Come for the beer, stay for the philanthropy
Plus: Top news of the week — Judge issues order in Leandro education lawsuit — Dogs and kids both hit hard by respiratory viruses — Don't forget to vote on Tuesday — Turn clocks back an hour tonight
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Drinking beer and doing good: Charlotte Beer Collective members share a love of unique craft brews while finding ways to help their community
Kit’s Trackside Crafts owner Kit Burkholder (pictured center in maroon shirt) shares information on the beer brewing process with Charlotte Beer Collective members at their monthly bottle share last month. Charlotte Beer Collective co-founders Jeremy Selan (pictured to the left of Burkholder in gray shirt) and Chad White (pictured far left in navy polo) are among the group.
by Lindsey Banks
Stepping into Kit’s Trackside Crafts in downtown Pineville one Wednesday evening last month, the Charlotte Beer Collective appeared to just be a club of beer enthusiasts who meet to taste craft beers at their monthly bottle share.
Members brought beer from breweries across the country, including Cynosure Brewing in Anchorage, Alaska, Hardywood Park Craft Brewery in Richmond, Va., DSSOLVR in Asheville and Resident Culture Brewing in Charlotte. Over the course of the night, they sampled nearly 20 different beers in 2-ounce increments.
But drinking beer is just the hook for Charlotte Beer Collective’s mission. The group partners with local breweries to host events and fundraisers for nonprofit organizations in the area.
Brewing good in the community: The Charlotte Beer Collective was a product of the Covid shutdown. In March 2020, Jeremy Selan founded the organization with his friends Chad White and Nancy Gluck when all breweries, bars and bottle shops closed due to Covid restrictions. The three friends also noticed that charity work and events had been affected by the pandemic.
“We’re an organization in a city that loves craft beer, and some people might call us ‘beer nerds,’ but there’s a complete subset of Charlotte that loves craft beer, that loves learning about beer, that loves talking about beer and certainly drinking beer,” said Selan, who is director of operations for a Charlotte advertising agency. “We wanted to use our hobby for good.”
For its first event, in September 2020, Charlotte Beer Collective partnered with Project Life Movement and Kit’s Trackside Crafts for an IPA enthusiast event called “Beers for Life.” Project Life Movement is an organization in Davidson that matches bone marrow and stem cell donors with individuals who have diseases like leukemia, lymphoma and sickle cell disease.
“We paired two very unorthodox things, and it allows us to make a difference in our community […] through the thing that we like to do most, which is going to breweries and drinking beer,” Selan said.
At the Beers for Life event, people were invited to swab the inside of their cheek to join the bone marrow and stem cell transplant registry list. Those who swabbed their cheek were entered into a raffle to win a collection of craft beer.
“One of my neighbors came up to me a few days later and said he got this text that said he was a match and if he would donate bone marrow or stem cells through Project Life Movement, he had the ability to save a 32-year-old woman in Durham's life,” Selan said.
The beer collective sells tickets for admission to each event to not only help cover the cost of the event, but to donate to the cause. Selan said 10% to 15% always goes back to the nonprofit.
“Anybody can go out to breweries on a Saturday and have some beers,” Selan said. “But when you tie it in with a nonprofit and a mission that supports the local community — that's our bread and butter in terms of elevating the beer community to benefit nonprofits.”
Later this month, on Thanksgiving Eve, Charlotte Beer Collective will host a Turkey Fry for police officers, firefighters and first responders in south Charlotte who are working on Thanksgiving. Last year, Selan said they fried 17 turkeys and are hoping to fry 20 this year.
Last October, Charlotte Beer Collective partnered with Devils Logic Brewing and an organization called The Relatives Youth Crisis Center to collect donated Halloween costumes for teens and adolescents without homes in Charlotte.
Currently, Charlotte Beer Collective is an LLC, but Selan said they’re contemplating changing it to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
Pass the bottle: The Charlotte Beer Collective currently has 30 members who pay $10 a month for members-only access to bottle shares and merchandise. Co-founder Chad White said that most members are in their late-20s and up, and you don’t have to be a “beer snob” to join. In fact, most members don’t know anything about beer other than what their taste buds tell them.
