- This program is made possible in part by generous support from the American Battlefield Trust, connecting you to the places where our nation was forged.

Visit battlefields.org today.

[upbeat music] - Next on North Carolina Weekend, we're raising a glass to some of the people, places, and flavors that make our state special.

We'll visit Burial Beer Company, where creativity is always on tap.

Discover inventive brews and lively community atmosphere in Shelby, and see how farming and brewing go hand in hand at Whaley Farm Brewery in Old Fort.

Coming up next.

- Funding for North Carolina Weekend is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of Barrier Island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

[upbeat music] - Welcome to North Carolina Weekend.

I'm Deborah Holt-Noel, and this week we're exploring some of the people and places helping shape North Carolina's craft beverage scene.

Our first stop is Asheville, where Burial Beer Company has built a devoted following through inventive beverages, distinctive spaces, and a philosophy that encourages curiosity and exploration.

Let's take a look.

[upbeat music] - We were allured to the craft beer scene because of Tap Rooms, this just magical third place that made everyone feel welcome.

And we try to put as much focus on the artistic expression, the music, the feel, the flow of these spaces, the people that serve you there, as we do in the beer.

- It ultimately started when I met Doug and Jess when I was living in Seattle.

Doug and Jess had moved to Seattle from New Orleans.

I was just kind of introducing them in a lot of ways to my passion for beer.

And that segued eventually into us thinking, if we don't start a brewery of our own, we'll regret it forever.

I had visited Asheville.

I pitched it to Doug and Jess, they came to visit.

They fell in love with it just like I did, and we all moved here together to start Burial.

[laughs] - So to me, Burial simply is this experience that people have where they have to consider the life and death of a person.

And the way that New Orleans has just made it part of daily life, it's just absolutely magical, this celebration of life and death, and using that as this pivotal moment of accepting your impermanence.

[dramatic music] - We get a lot of questions about the different decor and artwork that we have, imagery that we put on our cans of our beers, the ways that we name our beers.

It excites people.

It makes them ask questions and engage with us in really beneficial ways.

You may be really into IPA and hope you come and try a bunch of the ones that we make and enjoy those, but ultimately, I'm hoping that you'll be like, "I wonder what that thing is.

I should try that."

We really put a lot of energy into having a very diverse set of offerings.

We now have a line that we call Visuals.

That's our wine brand.

We also do non-alcoholic beer.

We have a whole THC seltzer line that we call Séance.

So pretty much everything you can imagine that someone might want, we can at least offer, like, our own take on that.

- I love that Burial is a really easy place to come with friends or family.

There's always something new, and I think this place being open for 10 years has really encouraged me to try beers that I might not have been so open to in the past.

Makes you more adventurous.

- Whether you're at Forestry Camp, which is, you know, more fine dining, where you're gonna see local steaks and pork chops and fish from the coast, to our original taproom, where you'll see a sandwich culture that is inspired by our time in New Orleans and tries to play back to the notion of being in a bar and keeping it simple.

- We have a taproom in Raleigh.

We have a taproom in Charlotte as well.

And then here in Asheville, we've got an original South Slope location that has kind of expanded into Eulogy, the music venue, and Visuals Rooftop Bar.

We have the Forestry Camp location, and then we announced another Asheville location on the horizon in the River Arts District in the old Curve Studios.

Kind of one of our biggest passions to just create new and different spaces for people to engage with and excited for what the future holds.

- Yeah, highly recommend Burial Forestry Camp to just enjoy a good time, good food, good beverages.

In short, I can tell that the people that run this place know they have something special.

- Curiosity is like the greatest gift ever given to humanity.

And it fuels everything that we do here at Burial.

It keeps us from ever getting sewn up in the box, so to speak.

We just stay outside of it constantly.

We're trying to do our vision and make sure that Asheville feels served in it as well.

(dramatic music) - Burial Beer Company has multiple locations in Asheville, along with tap rooms in Charlotte and Raleigh.

To learn more about their locations and upcoming events, visit BurialBeer.com.

Some things go together perfectly, like peanut butter and jelly.

But instead of combining those two mainstays with their typical bread, a craft brewery in the western part of the state combined them with beer.

Rob Holliday takes us to Shelby's Newgrass Brewing.

(upbeat music) - Under starry skies and musical murals, folks are gathering round to lift up their glasses.

It's Friday night at New Grass Brewing in Shelby.

Whether you're inside the two-story dining room or outside on the patio with market lights and a mural of Shelby native and bluegrass icon, Earl Scruggs, you're in for a good time.

- It gives you something to look forward to come the weekend after a long, hard 40-hour work week.

If we're clocked out, what are we gonna do?

Let's go have some craft beer.

Let's go to Newgrass, you know, and have a good time.

- I think Newgrass is one of the best kept secrets that we have in Shelby.

