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Responses to post like: "Trump is fixing everything the dems broke" or "Socialism", tend to piss me off that we have done such a poor job educating the population in the US.
Sick o more brewery.
- Thread starter uncgriff
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Agreed. I just don't like how super ignore impacts the threads.
I only have Zen on ignore, because he tries to get under people's skin.
Sure but it's reality and you can't change the now. Do what you can for the future even if it's just a couple of people close to you and don't sweat the other stuff. It doesn't help anybody.
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Toward the end of IC, I had a ton on ignore. All maga clucks who posted the same fox news bullshit over and over. Wonder how they are loving this fucked up economy they voted for? But hey brown people are scared, so they are happy.
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True, but right now my personal life is sort of fucked up too. Lately, I find myself working much more...
Yeah, I've seen what you've shared and feel for you. Not been exactly where you are but can say there's not a great deal that's happened in my life that most people would enjoy. I've made a conscious effort to divorce my emotions from the things that I have no control over. It has helped my stress levels a lot.
Still, don't overdo it. After all the years and repeated bumps, there are times that I feel virtually anhedonic. That's not a good place, either. Zevon had it right.
I've done everything I wanted to do
I've done that too
And it ain't that pretty at all
Ain't that pretty at all
So I'm gonna hurl myself against the wall
'Cause I'd rather feel bad than not feel anything at all
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Back on the thread topic, this was a lead story on the Charlotte area news last night (I happened to catch it after the Texas-UConn game went off)...
Bars across North Carolina clearing Sycamore beer from their shelves after co-owner arrest
Many Charlotte business owners told Queen City News it was easy for them to pour out their Sycamore beer after the craft brewery co-owner’s arrest.
Bars across North Carolina clearing Sycamore beer from their shelves after co-owner arrest
Many Charlotte business owners told Queen City News it was easy for them to pour out their Sycamore beer after the craft brewery co-owner’s arrest.
Good thread post on future of Sycamore
twitter-thread.com
Here's my take on Sycamore, from someone who's covered the #cltbeer scene for years. First & foremost, like many I was shocked & appalled after learning about the heinous charges against Justin & my thoughts are fully w/ the victim & her family. It's
Here's my take on Sycamore, from someone who's covered the #cltbeer scene for years. First & foremost, like many I was shocked & appalled after learning about the heinous charges against Justin & my thoughts are fully w/ the victim & her family. It's horrible all around (1/10)
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It's a decent brewery, above average, and certainly nothing special. I liked mountain candy at first but over time I grew to dislike it because it does in fact taste like candy. It's very sweet for an IPA and over time it just gets old. Granted I drink 5-6 IPA every night so it's easy for me to get tired of something, but after many years I have never tired of Jade or Freak. I really hope the brewery doesn't make it and it's pretty sad if they do. This is a good bit worse than the scandal that essentially ended Bhavana's can distribution and Bhavana's beer is infinitely better.
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uncgriff
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This is spot on.Good thread post on future of Sycamore
Here's my take on Sycamore, from someone who's covered the #cltbeer scene for years. First & foremost, like many I was shocked & appalled after learning about the heinous charges against Justin & my thoughts are fully w/ the victim & her family. It's
Here's my take on Sycamore, from someone who's covered the #cltbeer scene for years. First & foremost, like many I was shocked & appalled after learning about the heinous charges against Justin & my thoughts are fully w/ the victim & her family. It's horrible all around (1/10)
Another good commentary
It’s been a distant star as well. Charlotte’s craft beer community is generally collegial and cooperative, as it is in many cities. Brewery owners tend to be friends, and they’re known for helping each other with supplies, business advice and general support.
But since its founding in 2013, Sycamore has developed a reputation as a brewery focused on its own separate development — and that’s complicated the brewing community’s reaction to Sycamore co-founder Justin Brigham’s arrest last week on sex offenses involving a 13-year-old girl.
Charlotte’s largest and perhaps most popular brewery wasn’t exactly beloved in the city’s beer community — even before its co-founder’s downfall
In the galaxy of Charlotte craft breweries, Sycamore Brewing has always been a red giant: big, bright and impossible to miss, but lacking in substance compared to its counterparts.It’s been a distant star as well. Charlotte’s craft beer community is generally collegial and cooperative, as it is in many cities. Brewery owners tend to be friends, and they’re known for helping each other with supplies, business advice and general support.
But since its founding in 2013, Sycamore has developed a reputation as a brewery focused on its own separate development — and that’s complicated the brewing community’s reaction to Sycamore co-founder Justin Brigham’s arrest last week on sex offenses involving a 13-year-old girl.
CarolinaFever
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Feels like everyone and their brother are opening breweries now. I don't see how there are as many as there are now that stay open.
Craft breweries peaked in 2023 and shrank slightly in 2024 and are shrinking slightly in numbers in 2025.
The last time the number of craft breweries shrank was in 2005.
uncgriff
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The numbers will grow. There are a lot struggling right now, more than the public probably realizes.
Young people aren't drinking like their parents and other chemicals are readily available for better or worse
Correct.
And, within a slightly shrinking craft brewery world, some 10-barrel breweries will become 5X or 10X or 20X bigger displacing small craft breweries.
CarolinaFever
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We have a couple here in town. I have tried a beer or two from one of them and really didn't like them. Maybe I just didn't find the right one for me. But I love Red Oak so I am good sticking with it.
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There was about a 10-15-year stretch where it seemed that if you opened a brewery, it was impossible to fail. They were booming. They were always packed. Then, around the late-2010s it looked like the bubble was about to burst. Now they don’t nearly have the draw they did 10 years ago and may have closed over the past few years. It’s been sort of a bummer as several that I really liked have had to close.
uncgriff
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Saying you've had only one or 2 craft beers and decided you don't like them but love red oak which is one of the original craft beers is the most Carolina fever thing Carolina fever has ever said.
IIRC, you live in the Wake Forest area.
A rapidly growing area. It’ll see more breweries and/or brew pubs open than slower growing areas.
Regarding Red Oak, it produces lager-style beers. Most craft beers in the US are English/British style ales (pale ales, IPA’s, porters, stouts).
Lagers are traditionally brewed at cold temperatures (33-40 degrees Fahrenheit). Ales are traditionally brewed at 55-70 degrees.
It’s more expensive to brew at 33-40 degrees (need a lot of refrigeration or ice). It also takes about twice as long for a lager to fully ferment than it does an ale because of the temperature. That means a lagerhaus can produce half the beer an alehouse can.
To get a bit more into the weeds with beer production, you can’t really have 2+ yeast strains in the same brewery. The yeast cross-pollinates. That’s why you rarely see an ale producer make a true lager. Ale yeasts and lager yeasts are not the same thing.
He actually said he didn’t like the beers he’s tried from the 1-2 new/newer breweries/brew pubs in his area.
He also said he likes a brewery that produces lager-style beers (I don’t know if Red Oak lagers are cold-fermented; so, I call them “lager-style”). If he likes lagers, he might not like ales.
Plus, lots of “craft” beers are shit. Especially ales. Shipyard used to be Maine’s largest “craft” brewery. It might still be the biggest. Its beers taste crappy.
The barrier to entry for an ale producer is much lower than for a lager producer (fermenting temperature costs and time-to-ferment costs).
There’s a reason one doesn’t see a lot of true lager craft breweries.