Salud to "Hipness"

The Salud Beer Shop in the NoDa (North Davidson) section of Charlotte is one reason that NoDa is considered "hip." Of course, to geezers like yours truly, "hip" has various connotations, not the least of which is associated with "replacement." And being a recipient of same, it was wonderful to be able to perambulate through the district to take in the sights, sounds and flavors.

NoDa's definitely a "walking place," and one of the places you should walk to is this quirky, no-frills, down-to-earth "FuD" and beer emporium. The place contains twelve taps of very good, very different beers that rotate, and a six-hundred bottle/can inventory. In fact, if you can't find a beer you like here, switch to wine--which you can also find here.

We stopped in yesterday with the "hip" newlyweds--at their behest--and spent a delightful hour or so chatting with strangers and Benj the barman, all the while marveling at and enjoying the selection and the atmosphere.

The PubScout first ordered a Deep River Carpetbagger, a 9.7% DIPA on tap, which had layers and layers of goodness for both palate and nose. The missus ordered a Haw River Uvula Rasa, a grisette she enjoyed so much, she had another. The newlyweds each had different sour beers, which are staples of Salud.

The PubScout, however, is not sour-beer "hip," so he went to the massive cold beer case and pulled out a Lieutenant Dank from Wicked Weed. Benj told me there was no prohibition on breaking a six or -four-pack to get any beer you wanted, so that's what I did. It was, as every WW beer I've had, outstanding.

The clientele at Salud appeared to be local, like Nikki and Allie (L.) and the place is tied to the University of Michigan, right down to the password for its wifi. I won't ruin the surprise by revealing it, but it's all caps. And be sure to glimpse at the graffiti on the wall in the hall.

Part of that amazing beer selection also includes Salud's own beer, made in their one-barrel nano brewery in a back room (below) that was acquired for precisely that reason. While we did not sample the house brew, that did give us a reason to return--which we will.