It's one that I feel like not many people are fully aware of all the wonderful things that it has to offer.

- Newgrass has been serving up good times in glasses, on plates, and round tables since 2015.

- Typically on tap, we have around 10 or so of our beers.

We have some lagers, we have barrel aged.

- Along with several IPAs, stouts, and porters, taps change out a lot, and that is by design.

- Our brewer experiments a lot, does a lot of variations.

We've probably done 200 to 300 different beers.

- My go-to is the parting glass.

It's a dark, chocolatey beer, but it's nice.

And they got the Shelby All-Stars, which is like the hometown brew.

- But these days, Newgrass Brewing is becoming well-known for a sour beer with a flavor combination and a color that pretty much stand alone.

- One which may seem a little unusual is the Summer Camp Sammies, which is a PB&J sour.

- Yes, that PB&J, as in peanut butter and jelly in a beer.

- But it's not an in-your-face type, you know, it doesn't taste like somebody threw a bunch of peanut butter and jelly into a beer.

It's a unique beer that has a real market.

People seem to really enjoy it.

- And enthusiastically so in many cases.

- Peanut butter and jelly flavor, and it really tastes like peanut butter and grape jelly.

It is absolutely amazing.

It is a must try.

One that I get every time.

I try all the others, but I always come back to the Sammies.

- The Summer Camp Sammies and many other Newgrass beers are available in cans, a good option for curious friends at home who want to taste the beer themselves.

Breweries aren't always expected to have lots of food options, but New Grass certainly does.

The artistry that goes into the beer at brews is just as present in the food it serves.

- We have an incredible kitchen staff.

They're working in a very small kitchen, but produce some incredible food.

It's not your typical bar food.

It's, they do some pretty high-end dishes for a modest budget.

- Including fish on Friday nights and dishes that are available just about any time.

- Their cheese curds as an appetizer is really good.

And the smash burgers are amazing.

- One of our favorites is you can get the sampler, which gives you an opportunity to get three of the different appetizers.

And our favorites are the cheese curds, the summertime squash, fried squash, which is out of this world, and then the catfish bite.

- The beer and the food are obviously the main points of focus here at Newgrass Brewing, but there's another larger mission taking place here every day.

- It was about 2014, we started talking about our little town and how it was, we were making strides with economic development in the town, but the one thing that we were really missing was a craft brewery.

And all that has proven to be true.

The development after we opened in our central business district has been phenomenal.

We're thrilled to have it as a venue for folks.

- Our goal, I think, as community members is to continue to support local businesses so that our community can continue to thrive and we can continue to make this a place that not only the residents here love to come to, but also people from other locations come to visit.

- Newgrass Brewing is located at 213 South Lafayette Street in Shelby.

For more information on their live music and special events, visit Newgrass Brewing online.

Great drinks often come with great stories.

And our next stop is built around sharing both.

In Chapel Hill, Rocks Into Acid helps customers discover wines from around the world while creating a welcoming place to learn, explore and connect with others.

I'd heard about a new wine store with an interesting name, so I headed to Chapel Hill to check it out.

- Paula, I have to say, I love your shop.

It is so pretty in here.

And I am intrigued by the name of your store, Rocks Into Acid.

- Rocks and Acid.

- What's behind the name?

- So, Rocks and Acid are the two most important things about wine for me.

And the name Rocks and Acid just popped in my head.

And I was like, oh, that will promote a lot of conversation, a lot of questions.

- It certainly will.

It certainly will.

Rocks and Acid.

- Yep, and it's like, I always tell people, I don't sell vinyl and I don't sell the things in the shop.

But it refers to terroir, essentially.

The rocks part of it refers to the terroir, which signifies the type of soil that the vines are grown, which gives off a lot of the nutrients as well as a very unique characteristic to the grapes.

Also, the altitude, the climate, the exposition of the vineyards.

And most importantly for me, it's the traditional know-how that a lot of winemakers imbue on how they will make the finished product.

So that's the terroir part of it.

And then the acid is essentially the acid backbone of wines for us, it's more important than the alcohol levels.

And so you want that acid so that you keep on drinking the wine.

It's refreshing.

So a really good example of a wine that has rocks and acid in it is this wine.

This one is the Salier de Chine.

This one is made from the grape called Jaquere.

I like to say this with this wine to people who are like, "What is Jaquere?"

I was like, "Just taste it."

I know this is going to sound really weird.

It tastes like melted snow, which essentially is water, but you put it in the Alps and it's like, it brings you to that very pure flavor profile.

- It's very bright.

- Uh-huh, very bright.

- Clean.

- The acid is that.

That's what's making it really bright and very zesty.

And then it finishes off with this really nice kind of citrusy tone to it.

This is the kind of wine that I would love to drink at the beginning of a meal, something with oysters, something with a green salad.

