HISTORY: Looking back to Charlotte’s first brewer ◊ PG. 4
NEWS: Distro Beer Hub set to open in South End ◊ PG. 5
MUSIC: Carolina Beer Choir makes fundraising convivial ◊ PG. 9
ARTS: Perrine DeShield-Jenkins showcases Black dandyism ◊ PG. 7
NEWS & OPINION
FEATURE STORY
LONG TIME BREWING
Tracing a throughline from Charlotte’s oldest brewery to Olde Mecklenburg
BY PAT MORAN
To paraphrase humorist and legendary lager imbiber Mark Twain, rumors of the Charlotte craft beer scene’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.
This is not to say that the industry hasn’t been weathering the winds of change. In recent years, Charlotte’s craft beer boom, which saw nearly 20 independent breweries open in the decade between 2009-19, has leveled off and even faltered.
In our April 2024 Beer Issue, Queen City Nerve reported on the ways the scene had contracted slightly, citing multiple brewery closings such as Weathered Souls Brewing Company, D9 Brewing Company, Blue Blaze Brewing, Midnight Mulligan Brewing, The Beverly Cidery and Dreamchaser’s Brewery.
Although the Brewers Association, a nationwide nonprofit representing independent craft brewers, put Charlotte’s Artisanal Brewing Ventures at the 21st position among top brewing businesses, the association did not list any Charlotte companies among its top 50 brewers of 2024.
“[It’s] the market maturing rather than saturation or … any sort of bubble burst,” says local beer writer Daniel Hartis.
In an email to Queen City Nerve, Jim Birch, chief operating officer at Olde Mecklenburg Brewery (OMB), Charlotte’s oldest running brewery, writes that the city’s craft beer market is in the midst of a retrenchment.
“We think craft beer will both continue to grow and grow in market share,” Birch says. “There remains an interest in local production, and we think people want fresh, all-natural products that are produced locally.”
Even as local breweries brace for the impact that steel and aluminum tariffs could have on their business, they are also appealing to customers’ changing tastes,
thrive in Charlotte, then known as Charlottetowne. Many drinking establishments sprang up along the Native American trade routes that became Trade and Tryon streets.
“Captain James Jack is without a doubt Charlotte’s most famous tavern keeper,” writes Hartis in his book Charlotte Beer: A History of Brewing in the Queen City, published in 2013. “The British burned Captain Jack’s home, which also housed the tavern, in 1780 when Cornwallis marched through Charlotte.”
Captain Jack’s equestrian statue graces the Little Sugar Creek greenway today, and OMB brews a pilsner named for him. Captain Jack delivered The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence (The Mecklenburg Resolves) to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. The legendary — and disputed — “Meck Dec” purportedly predates the US Declaration of Independence by over a year.
In any case, rare grain-based brews grew even more scarce after fighting broke out between revolutionaries and loyalists. North Carolina farmers converted corn and whatever grain they had into whiskey rather than beer. Whiskey was easier to store and transport than beer.
During the Civil War, North Carolina’s Confederate government disapproved of brewing, saying that grain should be used for food. It was into this beer-starved environment that Martin Munzler, Charlotte’s OG brewmeister, moved his family in 1859.
In July 1860, Munzler bought a parcel of land on the southwest corner of East Trade Street and what was then called Boundary Road, which marked the eastern edge of Charlotte at the time and is today called McDowell Street. Munzler’s former property is currently occupied by the offices of the Mecklenburg County’s District Attorney.
From prohibition to pioneer tribute
“In 1880, Charlotte was home to 17 saloons,” Hartis says. Customers were free to consume bottled beer from their hometown as well as products from Atlanta and Philadelphia.
In 1905, however, 15 years before the 18th Amendment banned alcoholic beverages nationwide, Charlotteans, influenced and lobbied by the powerful Anti-Saloon League, approved an anti-saloon ordinance. As a result, the city went dry until 1945 despite the fact that national prohibition ended with the passage of the 21st Amendment in 1933.
Commercial brewing slowly returned to North Carolina after World War II. In 1948, The Atlantic Brewing Company (ABC) in Charlotte was the only brewery in the state producing beer for sale and distribution. By the 1950s, the company’s 120,000-barrel-capacity brewery at 300 S. Graham St., near where Truist Field stands today, boasted a canning line that could turn out three cans a second. ABC, which opened in the Queen City in 1936, closed in 1956.
There wouldn’t be a true homebrew renaissance in the Queen City until OMB’s founder and owner John Marrino stopped in the Queen City while traveling cross-country in the aughts. He was surprised to discover that Charlotte was the largest US city without a brewery.
In 2009, Marrino rectified that oversight by opening OMB, marking the first time since 1870 that the city could boast an independent local brewery.
particularly younger adults between 18-34 years old who are consuming beverages with lower alcohol content.
This is good news for OMB, which specializes in lagers, says Birch, noting that the city’s craft beer scene has turned to brewing traditional lower-alcohol styles like lager. Younger drinkers have also turned to nonalcoholic beverages to relax. Several Queen City brewers have responded by launching a range of THCand hemp-infused seltzers.
Brewers agree that there is an industry-wide shakeup, but Charlotte has seen its local and regional brewing fortunes ebb and flow before.
From fruits to lager
Beer brewing in the Piedmont, and in the Carolinas at large, dates from long before the arrival of Europeans.
Beer made without wheat or barley, or ones that contain fruit flavoring agents, may seem like a recent innovation, stemming from craft beers’ glory days of the 2000s, but they are much older.
English explorer and naturalist John Lawson’s “A New Voyage to Carolina,” published in 1709, reported that Native Americans made beer from corn and cedar berries. Lawson also noted that Indigenous people sometimes made beer with molasses.
In NCPedia’s entry on beer and breweries, writer Karl Campbell notes that housewives in private homes carried out most of the brewing in the colonial Carolinas. Barley was a scarce commodity in the South, so settlers followed the Native Americans’ example and fermented molasses, apples and other fruit to make beer.
Taverns had begun to serve local beer with a few rare grain-based imports from England. When the Revolutionary War broke out, taverns continued to
Writing for the Charlotte Museum of History, President of the Mecklenburg Genealogical Society Jeffrey Houser surmises that the Bavarian-born Munzler learned how to brew lager in his native land.
“Lager,” which comes from the German word “Lagern,” meaning to store, is a beer fermented and stored at cool temperatures, typically between 40-55 degrees Fahrenheit. This cold fermenting, possibly discovered in a system of caverns by Bavarian monks in the 15th century, produces a clean, crisp, and lighterbodied beer with a lower alcohol content than ales.
Sugar Creek cut through Munzler’s property and he used the fresh water source to brew lager soon after he bought the parcel. Munzler’s business is probably the first beer brewery in Charlotte, and possibly the first in North Carolina.