“Charlotte is full of transplants, so when people travel, we ask them to bring beer back from the cities that they go to and we get together and share and really build a community,” Selan said.
A fan-favorite from the last bottle share was a special one-batch pistachio and fig stout brewed by Casita brewery in Wilson in partnership with Black Beer Chick, a Charlotte beer influencer.
At last month’s share, Selan shared some beer-drinking tips. We’ll leave you with a few:
Never drink good beer from its bottle or can. To get the full tasting experience, pour the brew into a glass so you can smell the beer as you taste it.
Say no to frosted mugs: The cold temperature can affect the quality of a good beer.
Use a cooler bag to transport beer on the plane: Whenever Selan travels, he takes his beer cooler bag with him that holds up to 50 lbs. of beer. Though the bag can’t be a carry-on, TSA allows beer in checked bags.
Lindsey Banks is a staff reporter for The Ledger: lindsey@cltledger.com
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You might be interested in these Charlotte events
Events submitted by readers to The Ledger’s events board:
Wednesday: Topgolf Tournament, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Topgolf Charlotte University. Not your traditional golf outing! Fun for all skill levels! No golf experience is required! More networking and interaction time! Event space adjacent to golf bays for networking, breakfast, lunch, display tables, and awards presentations. $125 & up.
Thursday: Verse & Vino, 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Charlotte Convention Center. Verse & Vino is Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation’s signature annual fundraiser. This celebration of reading, writing and the joy of libraries is shared with a community of readers and New York Times best-selling authors. This year's authors include David Baldacci, Sarah McCoy, Megan Giddings, Adriana Trigiani and Javier Zamora. $200.
◼️ Check out the full Ledger events board.
➡️ List your event on the Ledger events board.
This week in Charlotte: Ruling issued in long-running Leandro education lawsuit; pediatric hospital beds filling up with RSV patients; new name for Charlotte Metro Credit Union
On Saturdays, The Ledger sifts through the local news of the week and links to the top articles — even if they appeared somewhere else. We’ll help you get caught up. That’s what Saturdays are for.
Education
State education funding: (WRAL) The N.C. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a lower court’s decision mandating that the General Assembly allocate funds for a state public education improvement plan. The order was a big development in the long-running Leandro lawsuit over education funding, and a trial court is expected to decide how much money the General Assembly will need to transfer. The court’s opinion said the state did not provide sound, basic education to students for more than 17 years and that the court needs to solve the constitutional violation.
CMS starts esports: (Ledger) Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is launching its first-ever varsity esports league in partnership with Tepper Sports & Entertainment, the Carolina Esports Hub and Stiegler EdTech where student teams compete in video game matches.
Politics
Election day approaching: Early voting ends Saturday at 3 p.m. Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 8, and polling places will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Voter guide: (Observer) The Charlotte Observer’s Voter Guide provides information about the Nov. 8 election, including where to vote and when polls open.
Local news
Hospital pediatric beds filling up: (Ledger) Hospitals across the nation are seeing a higher-than-normal number of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases for this time of year, and both Novant Health and Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte say they are either at capacity or close to capacity for pediatric beds.
New dog virus spreading: (Axios Charlotte) A new strain of the canine influenza, an upper respiratory illness that’s causing dogs to cough, has made its way to the Charlotte area, and dog destinations like Skiptown are taking precautions to prevent the spread.
Black-owned brewery to open in South End: (Axios Charlotte) San Antonio-based Weathered Souls Brewing Co. is set to open next Saturday, Nov. 12, at 255 Clanton Road in lower South End, making it Charlotte’s first Black-owned brewery in almost 3 years.
Business
Charlotte Metro Credit Union to get new HQ and name: (Ledger) The Charlotte Metro Credit Union, which is one of Charlotte’s largest credit unions, will now be known as “Skyla Credit Union” with a new headquarters beside its flagship location on Central Avenue in the Elizabeth/Plaza-Midwood area.
