Food & Beer Culture

What do people eat with beer in North Carolina? Mostly barbecue. Western North Carolina is home to Lexington-style barbecue: pork shoulder, slow-cooked over wood, served with a vinegar-and-tomato sauce and coleslaw. In the east, the whole hog is served with a vinegar-and-pepper sauce.

Why does it pair so well with beer? The bitterness of a pale ale or IPA cuts through fat and smoke, while the caramel notes in the malt echo the crust on the meat. The sauce's acidity works well with the hops' fruitiness. Add hushpuppies—fried cornmeal balls—and biscuits, the classic Southern bread rolls.

Many taprooms don't have their own kitchens and often team up with food trucks parked out front. A brewery visit can quickly turn into an outdoor dinner. The beer comes in a 473-milliliter pint or in 355- or 473-milliliter cans.

"Taproom" is the name for the bar right inside the brewery. You order and pay at the counter, then find a seat inside or on the patio. Anyone wanting to take beer home can get cans or a bottle to go.

After Helene, the scene showed just how closely connected it is. Highland Brewing handed out food and supplies after the storm and brewed a special beer whose proceeds went to hospitality workers. Here, beer is a gathering point where a city comes back together after the flood.