Throughout the 1860s, Munzler placed notices in local newspapers advertising his business and offering to buy hops and barley to make his beer. The ads stopped running in 1870. Houser writes that subsequent newspaper articles stated Munzler had closed his brewery but there is no record of when the business was shuttered.
In July 1878, Munzler’s youngest son, Frederick, opened a beer garden, a forerunner of Charlotte’s taprooms, on the corner of East Trade Street and Boundary Road. Here, much like today’s breweries, families gathered outdoors and drank beer — or at least the men did.
Unlike his father, Frederick did not brew on the premises. He acted as a sales agent for the Berger & Engel Brewery Company. The Philadelphia-based business brewed a lager similar to Marvin Munzler’s.
In 1886, Frederick quit the beer business, joining the newly formed Charlotte Police force in 1890. Martin and other Munzler family members are today buried in plot 55 in Section T of Elmwood Cemetery.
“In 2009, there were no other distributing breweries in Charlotte,” Birch says. “South End Brewery had already closed and the Rock Bottom Brewpub in Uptown was on-premise only.”
OMB also debuted its flagship brew, called Copper, in 2009.
“Copper is a hybrid style that uses an ale yeast but ferments at a cooler temperature,” Birch says.
While the popular Copper ferments like a lager, it’s actually an altbier, a German ale that originated in Düsseldorf in 1838. Altbier probably would have been familiar to Munzler, who was born 1828, and didn’t immigrate from Bavaria to the United States until November 1852.
OMB opened its current facility on Yancey Road in 2012. It was a milestone in the saga of Queen City beer, but a product announcement made by OMB seven years earlier marks an even more resonant anniversary.
In November 2018, OMB released Munzler’s Vienna Lager, an amber-tinged brew boasting a toasty flavor courtesy of darker malts typical in Munzler’s era. And so, 159 years after Munzler opened his facility on Boundary Road, Charlotte’s current longest running brewery had brought the city’s beer making history full circle.
“Mr. Martin Munzler was the first (recorded) brewer in Charlotte — so we wanted to shine a light on our local history,” Birch said.
In 2025, OMB cemented its place in the city’s independent brewing scene by celebrating its 16th year in operation — five more than the city’s OG brewmaster Munzler could claim.
Now surrounded by an ever-growing roster of competitors, Olde Mecklenburg might be the oldest kid on the block, but in the beer game, aging isn’t always a bad thing.
PMORAN@QCNERVE.COM
Photo by John Vachon via Library of Congress
A beer wagon in Charlotte circa March 1943.
A HUB IN THE HALL
Distro Beer Hub deploys craft breweries into the food hall model
BY ANNIE KEOUGH
Considering Charlotte’s insatiable need for the shiny and new, keeping a brewery alive for 15 years is nothing short of a miracle.
After seeing countless breweries open and close throughout the years, Heist Brewery founder Kurt Hogan has learned what works and what doesn’t.
“Breweries are still very popular, but it’s important to be continually innovative so that the experience isn’t the status quo.”
Before the pandemic, Hogan saw the success that Optimist Hall was seeing just down the street from Heist’s flagship location in NoDa and wondered if something similar could be applied to the craft beer world.
He wanted to combine the social dining experience people look for in breweries while cultivating a different experience from what people have grown used to in the city’s many taprooms or brewpubs.
After years of fine-tuning, Hogan’s idea is finally becoming a reality with Distro Beer Hub, which he expects to open on Distribution Drive in South End before summer.
Distro Beer Hub will see Heist Brewery join NoDa neighbors Divine Barrell Brewing Co., Ashevillebased brewery DSSOLVR, and Incendiary Brewing out of Winston-Salem come together to create a new concept that keeps people excited about the craft beer world, Hogan said.
Ian Kee, operations manager for Heist and general manager for Akahana Asian Bistro, will add another hat as general manager for Distro Beer Hub.
Although Kee is relatively new to the beer industry, he has 35 years of experience in the service industry, which he said he will use to bring back the lost art of hospitality into Distro.
“The biggest issue that we have in the service industry now, everybody is just another number. We’d like to try to grow [Distro] in such a way that we become a family,” he told Queen City Nerve.
“The family [that] eats together, drinks together, plays together, stays together. I always believe that, and that’s part of philosophy which we’re trying to bring in.”
Although Heist is spearheading Distro’s operations, no less focus will be given to DSSOLVR, Divine Barrel or Incendiary Brewing, Kee insisted.
“We are not going to lose any of that particular art … because all of us are all trying to stay alive, if you think about it,” he said. “We are all smaller beer companies that would like to show people that this is what the love of the craft is all about. People have forgotten that.
“People go into mom-and-pop stores because they know the mom and pop, the employees, the other customers,” Kee continued. “We create relationships.”
Meet the breweries
Hogan chose the three breweries that will be joining Heist at Distro Beer Hub in part due to the relationships they’ve created throughout the years.
“We’re all good friends,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of collaborations together and respect the product that each produces. Each brewery is unique in their own brand and style that they represent.”
The hub will have five different bars spread across its South End space.
Each brewery’s respective bar will mimic the style and personality you might see in their respective taprooms and they’ll rotate selections at their 12-tap bars, ranging from IPAs to lagers to pilsner and more.
“Each kind of have their own look and feel like you’d be at the brewery … but then you’d be able to mingle throughout the entire place under one shared roof,” said Lisa Antonacci, Distro Beer Hub’s social media manager.
An additional wine and cocktail bar will also be available for folks not interested in craft beer. Hogan has worked with past and present employees as well as a few third parties to develop the cocktail bar, offering innovative mixtures and fresh mocktails.
Besides Divine Barrel, the two other breweries will be marking their entrance into the Charlotte scene, as Distro will be their first openings here. Hogan wanted to give people a chance to try a new product that they may have never gotten the chance to before.
Originally founded in Asheville and later expanding to Durham, DSSOLVR will bring “the most surreal offerings that highlight the greatest and most exciting parts of both old school and new school styles,” according to the Distro website.
The brewery boasts gluten-free fruited sours, big ol’ stouts and natural wine, utilizing local farmers, artisans and makers of all kinds to expand the tastes and visuals “beyond your average horizons.”
Incendiary Brewing, established in WinstonSalem in 2018, is known for its big barrel-aged beer, IPAs and World Beer Cup-recognized lagers. Incendiary is “Always pushing forward with something new while keeping a few crowd favorites on dependable tap lines,” Distro’s website reads.
Heist Brewery itself made a name for itself as Charlotte’s only craft brewpub when it opened in 2012, pioneering North Carolina’s first hazy IPA choice, CitraQuench’l.
A curated food selection will also be available featuring fresh sushi and Distro Bites.
To emphasize the artistry and local feel of Distro Beer Hub, Hogan has selected a slate of Charlottearea artists to paint murals inside and outside the building.
