The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery & Biergarten

Dogs are allowed in the Biergarten and nowhere else on the property. Not the Brauhaus, not the Taproom. The brewery’s FAQ says it plainly: “dogs are only permitted in the Biergarten area outdoors and must be leashed.” The same answer rules out unleashed dogs anywhere on the grounds, along with dogs “barking, aggressive, or in any way annoying or frightening to our other customers.”

The Biergarten is about an acre, which OMB calls the largest in the Southeast, sitting under century-old oak, pecan, and hickory trees. That’s canopy rather than umbrellas, and in a Charlotte July the difference is the whole afternoon.

Food comes from two indoor kitchens. The Brauhaus runs German: soft pretzels, currywurst, sausages, sides. The Taproom side runs American, with salads, sandwiches, wings, and burgers on a menu the brewery describes as seasonally inspired. The beer has followed the Reinheitsgebot since 2009 — water, malt, hops, yeast, nothing else.

Arriving without a car is unusually workable here by Charlotte standards. The brewery’s own directions: “800 yards from the Scaleybark light rail stop, which is about a five-minute walk.” Walk south from the stop, right on Old Pineville Road, right on Yancey. The brewery is down on the right.

Posted hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and to 9 p.m. Sunday. The site adds that hours may vary.

Two things the brewery doesn’t publish. Water bowls aren’t mentioned one way or the other, not in the dog FAQ and not in the Biergarten copy. And nothing posted says how the Biergarten handles cold or rain, or whether the indoors-off-limits rule holds when the weather turns.

There is a second OMB in Ballantyne and an OMB Biergarten inside Concourse D at Charlotte Douglas. This page is the Yancey Road original.