BBQ & Brews - NoDa Brewing

After reviewing Virgil's Barbecue Road Trip Cookbook it got me thinking about which beers go well with which BBQ and grilled foods. With all the craft brewers around the country and summer here, I thought it would be cool to talk to some of the local Charlotte craft brewers and see what they said and which of their brews they would recommend for BBQ and grilling.

NoDa Brewing Company Brew House

BBQ is a food that is nuanced and affected by various factors, from rubs to sauces to the woods used to smoke it. Trying to pair the perfect beer can be difficult, so for this series, we'll be talking in generalities of flavors. Good BBQ allows the meat to show through and the various factors enhance it. A good beer should do the same or play counterpoint to the flavors.

I visited the NoDa Brewing Tap room and talked with Andy Grimes, sales/marketing beer guru. He was very knowledgeable about beer and BBQ. We talked about how to pair beers with BBQ and grilled items and he gave me recommendations on which of their year round beers to pair with which meats.

Wine Tasting and BBQ

I love food. I enjoy cooking for myself, for friends and for family. My favorite food is BBQ. In my search for great Q I have had side adventures with grilling, cooking and trying new things. About two years ago my wife and I, along with some friends, did an online wine tasting course. It changed the way I look at foods and drinks.

Swine 'n Dine for Charity

Team Swine 'n Dine: Frank Fields, Rob Ford,
Mike Bonn. Not pictured, Preston Cornett.

I received an email from my friend Gwen Poth who requested I check out and review this BBQ team who use their BBQ to raise money for 24 Hours of Booty in Charlotte. I always love it when other BBQers use their ability for good and to raise awareness for a good cause. After all OTT is a great event I help with, so I’m always happy to spread the word for someone else. Rob, the spokes person for the team, and I exchanged a few emails so I could find out about the team. We set up a time for me to meet the team and try some of their porcine product.

The Team
In the emails we sent back and forth, Rob gave me the history of his team, Swine ‘n Dine. It is made up of four members; Rob Ford, Frank Fields, Preston Cornett, and Mike Bonn. They started to cook at their neighborhood festival and sold sandwiches and pork butts and all the proceeds went back to the neighborhood. They really enjoyed cooking together and decided to cook for the neighbors once again. Their neighbors liked what they were cooking and asked if they would do it again for a third year. The team went from cooking 150lbs of pork to 400lbs per cook.

Beer Can Chicken & Ribs

A couple days ago we had some friends over for supper and I made smoked beer-can-chicken and ribs. Once again they were awesome.

After the first beer-can-chicken I made I started to experiment using different beers. Each beer adds a different flavor to the chicken. I have used Modelo, an oatmeal stout and a Hefeweizen. This time I used a Serria Nevada Pale Ale. I really liked the flavor of it over the others I have done. Before I put the rub on I painted the chicken with a mustard base BBQ sauce to help the rub hold. I then stuff the cavity with onions and garlic to add additional flavor to the meat as it cooks.

You might notice that the pale ale is in a bottle which doesn't work to well when cooking. I take and empty soda can and rinse it out and then fill it half way with which ever beer I'm using.




I smoked the chicken and the ribs at about 225°. I did the ribs using a 2-1-1 method. This means I put the ribs on the Cooker for two hours uncovered, then wrapped the ribs in tinfoil with some Woodchuck Apple Cider in it to add moisture for an hour, after that hour I unwrapped the ribs and glazed them with a BBQ sauce and cooked them for another hour.

The finished ribs.



The finished chicken.



It was all really good and I wished we had more ribs.