As with the other breweries, these relationships have been built over time as the artists have worked with Heist in the past.
“You get to know and respect a lot of artists over the years, and in the same way that Distro is giving each brewery free rein to supply whatever beer they choose, the artists are free to paint whatever they want,” he said.
While the main hall is set to open in the coming weeks, Distro’s phase two plans include an event space to be used for pop-up markets, live bands and other private events later down the road, Antonacci said.
She called Distro Beer Hub a symbol of unity amongst the brewing community, she said, offering folks a true taste of North Carolina.
“Every time [breweries] get bigger, everybody goes … for name brands and stuff like that,” Kee said. “But … the craft industry is much more of a passion and [about] relationships and it’s why we go into it … as far as we’re concerned.”
AKEOUGH@QCNERVE.COM
Photo courtesy of Heist Brewery
A look inside what will be Distro Beer Hub.
Photo by Annie Keough
Distro Beer Hub will be located in a former sewing shop in South End.
LIFELINE
SEUN KUTI & EGYPT 80
April 30 • 8 p.m. • Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St. • $37-$48 • neighborhoodtheatre.com
Nigerian musician-songwriter Seun Kuti, the youngest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, picked up his father’s musical mantle when elder icon Fela passed away in 1997. A saxophonist and political firebrand like his father, Seun leads his dad’s final outfit Egypt 80, building on the elder Kuti’s legacy by calling out materialism, oppression and police brutality. Whereas Fela fused American funk, jazz and soul with Yoruba and Ghanaian music to craft long, loping sonic trance tunnels, Seun sculpts Afrobeat’s pulsing energy and hypnotic grooves into short sharp songs on his latest LP, Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head), while adding reggae, rap and hip-hop to the boiling rhythmic/radical cauldron.
LOVIN’ LIFE MUSIC FESTIVAL
May 2-4 • various times • First Ward Park, 418 N. College St. • $129 and up • lovinlifemusicfest.com
Aiming to be the Queen City’s Lollapalooza, Lovin’ Life launched last year with performances by pop, rap, and rock artists spread across three days and three stages in Uptown. Like a lot of big festivals, this year’s headliners — Gwen Stefani, Weezer and Dave Matthews — hit their creative/commercial peaks in the late 1990s/early 2000s, but that’s not to say they haven’t released good and in some cases great music since. Kudos to Lovin’ Life for including a decent amount of inventive local talent including inspired rock powerhouse Modern Moxie, dramatic alt-pop five-piece Weekend Friend, the rousing SAINTED Trap Choir, up-and-coming pop rockers Sophia and more.
‘...WHAT THE END WILL BE’
May 2-18 • times vary • The Arts Factory, 1545 W. Trade St. • $15-$35 • threebonetheatre.com
Intergenerational Black family sagas have long been the bailiwick of the theater titan August Wilson, in particular Wilson’s epic 10-play Century Cycle. One aspect of Black life that Wilson left unexamined, however, was the experiences of Black LQBTQ people. Set almost entirely in a modern Atlanta mansion, playwright Mansa Ra’s earnest dramedy ...what the end will be focuses on three generations of gay Black men living together. Wheelchair-bound patriarch Bartholomew disapproves of successful yet narcissistic son Maxwell’s white husband. Maxwell, in turn, denigrates his son Tony’s genderfluid partner Antoine. With warmth and humor, the play examines fatherhood, sexuality, identity and Black masculinity.
KENDRICK LAMAR, SZA
May 3 • 7 p.m. • Bank of America Stadium, 800 Mint St. • $153 and up • bankofamericastadium.com
Is it too early to call this the most consequential show to roll into Charlotte in 2025? With his cinematic, multifaceted flow; nuanced and deeply moral narratives; and a poetic and preternatural ability to evoke empathy in his listeners, Lamar is one of the greatest rappers of all time — and the genius that our troubled times are calling for. There’s a reason Lamar is the first non-classical or jazz musician to win a Pulitzer Prize for music, and don’t be surprised if he, like Bob Dylan, collects a Nobel Prize for Literature. With confessional lyrics and a genre-jumping alt-R&B sound like no one else’s, SZA is the perfect complement to Lamar’s artistry.
CINCO DE MAYO TEQUILA TASTING AND FOOD PAIRING
May 5 • 6 p.m. • Monday Night Garden Brewing, 2217 S. Tryon St. • $70 • mondaynightbrewing.com
Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico’s Fourth of July, but it does mark the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla in 1862, in which the army of Benito Juárez’s liberal government defeated French forces sent by Napoleon III to conquer Mexico. It’s also a great day for tequila and tacos. Monday Night’s beverage director Amanda Buckley leads a guided tequila tasting that will include three varieties of Pedro Furtivo tequila: Blanco, Reposado, and the brand-new Añejo making its North Carolina debut. Diners and imbibers eat, drink and learn as Buckley fills them in on the rich history and traditions of tequila-making.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT LIVE: BRAVO PUEBLO
May 7 • 5 p.m. • Mint Museum Uptown, 500 S. Tryon St. • Free • mintmuseum.org
Fronted by singer-songwriter-keyboardist Liza Ortiz, revolutionary electro-pop trio Bravo Pueblo draws on influences as disparate and symbiotic as electronica, house, alt rock and hip-hop — plus percussion-driven Puerto Rican bomba and plena courtesy of Ortiz’s percussionist brother Claudio; and the joropo (Música Llanera) songwriting traditions of Venezuela via guitarist and synth player Lee Herrera. Liza, however, would add another ingredient to the threesome’s heady concoction — harcore psychedlia. “It’s music that amplifies or inspires a mental voyage that takes you beyond your physical surroundings,” Ortiz says of both the psych genre and her band’s impact. Bravo Pueblo surrounds Liza’s inspired lyrics with hypnotic grooves, lilting yet funky instrumentation and swarming harmonies.
CHARLOTTE GEM PRESERVATION AWARDS
May 8 • 6 p.m. • The Casey, 1837 N. Tryon St., #102 • $125-$150 • charlottemuseum.org
Refurbished historic shotgun homes on Charlotte’s west side; the Charles R. Jonas Federal Courthouse in Uptown and Jason Tapp’s efforts to repair and preserve the headstone of Charlie Houck, a carnival animal trainer clawed to death by a lion in 1930. These are just some of the restoration projects honored by the Charlotte Gem Preservation Awards, the premiere fundraising event for the Charlotte Museum of History. By shining a light on projects that enrich our communities, the awards encourage everyone who calls Charlotte home to save our historic built environment. This year’s awards honor Preserve Mecklenburg’s Dr. Dan Morrill, whose efforts helped preserve historic districts such as NoDa and Fourth Ward.