This next wine that I'm pouring for you is coming from Italy.

So you can see it is very orange.

This is the Borgo Savoyan.

It is the Aransat bottling, which is a local dialect for the word orange.

It is also made from Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris.

- Paula told me her interest in cooking was spurred by watching "The Food Network" while growing up in the Philippines, but her parents wanted her to be a doctor.

- I really wanted to be in food for even when I was younger, but my dad was like, "No, no, no, no, no.

You have to get a real degree."

- I've heard that before.

- Uh-huh, yeah.

And so I was like, "What would be something that I can do that had the least credits of math and sciences?

Okay, let's do communications, marketing, PR.

Got my degree.

Can I go, you know, can I cook now?"

- After graduating, she applied to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.

- My professor was like, "You have an aptitude for wine.

Do you want to pursue this?"

I never really thought about it as a profession.

I never thought that sommeliers were a thing.

I transferred and did more wine credits, and then after graduation, I ended up here in North Carolina and worked for Farrington Village.

So Farrington has this massive wine list, and it was like almost like a Bible, and I just love learning about the different producers, the different grapes, the different regions.

At a certain point, it wasn't just about what's in the bottle.

It became where is it from?

What's the history?

How did this come about?

What are the winemaking techniques that people used to make this final wine?

- I really love the mission and your philosophy behind selecting the wines and why you select these wines.

What are buyers going to see on the shelves here that's really unique?

- All of the wines here are made by families.

They are very much small production in terms of there's no company or corporation that's dictating the flavor profile or how many cases that they need to produce.

It's basically what the vintage gives these families to make every year.

They're either organic, biodynamic, natural, or at least sustainably produced.

So you won't see crazy additives in these wines.

- In addition to wines, Paula stocks wonderful cheeses, olives, meats, even caviar, all carefully curated to accompany a nice bottle of wine.

And your entire setup here is very engaging, and you like to have that interaction with your buyers.

- Yes.

I do love to talk to every single person that comes into the shop.

And I understand that some people can get very intimidated about wine.

Because I mean, honestly, like the label, sometimes it tells you a lot, and sometimes it doesn't tell you anything.

- Anything.

- And even if it tells you a lot, what does it mean?

- I love that someone who's interested in that doesn't have to necessarily do all of the research themselves.

- I've done it for them.

- You've done it for them.

Cheers.

- Rocks and Acid Wine Shop and Tasting Room is located in Chapel Hill.

For information about tastings, special events, and current offerings, visit rocksandacid.com.

Now let's head to Old Fort, where brewing starts long before the grain reaches the glass.

At Whaley Farm Brewery, farming, brewing, and community all work hand in hand, creating a gathering place that's deeply rooted in the land and the people around it.

(upbeat music) - Whaley Farm Brewery is a small, community-minded pub here in Old Fort, North Carolina.

We're a brewery and a farm store and taproom.

This idea started over a decade ago with Jessica and I, she being a farmer and me being a brewer and in the beer industry.

Beer being such an agriculturally, it really is an agricultural product when you break it down.

And so being able to combine our passions under the same roof and then share that with folks is something that we are definitely passionate about and what we strive to do here in the taproom.

- We like approaching beer as an agricultural product because it takes so many hands really at the end of the day to make it all come together.

And this is really more of a space for the community.

In addition to that, I grow herbs and flowers that Chris uses in our beers.

Right now, it's an outlet for me to sell things that I grow, but also partner with other local growers and makers too.

(upbeat music) - Years of being in the industry and studying beer and really wanting to share what I love about beer with folks and trying to articulate that through our offerings is including British Cascades, a lot of like continental European lager styles and Appalachian farm beers, just sort of like a mix of things that Jess is growing and then trying to articulate those flavors that we can derive from what she's growing into the beers.

- Whaley is really interesting in what they offer.

They have gone back to a lot of traditional recipes and beers.

So instead of seeing IPAs, pale ales, hazies, they're going back to English bitters, historical beers that most likely you haven't ever heard of, which is really exciting.

- Looking back on it to surmise like what, like the real tempering of speaking of community, this one thing that I find Helene really did was, you know, sort of trauma bonded everyone in town.

Yeah, starting to just get mud out and just working together, everybody trying to achieve the same goal of figuring out what is going on and how we continue the next day.

- I feel very fortunate that we were able to rebuild and I'm proud of us and our team and all of everybody, so many hands that went into helping us get back on our feet.

- They are farming and using as much local goods as possible in their product, in their brews, supporting local horticulture and the whole community.

Like it kinda is this full circle that is something that I really am proud of and wanna be a part of.

- I truly believe that this is the best beer I've ever had.

And I feel like that this is a person who, he and his wife have worked very hard at trying to create not just great beer, but a great atmosphere and also with fresh vegetables.