Cantina 1511 faces possible liquidation: (Biz Journal) The ownership group behind the three Cantina 1511 restaurants in Charlotte faces possible liquidation, after failed efforts to reorganize under bankruptcy protection.
Sports
Coach suspended: Queens University of Charlotte head men’s basketball coach Grant Leonard has been suspended for five games after he was charged with driving while impaired last weekend, the university said in a statement released Friday. Leonard has been coaching at Queens since 2013 and was promoted to head coach in March.
Miles Bridges plea deal: (ESPN) Charlotte Hornets restricted free agent Miles Bridges faces three years of probation but no jail time after pleading no contest to a felony domestic violence charge Thursday.
Knights unveil new uniforms: (Biz Journal) The Charlotte Knights baseball team changed its color scheme to primary blue and unveiled new uniforms for the first time in a decade, which includes new uniforms and caps.
Good reads
Participation in girls’ basketball wanes: (Observer) National participation in girls’ high school basketball has decreased by more than 14% over the past 10 years, largely due to a small pool of athletes willing to play or are focusing on a single sport.
From the Ledger family of newsletters
Q&A with Marjorie Molina: Ledger editor Tony Mecia sat down with newly elected City Council member Marjorie Molina to talk about her journey from volunteer and student to being sworn into the City Council in September.
UNC system looks to raise out-of-state cap: The UNC college system has proposed raising the cap on out-of-state students from 18% to 25% at East Carolina, UNC Asheville, UNC Greensboro, UNC Pembroke and Western Carolina University, but would keep the out-of-state cap at 18% at the system’s most competitive universities, including UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Charlotte and NC State University.
Looking back on where 4 CMS incumbents stand: The Ledger dug up the votes of the four Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education incumbents — Thelma Byers-Bailey, Rhonda Cheek, Carol Sawyer and Sean Strain — to see how they voted on two big issues: the Covid-era return to classrooms and the handling of then-Superintendent Earnest Winston.
Wednesday (🔒)
Queens athlete shares Division I experience: Queens University of Charlotte moved from a Division II school to Division I school in May, and senior field hockey player Ellie Fitzgerald shared a glimpse into the change from the perspective of a Queens field hockey athlete playing at the highest level in college athletics for the first time.
No more ‘boutel’ for Elizabeth: Plans for a “boutique hotel” in Elizabeth appear to be over according to an email sent by the Elizabeth Community Association’s land use and development committee to residents saying that the project’s developer was unable to agree on a contract extension with the owner to buy the land.
Plaza Midwood church looks for new life: The former Plaza Presbyterian Church, which held its last service in June, says it is “seeking a new way of creating a legacy of impact in the Charlotte community,” and Charlotte Presbytery said the church is focused on finding a nonprofit that can help create something “impactful for the whole community.”
Friday (🔒)
End of the CMS exodus?: (Ledger) During Covid, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ enrollment numbers dropped due to parents switching their children to private schools and homeschooling, but this year, enrollment rose to 141,219, an increase of 0.6%, though enrollment at many of those schools remains below where it was in 2019. Much of the enrollment loss was concentrated in south Charlotte.
Charlotte adds jobs: Charlotte-area employers added 5,700 jobs in September, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday that the Charlotte area had slightly more than 1.3 million people on payrolls, which is the highest number ever despite predicted economic troubles ahead.
Ways of Life (🔒)
Larry Mellichamp, 73, who was one of the nation’s foremost experts on plants and one of the region’s greatest contributors to botany, died in September from cancer. He created and oversaw the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens for nearly 40 years.
Building a regional transit system: Geraldine Gardner, executive director of the Centralina Regional Council, tells The Ledger about her vision for the regional mobility plan, called Connect Beyond. There’s also a 25-minute podcast episode of the conversation.
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Staff writer: Lindsey Banks; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project