MECKLENBURG 250 FESTIVAL
May 10 • 10 a.m. • Elizabeth Park, 101 N. Kings Drive • Free • charlottetrailofhistory.org
The Trail of History and Mecklenburg County Park & Recreation host the Mecklenburg 250 Festival. The event celebrates the 250th anniversary of Captain Jack’s legendary ride to Philadelphia with live music, food and educational exhibits that highlight Mecklenburg County’s rich past. Two and a half centuries after the event, the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence (“Meck Dec”) still sparks controversy. Did the 1775 document Captain Jack delivered to the Continental Congress in Philly state Mecklenburg’s support for American independence, or was it the Mecklenburg Resolves, which supported local governance and resisted British rule but stopped short of independence? On one side, sworn eyewitnesses attested to the Meck Deck’s existence, on the other hand, no copy of it exists. Celebrate regardless.
BROKENCYDE, BAYYMACK
May 12 • 7 p.m. • The Rooster, 334 W. Main Ave., Gastonia • $18 • theroostergastonia.com
Founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico by founders Michael “Mikl” Shea and Julian “Phat J” McLellan in 2006, Brokencyde is a pioneer of crunkcore, a screamo-hardcore punk-crunk fusion with smartass/horny call-and-response vocals, thundering bass and repeated catchphrases. Brokencyde caught fire and achieved lift off with lascivious party banger “Freaxx” in 2008. The duo’s 2025 single “Kush & Kandi,” which lends its name to the band’s current tour, plays like an electro dance party in a thin-walled apartment with occasional callouts from headbanging screamo neighbors next door. Electronic dance-pop artist Bayymack, who co-wrote and appears on “Kush & Kandi,” blends anthemic melodies with seductive trap-pop beats and genre-blurring soundscapes.
MARIA BAMFORD
May 13 • 7:30 p.m. • Knight Theater, 430 S. Tryon St. • $35-$68 • blumenthalarts.org
Maria Bamford’s groundbreaking Netflix show Lady Dynamite is a surreal, semi-autobiographical show about a woman who loses her shit before finding herself. Not many artists can find comedy in mental illness, but Bamford draws on her experience living with bipolar disorder to craft sketches where she imagines herself cavorting in an ad for hair products while wreaking havoc on a city street, and an anxious meeting with her take-no-prisoners agent Karen that ends with both women singing the agent’s cringeworthy career strategy: “Cradle the balls, and work the shaft!” Bamford played De Brie Bardeaux in Arrested Development and has done voice work on BoJack Horseman, Bob’s Burgers, PBS’s Emmy-winning WordGirl and more.
‘...what the end will be’ Promotional collage courtesy of Three Bone Theatre 5/2-5/18
Bravo Pueblo
Photo by Sarah and Elias Kosmorama 5/7
SUPERFINE & DANDY
Perrine DeShield-Jenkins highlights pivotal facet of Black fashion at the Gantt
BY DEZANII LEWIS
When Met Gala organizers announced the annual ball’s 2025 gala theme, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, last fall, Perrine DeShield-Jenkins had one thought: Charlotte needs something like that.
Wearing a navy tie with red flowers, a light blue button up with white pinstripes under a blazer, and dangling pearl earrings, DeShield-Jenkins, known as Professor P in some circles, already looked ready for the gala when we spoke.
“I am forever in dandyism,” she said, referencing a fashion style that centers menswear and, in Black American culture, has roots that run from Reconstruction through the Harlem Renaissance into Blaxploitation and beyond.
On May 2, DeShield-Jenkins will bring her vision to The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture with Superfine at the Gantt: Exploring Black Dandyism. Featuring an interactive exhibit, panel discussions, photo activations, a rooftop party and runway show, the event will celebrate Black people’s indelible contributions to fashion while highlighting local Black designers tailoring their version of the dandy aesthetic today.
“We’re excited about the event because it gives us an opportunity to really showcase not only some amazing Black fashion designers and brands that are here in Charlotte, but also just the Black creative community in so many different facets and platforms,” DeShield-Jenkins told Queen City Nerve. “As Andre 3000 has said, ‘The South got something to say.’”
One of the things the South has to say is how
it was the breeding ground for the iconic Black dandyism style.
In addition to showcasing local Black creatives, DeShield-Jenkins said she sees this event as an opportunity to connect the dots from where Black dandyism started, what it truly represents and how it has evolved over the years.
“Black people are fly,” she said. “We’re the flyest, to be honest. So, we deserve.”
Andre Leon Talley and the roots of Black dandyism
Every person’s idea of what constitutes Black fashion is different from the next, but for many people, Black dandyism is either some outdated idea or doesn’t come to mind at all in a discourse that might pit suits vs. streetwear.
For DeShield-Jenkins, however, Black dandyism is about rebelling against those sorts of stereotypes.
“A Black dandy is someone who takes fashion very seriously, you know, and more importantly, they understand their style, their aesthetic, who they are as a person,” she said. “They are fully aware of that and they utilize fashion to just share the rest of that with the world. It’s personal to them.
“They’re a risk taker,” she continued. “They’re someone who doesn’t necessarily just immerse themselves into different trends. They either start a trend or they are above and beyond a trend. A Black dandy is fearless when it comes to fashion. They’re a rebel. They are someone who is fully confident in who and what their personal style is.”
With Black dandyism hardly at top of mind in today’s fashion world, DeShield-Jenkins said she was intrigued to see the Met Gala step up to showcase the culture on such an important platform.
“For anyone who loves fashion, the Met Gala is the Super Bowl,” she said. “For us, it is a moment where we are all tuned in, locked in, and we all become the fashion police.”
It’s not just about getting off looks, either. For DeShield-Jenkins, the Met Gala — and by extension her own event at Gantt Center — is about educating folks on the history of the culture and its pioneers.
She points specifically to Andre Leon Talley, an icon of Black dandyism world and American fashion more broadly, or “the North Carolinian Black country boy who made it in the big city,” as she called him.
Raised in Durham during the Jim Crow Era by his grandmother who worked as a cleaning lady at Duke University, Talley discovered Vogue magazine in a local library as a child and became engrossed. He would go on to work closely with Andy Warhol, Anna Wintour and other giants of the fashion industry, even advising the Obamas on fashion in 2008.
“Andre Leon Talley is the dandy of all dandies,” DeShield-Jenkins said. “The gravity and the importance of Andre Leon Talley to the culture and fashion industry is so large.”
She called the upcoming Met Gala, scheduled for May 5, “the love letter that [Talley] always deserved.”
“It’s the flowers that he should have received when he was here with us. And I think that it’s so important that he’s acknowledged,” she continued. “So we can take the thing that was the most dear to him that is such a representation of his being. That’s why Black dandyism is so important. Because we set the trends, okay? We are the culture.”
Fashion’s biggest stage is a perfect place to showcase an important aspect of Black culture and fashion, so DeShield-Jenkins aimed to take a page out of their book and host her event at the Gantt on the weekend before the Met.