I mean, yeah, it's pretty amazing.

- To me, this is my coffee in the evening and I hope he never stops making it, but it's an old ancient recipe that he did and it's so tasty.

Old Ford is so lucky to have this.

- You know, we wanna try and make the absolute best beer we can, which is not new to the industry, but I think it's about getting together and getting some face-to-face time with your neighbors and friends and just beer being that sort of conduit to community.

- Whaley Farm Brewery is located at 178 Catawba Avenue in Old Fort.

Their hours are Thursday and Friday from four to 8 p.m.

Saturday from noon to 8 p.m.

and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.

For more information, visit whaleyfarmbrewery.com.

As America marks its 250th anniversary, we're exploring places across North Carolina where history still shapes the landscape today.

This week, Lucas Pruitt takes us to the Green Swamp Preserve.

- If you want to know what most of coastal North Carolina looked like during the American Revolution, this is it, a prehistoric longleaf pine savanna with carnivorous plants and incredible biodiversity.

Welcome to the Green Swamp Preserve in Brunswick County.

This incredible ecosystem once covered 92 million acres across the southeast.

Less than 5% remains.

But to understand why, you have to travel back nearly 500 years.

In 1584, English explorers wrote home that the Seas Forest contained enough tar and pitch to make their queen ruler of the seas.

They were right.

But first, Britain had a problem.

Ships don't just need wood.

They need tar and pitch to seal the hull, turpentine to treat the rigging.

- And what they would do is they would take that honing tool, put a hole in to get the sap running out of the tree.

- Britain called these materials naval stores.

But in 1705, war in the Baltic cut off their Scandinavian supply and left one of the world's most powerful navies openly exposed.

So Parliament acted, bounties for colonial producers, sales restricted to British merchants.

It worked.

By 1768, 60% of Britain's colonial naval store shipped through North Carolina, down the Cape Fear River, out through Brunswick town, just a few miles from where we're standing.

Today, thanks to decades of conservation work, nearly 5 million acres of longleaf pine have been restored across the southeast.

The Brunswamp Preserve is one of the finest examples, managed with controlled burning, open to the public, and free to visit.

- It's a national natural landmark that's been set aside in perpetuity for protection of a whole bunch of amazing and rare species.

The preserve itself is almost 16,000 acres.

It is one of the gems in North Carolina's crown, as I've heard it put.

As part of the naval stores industry, there was a lot of harvesting of the tar and pitch from longleaf pine.

What I'm standing on here is a tar kiln, and you can see this ditch that was kind of dug.

It's a circle all the way around.

And so all that tar eventually, over the course of like nine, 10 days of cooking that pile, would come out and they'd collect it in those barrels.

It's a very messy job, and so the folks working it obviously got very messy as well.

And that's one of the thoughts behind why we call this the Tar Heel State.

- If you're a tar heel, it is a North Carolina treasure.

300 years ago, it would have covered many, many miles continuously.

Now it's broken up with golf courses, Walmarts, and housing developments.

So this preserves the longleaf pine forests and the plants and the animals that live here.

- But the trees are only part of the story.

The Green Swamp is home to 14 species of carnivorous plants.

Venus flytraps ride alongside the trail, pitcher plants, sundews.

And if you look up, you may spot a red-cockaded woodpecker.

- It is world famous for its carnivorous plants.

These are plants that live in nutrient-poor environments, sandy or acidic soils.

And so the way they get their nutrients is from catching animal prey, mostly insects.

And they have different kinds of traps, different ways of catching their prey.

And there's no place in the world you can see a greater diversity of carnivorous plants than at this location.

- You walk out here, and you don't really see everything at face value.

It doesn't really look like that much.

But then when you really get down to the forest floor, that's where the really cool stuff is.

And once you see that micro-scale diversity, it is truly an amazing place.

- The trail runs 1.3 miles one way through Pine Savannah, Boardwalk, and Open Meadow.

Flat and accessible, but stay on the trail.

The Brunswick County Sheriff's Office has had to rescue hikers who wandered off.

The red diamonds on the trees are there for a reason.

- The Green Swamp Preserve is located in Brunswick County, and it's open to the public free of charge.

To learn more and plan your visit, go to nature.org/greenswamp.

And that's it for tonight's show.

Our state offers some truly creative ways to raise a glass, and we've had a great time sharing them with you.

If you've missed anything in tonight's show, remember you can always watch us again online at pbsnc.org, and find all of our stories on our YouTube channel.

Have a great North Carolina weekend, everyone.

(upbeat music) ♪ - Funding for North Carolina Weekend is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of Barrier Island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

- This program is made possible in part by generous support from the American Battlefield Trust, connecting you to the places where our nation was forged.

Visit battlefields.org today.

♪ ♪