Olde Mecklenburg Brewery

I had the distinct pleasure of spending a good portion of my afternoon this past Saturday at the Olde Mecklenburg Brewery where they were having their Louisiana Spring Festival.  It was an afternoon of live music by The ToneBlazers (a delightfully good bluegrass band), Cajun food (including big plates piled high with crawfish), great beer, and awesome company.   Olde Mecklenburg Brewery (OMB for short) has been around for about three years in Charlotte, NC and from the looks of the turnout at this festival I expect them to be around for many more years.  The staff was all really friendly and helpful and the festival goers we sat near were an absolute pleasure to share the afternoon with.  The festival was all outside of their actual tap room and I realized after I left that I never actually managed to make it inside (sorry) but that just means that they had everything you'd want outside.  They are a small brewery, and from what I can tell from my trip there and their website they run two year round brews and one seasonal at a time.   I had a chance to try two before I was silly with beer and good times and forgot to write anything down about the third (sorry again).  So let's get to the two I do have notes on.
When I went for my first beer I told the fabulous ladies behind the table that this was to be my first OMB experience and asked for a suggestion.  Instantly I was advised to try the Copper, their flagship ale.  It was a subtle caramel malt with grain led body with a touch of hoppy bitterness on the back end and a relatively dry finish.  It wasn't a complex beer.  It was simply easy to enjoy.  I was pleased to find out that I can also enjoy this beer at out local minor league baseball stadium.  Beats what you can normally get at a sporting event hands down.
Well once that beer was gone (and I have to admit it went down pretty quick) I just had to try the seasonal.  Fruehbock is their seasonal currently and it is a nice golden bock.  It has almost citrus notes blended in the malt body.  I found the balance of flavors very enjoyable and it accompanied the spicy Cajun goodness so well.  This is a higher alcohol content then their other beer sooooo after a big mug of that I might have been able to pick out the flavor notes in the last beer but I surely didn't remember to write them down.
This event was a great afternoon on all counts.  I enjoyed my first taste of OMB from start to finish.  I would definitely like to make it back to the tap room on a normal day and drink some more great beer with great people.  Speaking of people, if you are the couple we sat across from that was on their first date - how'd that turn out? Everyone should check out OMB if they come through Charlotte.  An excellent way to celebrate local beer. Cheers!