She could have held the event at other venues like the Mint Museum or Charlotte Convention Center, but it wouldn’t have the same significance, she insisted.
“Just working with the Harvey B. Gantt Center means so much,” she said. “As an African American museum and center for Black culture here in Charlotte, it is so centralized and so important to every Black creative here in Charlotte in so many different ways. You can relate some part of your career or trajectory or a moment to the Gantt Center.”
Keeping Charlotte creatives in the spotlight
“Art is all around you,” DeShield-Jenkins told us. “There are so many talented people in arm’s reach on a regular basis that make some really cool things that have really great visions and a really strong creative perspective.”
She enlisted the help of local creatives to get this message across. Attendees can expect to see Teejay Alston’s brand, Ambitious Rebirth, with
sounds from Dammit Wesley and eats from The Thicc Co., a Black-owned, female-led sweet shop dedicated to honoring and preserving Black culture through food.
Professor P enlisted the help of fellow creatives davita galloway of DUPP&SWAT, Carla-Aaron Lopez of BlkMrktClt, and Shekinah Williams of The Kinah Kollection to curate an exhibit for the event titled Dissecting Dandyism.
Before committing to any plans for an annual gala similar to the Met, DeShield-Jenkins said she just wants to make it through the first one. One thing she knows for certain: She will keep highlighting Black excellence one way or another.
“I would honestly love to either continue showcasing Black perspectives of fashion themes, whether Met Gala or not, and just getting everyone really excited about fashion and art and our contributions,” she said. “I love Charlotte … I definitely see an option and an opportunity in a world where we can continue to really amplify the fashion creative scene here in Charlotte.”
DeShield-Jenkins is passionate about keeping the local scene in the spotlight, extolling the importance for Charlotte natives and transplants alike to know that the sort of creativity they’ll see both at the Met Gala and Gantt Center is existing and thriving right in their own backyard.
“I hope [Superfine] inspires people to know that you don’t always have to go to New York, you don’t always have to go to LA,” DeShield-Jenkins said. “You can actually do something that uplifts your community and the community that you are part of and ensure that everyone understands and sees your own piece of joy, light, and creativity.”
DLEWIS@QCNERVE.COM
Photo by Sir Will
Perrine DeShields (left) and fellow Superfine creator Todd Gaines.
Photo by Sir Will
Featured designer Teejay Alston
SOUNDWAVE
WEDNESDAY
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
Sawyer Hill w/ The Criticals (Amos’ Southend)
Tummyache w/ Saint Logic, Slow Funeral, The Abstratica, Creatures of the Sun (The Milestone)
Slothrust w/ Weakened Friends (Snug Harbor) JAZZ/BLUES
The Boneshakers (Middle C Jazz)
LATIN/WORLD
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 (Neighborhood Theatre)
SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC
Chase Killough (Comet Grill)
Alice Wallace w/ Wyatt Easterling, Rod Abernethy (Evening Muse)
Josh Daniel, Jim Brock & Kerry Brooks (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar)*
OPEN MIC
Singer/Songwriter Open Mic (The Rooster)* Open Hearts Open Mic (Starlight on 22nd)
THURSDAY
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
APR. 30 MAY 1
Merc w/ End Of Your Rope, Violent Life Violent Death, Gnasher, Cann’d (The Milestone)
Alright w/ Boy Named Sue, Ghost Brain (Petra’s)
Free Whenever w/ Council Ring, Nathan Harris & The Flood (Snug Harbor)
Melvins w/ Napalm Death (The Underground)
COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA
Jackopierce (Evening Muse)
Fireside Collective w/ Time Sawyer (Neighborhood Theatre)
AP Rodgers w/ Tony Wain (The Rooster)
FUNK/JAM BAND/REGGAE
Shana Blake’s Musical Menagerie (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar)*
SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC
Rivers Rutherford & Tim Nichols (Carolina Theatre) COVER BANDS
R&B Classics w/ JD & TMG (Middle C Jazz)
FRIDAY
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
MAY 2
Dovecage w/ Phuket Johnson, Aim High (Heist Brewery & Barrel Arts)
JAZZ/BLUES
Jarrod Lawson (Middle C Jazz)
CLASSICAL/INSTRUMENTAL
Naruto: The Symphonic Experience (Belk Theater)
POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ
Purgatory: Unhinged (Amos’ Southend)
Anané’ (Blackbox Theater)
Hippie Sabotage (The Fillmore)
Mallrat w/ Anna Shoemaker (Neighborhood Theatre)
Beatfreaq X: NC vs. VA Beat Battle (Starlight on 22nd)
COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA
July Turner w/ Greg Parrish (Goldie’s)
The Water Kickers w/ Obi, Tinka (Starlight on 22nd)
SUNDAY
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
MAY 4
Harriet RIP w/ Junk Punk, Red Die Number Nine, Lacy Dooms (The Milestone)
Holy Roller w/ Neighborhood Alien, Beyond The Portal (The Rooster)
Boa (The Underground)
COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA
Josh Lovelace (Evening Muse)
SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC
Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo (Ovens Auditorium)
POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ
Hazy Sunday (Petra’s)
Soul Sundays (Starlight on 22nd)
JAZZ/BLUES
Dejablues (Heist Brewery & Barrel Arts)
Jarrod Lawson (Middle C Jazz)
MONDAY
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
MAY 5
Ick w/ Eightball, Goatse, Krokodil (The Milestone)
POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ
Rachel Platten w/ Ben Abraham (Neighborhood Theatre)
JAZZ/BLUES
The Bill Hanna Legacy Jazz Session (Petra’s) OPEN MIC
Find Your Muse Open Mic feat. Duncan MacMillan (Evening Muse)
TUESDAY
MAY 6
SATURDAY JAN. 22
The Groove Skeletons w/ Shehehe, Manarovs (The Milestone)
Sofia Isella (Neighborhood Theatre)
Petrov w/ Mudlotus, Moving Boxes (Snug Harbor)
JAZZ/BLUES
The Alex Lopez Xpress w/ Memphis Lightning (Evening Muse)
FUNK/JAM BAND/Reggae
World Sauntering Day w/ Roman Candles, The Trick Threat (Petra’s)
COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA
Drake White (Coyote Joe’s) Cody Johnson (PNC Music Pavilion)
POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ
Kloud (Blackbox Theater)
HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B
