don't bombard me with questions about whether grilled chicken is truly barbecue.)
(BBQ is served with a Carolina Beer BBQ sauce, homemade slaw & hand-cut fries)
10:29 am
I'm so going. Throw some Calabash shrimp on the menu and it would be perfect.
Orr, this was a building year so it doesn't count. Besides, it's nice to do dook a favor every now and then.
11:50 am
It's not real North Carolina beer unless it's Outer Banks Brewing Station Lemongrass Wheat. Anything else is just uncivilized.
11:41 am
Sorry, I agree with the author-its Highlands by a mile. Next time they should try the Seven Sisters Belgian Abbey, but be careful-it goes down way too easy!
1:58 pm
My personal choices for Highland are the Oatmeal Porter and the Tasgall Ale. Both are sensational, the Oatmeal Porter especially.