Ryze Hendricks (The Rooster)
COVER BANDS
Bearly Dead (Evening Muse)
Davis & the Love w/ Pluto Duo (Goldie’s) Landslide (Fleetwood Mac tribute) (Middle C Jazz)
SATURDAY
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
THURSDAY
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
MAY 8
Almost Monday w/ Adrian Lyles, Fox Royale (Amos’ Southend)
Maul w/ Blaakhol, Vanta, Autophagus (The Milestone)
FUNK/JAM BANDS/REGGAE
Shana Blake’s Musical Menagerie (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar)*
POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ
Knox (The Underground)
HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B
The Temptations w/ The Four Tops (Ovens Auditorium) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA
Hackensaw Boys (Neighborhood Theatre) COVER BANDS
Right to Party (Middle C Jazz)
FRIDAY
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
The Lenny Federal Band (Comet Grill)*
MAY 9
Elijah Cruise w/ Brachtopus, Nester (Evening Muse)
COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA
Vincent Mason (Coyote Joe’s)
The Brothers Gillespie (Evening Muse)
Diamond Dixie w/ Matthew Church (Goldie’s)
Woody w/ Tobacco Road, Forevergreen (Petra’s)
Jason Moss & The Hosses w/ Hang-Over Royale (The Rooster)
POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ
honestav w/ Damien Styles (Amos’ Southend)
Grentperez (The Underground)
HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B
LAMÄR w/ Sapphire Monet, Sanpriest (Snug Harbor)
JAZZ/BLUES
Braxton Bateman w/ The Bleus (Camp North End)
Ally Venable (Heist Brewery & Barrel Arts)
Kim Waters (Middle C Jazz) LATIN/WORLD
Victor Manuelle (Ovens Auditorium) SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC
Ma w/Jen Ford, Mandako (Starlight on 22nd) COVER BANDS
Journeyman (Eric Clapton tribute) (The Amp Ballantyne)
Runaway Gin (Phish tribute) (Visulite Theatre)
MAY 10
SUNDAY
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
Leaving Echoes w/ Porcelain Parrot, Digital Dolls, January Knife (The Milestone)
Malcolm Todd (The Underground) SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC
Five For Fighting w/ String Quartet (Neighborhood Theatre)
JAZZ/BLUES
Kenny G (Ovens Auditorium)
Kim Waters (Middle C Jazz)
POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ
Jacquees w/ Dej Loaf (The Fillmore)
CLT Video Vault Presents: Yo! 90’s Hip Hop (Petra’s) Soul Sundays (Starlight on 22nd)
LATIN/WORLD
Iván Cornejo (PNC Music Pavilion)
COVER BANDS
Cabernet Cabaret (Carolina Theatre)
MONDAY
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
MAY 11 MAY 12
Southpaw w/ Resistor, Deathbloom, Split In Two (The Milestone)
Brokencyde (The Rooster)
FUNK/JAM BAND/REGGAE
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets (Amos’ Southend) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA
Sturgill Simpson (Skyla Amphitheatre)
JAZZ/BLUES
The Bill Hanna Legacy Jazz Session (Petra’s) OPEN MIC
Find Your Muse Open Mic feat. Keller Rae (Evening Muse)
TUESDAY
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
Red Rocking Chair (Comet Grill)* Pierce the Veil (PNC Music Pavilion)
MAY 13
SCUM w/ Saints of Solomon, RG Stoner, MyNameIsDoc, AZ The Fallen (The Rooster)
Arch Enemy (The Underground) JAZZ/BLUES
GA-20 w/ Zach Person (Neighborhood Theatre) COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
Red Rocking Chair (Comet Grill)*
Bermuda Search Party w/ Cannibal Kids (Petra’s)
Rosegarden Funeral Party w/ Trigger Discipline, Summore (Snug Harbor)
LATIN/WORLD
Duki (The Fillmore) COVER BANDS
Grateful Shred (Neighborhood Theatre)
OPEN MIC
Tosco Music Open Mic (Evening Muse)
Open Mic Night feat. The Smokin J’s (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar)*
WEDNESDAY
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
MAY 7
Calabrese w/ Zombeast, Hellfire 76 (Snug Harbor)
SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC
Josh Daniel, Jim Brock & Kerry Brooks (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar)*
POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ
Elderbrook (The Fillmore)
ROCK/PUNK/METAL
Billy Joel & Sting (Bank of America Stadium)
3rd Street Band w/ The Great Indoors (Evening Muse)
DAZR (Goldie’s)
Primus w/ Puscifer, A Perfect Circle (PNC Music Pavilion)
POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ
Bingo Loco (Blackbox Theater)
Mythm (Blackbox Theater)
Sidequest feat. DJ RPG, FZXXX (The Milestone)
Off the Wall feat. w/ Chief Rocka Aking, DJ Justice, Danielle Kharmann (Snug Harbor)
FUNK/JAM BAND/REGGAE
Michael Franti & Spearhead (The Amp Ballantyne)
Perpetual Groove (Neighborhood Theatre)
Crystal Fountains (Primal Brewery)
COUNTRY/FOLK/AMERICANA
Austin McNeill w/ Moose Miller (Evening Muse)
JAZZ/BLUES
Kim Waters (Middle C Jazz)
HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B
Sturgill Simpson (Skyla Amphitheatre) POP/DANCE/ELECTRONIC/DJ
Shakira (Bank of America Stadium)
SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC
The Mike Strauss Trio (VisArt Video) OPEN MIC
Open Mic Night feat. The Smokin J’s (Smokey Joe’s Cafe & Bar)*
*WEEKLY EVENTS THAT MAY BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. VISIT QCNERVE.COM FOR THE FULL SOUNDWAVE LISTING
JOE w/ Musiq Soulchild, Eric Benét (Bojangles Coliseum)
JAN. 25
MAY 3
Regence w/ Altered Vision, Slow Stab (The Milestone) Afield w/ Feyleux, It’s Snakes (Petra’s)
Jimfest: Out West (The Rooster)
House Jumper of Love w/ Boo Boo Spoiler (Snug Harbor) HIP-HOP/SOUL/R&B
Kendrick Lamar w/ SZA (Bank of America Stadium)
JAZZ/BLUES
Samara Joy (Belk Theater)
Gena Chambers & the Gen-X Crew (Middle C Jazz)
Lovell Bradford Trio Jazz Jam (VisArt Video)
OPEN MIC
Singer/Songwriter Open Mic (The Rooster)*
Open Hearts Open Mic (Starlight on 22nd)
G-Eazy (The Underground)
SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC
Val Merza w/ Joseph Gallo, Marissa Missing (Petra’s)
Open Hearts Spring Showcase (Starlight on 22nd)
COVER BANDS
Get Poison’d (Amos’ Southend)
Cabernet Cabaret (Carolina Theatre)
Love It To Death (Alice Cooper tribute) (Visulite Theatre)
HYMNAL HOPS
Carolina Beer Choir lights up the room with convivial concerts
BY PAT MORAN
On March 15, the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day, an affable group of people gathered at Divine Barrel Brewing in NoDa. Some were clad in the green T-shirts associated with America’s unofficial drinking holiday and a few ordered beers in the sunlit taproom.
When two men sat down, one behind a music stand and a microphone and the other at a piano, it became clear that more was afoot than a simple gathering of friends quaffing a few brews; these celebratory beer drinkers were here to croon, carol and chorus.
Keyboardist Dave Barnaba struck the opening chords that kicked off a jaunty singalong while choirmaster and ringleader Pete Leo led Carolina Beer Choir in song.
“The beer choir is the choir that sings while drinking beer/ The beer choir is the choir that sings while drinking beer/ So bottoms up! Cheers!/ Let’s sing while drinking beer...”
“It’s a fun tune,” says songleader Leo, who founded the Carolina Beer Choir.
In his day job, Leo is the artistic and executive director of Carolina Voices, a nonprofit choral arts organization committed to uniting communities through song. Launched as Charlotte Choral Society in 1953, the organization is known for its annual Singing Christmas Tree — a towering, tree-shaped structure adorned with lights and singers who perform holiday classics from within its branches.
Though lesser known than that inspiring holiday favorite, Carolina Voices also supports three vocal ensembles: MainStage, Impromptu Singers, and Festival Singers. Carolina Beer Choir is yet another, less formal outfit sponsored by Carolina Voices, a local chapter of a national organization, the national Beer Choir organization.
Brewing up a beer choir
Founded in St. Louis in 2015 by composer Michael Engelhardt, Beer Choir is a national movement in which people gather in pubs and breweries to drink and sing together. The organization’s website boasts
70 chapters ranging from New Orleans and Los Angeles/Southern California to O’Neill, Nebraska and Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Leo was teaching high school in Wheaton, Illinois when he learned about Beer Choir. He loved the idea of people singing beer songs while drinking, socializing and having a good time, so he mentally bookmarked the organization and its concept.
A Wheaton native, Leo got his start singing in the local Methodist church where his father served as pastor. Struck by the performing bug, he joined the Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus, which performs regularly with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Leo toured nationally and internationally with the chorus, and the experience encouraged him to study music education.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, then a Master’s of Music in Choral Conducting from the University of Southern California, Leo became a high school choir director in Wheaton before moving to Charlotte in 2008.
He connected with Carolina Voices through the Singing Christmas Tree while serving as director of music and worship arts at Matthews United Methodist Church. After 11 years, Leo left Matthews United Methodist and has been working with Carolina Voices since 2011.
In 2017, Leo reached out to Adam Reinwald, current artistic director and owner of Beer Choir, who had acquired the business from Engelgardt. Leo got the go-ahead to launch a Charlotte chapter of the choir. The parent organization compiled a choir hymnal, arrangements of traditional pub tunes, pop hits and song parodies.
“[Reinwald] allowed us to download the hymnal for free and away we ran,” Leo says. In 2023, Carolina Beer Choir received a formal charter as a Beer Choir chapter. The national organization handles booking details for all Charlotte engagements in return for nominal dues.
Singing with suds
“Not being prepared is essential to the concept of Carolina Beer Choir,” Leo says.
Unlike traditional choirs, Carolina Beer Choir doesn’t require rehearsals or auditions. The idea is that when you attend a show, you become the show, singing tunes from the tipsy hymnal at local breweries.
When Leo started recruiting singers for the choir, he reached out to several people who volunteer and perform for Carolina Voices.
“There are a number of singers … at Carolina Voices, who, after rehearsal, love to go grab a drink,” Leo says.
So why not include a little singing with the drinking, Leo reasoned. It turned out to be an easy sell.
In an email to Queen City Nerve, Daniel Sykes writes that he’s been a member of Carolina Voices’ Mainstage Choir for eight years and has been involved with Carolina Beer Choir since its inception.
Sykes’ favorite tune to perform with the choir is “The Wild Rover.”
“It’s a great Irish singing song [where] you have to speed up,” Leo says. “Each time you do the next verse, you gotta do it faster.”
Current Carolina Voices member Kari Anderson writes that she joined the crew after first engaging with Carolina Voices.
“My favorite Beer Choir song is ‘Do Re Mi,’ a parody from The Sound of Music,” Anderson writes. “We sing ‘Ray, the guy who pours my beer,’ because we have a singer named Ray who we all point to.”
Leo emphasizes the choir’s casual approach to performing. The singing may be accomplished, but the atmosphere is chill and the show is devoted to fun — and fundraising. At Divine Barrel shows, the venue contributes a dollar for every beer sold during the choir’s set to Carolina Voices.
As choir members filter into a show venue, Leo distributes copies of the hymnals. Barnaba mans the keyboards while Leo acts as song leader. Typically the gig lasts two hours, with four half-hour sets including four to five songs apiece.
In between each set, Leo leads trivia contests where audience members vie for dollar-store prizes or Barnaba will play a few opening notes asking contestants to name the tune. Choir members also
drink and socialize between sets. Leo claims that he and Barnaba do their level best to keep up with the rest of the group with their drinking
“We like to say the more we drink, the better we sound,” Leo says, adding that no one has ever gotten too tipsy to sing.
Each show typically opens with the Beer Choir theme song.
“We jump into familiar songs and sprinkle in some new ones along the way,” Leo says.
The Charlotte choir has been adding songs of its own to the repertoire, and Leo proudly proclaims that the latest edition of the national Beer Choir hymnal includes several new tunes added by Carolina Beer Choir.
Leo notes that renditions of Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me” and Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places” are audience favorites.
“We’ve developed a special closing number,” Leo says: a parody of “All By Myself” by singer-songwriter Eric Carmen, rewritten to include the heartrending refrain, “Drunk by Myself.”
“People just belt it out,” Leo says.
Since launching in 2017 with a show at Uptown’s 7th Street Market, Carolina Beer Choir has continued to grow. Leo cites a Feb. 29, 2020 performance at Salud in NoDa as one of his favorites. It took place on leap year, retitled Leap Beer for the occasion.
“We had over a hundred people participating,” Leo remembers.
Oktoberfest and St. Patrick’s Day have typically been the most regular dates for Carolina Beer Choir shows, Leo notes, adding that the ensemble’s first Christmastime show on Dec. 1, 2024, at Divine Barrel Brewing, was also a rousing success.
The Carolina Beer Choir has also booked its first show at the expanded Beer Temple in Matthews on June 12.
Leo’s goal for the choir’s convivial gigs is for all participants — performers and audience alike — to have a good time while raising funds for Carolina Voices and awareness for the city’s craft beer brewing scene.
Carolina Beer Choir reminds participants that it’s so much fun to lift our voices in song — and we don’t have to be great vocalists to do it.
PMORAN@QCNERVE.COM
Courtesy of CBC
A Carolina Beer Choir member with his hymnal at a Funktoberfest event in 2024.
FOOD & DRINK FEATURE
IN THE MIX
The world is learning what the city already knew about Colleen Hughes
BY RYAN PITKIN
For a split second after walking into Leluia Hall in Dilworth on a recent afternoon, I got the briefest glimpse of what it might be like to work for Colleen Hughes, beverage director for the distinguished Tonidandel-Brown Restaurant Group and one of Charlotte’s most renowned mixologists.
When I arrived, Hughes was staring at the back service well, envisioning the restaurant group’s newest restaurant on its busiest day and forming a plan for how exactly her team can best utilize that well — or “maximize for full-throttle output,” as she later put it — once Leluia Hall opens and the customers start streaming in.
I wasn’t rudely brushed off nor was I warmly greeted as I entered. Hughes simply got to business, leading me to a back booth where she had apparently already envisioned the interview taking place. She remarked that I looked familiar and she was sure that we had met somewhere but didn’t appear interested in digging back through the memories to recall how or where that occurred; she was ready to be interviewed.
I could barely turn on my voice recorder app before Hughes was off, deftly recollecting her start with Tonidandel-Brown at Crepe Cellar and Growlers Pourhouse 15 years prior then running through her experience helping them open establishments that have since become Charlotte staples: Haberdish, Supperland, Ever Andalo.
The experience, while intense, was not a bad one by any means. I always prefer to let interview subjects decide on whatever aspects of the experience will make them most comfortable. It
was clear that Hughes had done this before and I respected the fact that, with only a couple weeks left until Leleuia Hall was set to open, I was another task on a daunting to-do list.
In fact, I was honored that a luminary like Hughes would give me the time of day under such pressure. She was clearly in her zone; opening new restaurants is just what Colleen Hughes does.
With her “partner in crime” Rhea Buck taking on the bar manager role at Leluia Hall, Hughes has been helping in a consultant role of sorts.
Having worked closely with Buck, bar manager at Supperland, for years, Hughes jokingly described the situation as, “She makes it happen and I take credit.”
And credit is coming in droves. Having already been recognized with a slew of awards and acknowledgments in both the local and national press, Hughes notched a new accomplishment in January when she was named a semifinalist for a coveted James Beard Award in a brand new category: Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service.
While she was not named a finalist, the nomination alone was a meaningful milestone, especially as someone representing the service industry in a city that is considered a minor market. Sitting in our corner booth, we discussed how that nomination led to one of the most overwhelming days of Hughes’ career, her journey in mixology, and how she maintains focus in the stressful days leading up to a restaurant’s grand opening.
STORY
The following interview has been edited for clarity and trimmed down from a notably longer conversation to adjust for space.
Queen City Nerve: When you came on at Growlers Pourhouse in 2010, was it just meant to be a bartending gig like any other or did you know you were pursuing a career?
Colleen Hughes: I definitely at that point would have described myself as a service industry lifer. I enjoyed the service industry. It was my main thing. At that time, I don’t think I realized or wrapped my mind around the fact that I was going to be in a hospitality career for life. It was more like, you know, it’s a good job, I like the job, it’s good money. I really didn’t particularly care for college and I realized pretty quickly that this was one of the few situations where I was going to be able to make a good income without having to get a degree.
That being said, in my early days of bartending when I was still at Crepe Cellar and Growlers but I wasn’t like a manager at any point, I did get into that great tradition of bartenders: I got my real estate license because I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life.
But it was actually in that time where I was getting my real estate license actually when I started getting a lot of press for my cocktails. I was getting a lot more recognition for doing them. And up until that time, I wasn’t really getting paid to do them. I was just doing them because I thought they were interesting.
I was kind of bored and so, after I finished real estate school and got my certificate or whatever, I worked in real estate for a short period of time. But I really was much better at making a drink than I was at selling a house. And the cocktail side was really taking off, so I just, you know, changed my focus back.
What was it that made you realize you were really good at that aspect of it?
I think it takes everybody, especially in a creative space, a long time to recognize that they’re good at something or better than someone else. I got into it early. I got in it when there wasn’t very many people in Charlotte doing it.
Craft cocktails were starting to hit off in bigger cities on a more national level, but here there really was only a handful of people engaged in it. And so part of it was just like good timing … I was very much self taught in the early days, but you know, the acknowledgment, guests coming in and watching, wanting to try my stuff, that kind of stuff really helped me bring it [to another level].
People were bringing their friends in to drink [my cocktails]. I think it was just because everybody’s got a subtle amount of self loathing or whatever, so just having people tell me that they enjoyed it kind of helped push me through. I had a lot of regulars who were coming in pretty often and being very encouraging.
After a while, the bosses started to recognize the fact that I was doing well, that liquor sales were really starting to overtake all the other aspects before that.
I remember Jeff [Tonidandel] at one point telling me, “For the first time ever, we have sold more
dollars in liquor than we have beer and wine. It’s outsold beer and wine for the first time ever.” So that’s when they kind of started getting behind me. But it took a while.
By the time when they built Haberdish, it was built to be my bar. It was the first time I was, to a certain extent, given free rein over the program and what I wanted to do. And it opened and it was very successful. So that’s really probably when the wind kind of hit my sails.
You’ve scientific when it comes to mixology. What brought that about?
There was this long gap in time with COVID where I wasn’t in a restaurant early on … But after COVID had started [Jeff] basically hired me back on and he’s like, “I know there’s all these things that you’ve always wanted to learn how to do or master or just have the time and the brain space to figure out, so take that time now. You don’t have to worry about writing the menu, but just all these things I know you want to figure out how to do, do them.”
I always wanted to learn molecular mixology, but there’s no books on it, so I literally had to just learn it. I had to experiment. Getting more antiwaste or more into greening up our bars, cleaning up our operations. How do we get better, faster and essentially more green in our operations? I’d taken classes on it, but I never had the time to figure out how to quite implement it on the scale that I needed to implement it in because the scaling is huge. So for about six months I just kind of made the same, like, eight things over and over again to really hone them in and make sure that we could deliver them. And I worked on learning things like … cocktail airs, foams, spherification, acid adjusting, bigger things that still no one’s really written a book on. I got that opportunity to do it and really suss it out.
It’s not sexy to talk about acid adjusting. We don’t talk about it a ton but it’s something we do and a lot of times we are doing it to sort of amp up our anti-waste goals or reduce our carbon footprint. We use science to help us get greener in a certain way.
You’ve opened quite a few of the TonidandelBrown restaurants as beverage director. Has it become easier?
The Speakeasy at Supperland really is operationally its own restaurant. Like, it is not the same menu, it’s not the same food. I kind of think of it as its own teeny restaurant.
Basically, we open a new restaurant every 10 weeks. That restaurant runs for 10 weeks, we close that restaurant, and we open a new teeny, tiny restaurant that runs for 10 weeks with a new food menu and new cocktails.
It’s a cocktail tasting menu, so it’s a lot of details, but we’ve gotten very good at, like, finding out the tiny details in advance because we’re every 10 weeks opening a new little restaurant.
We’re about to launch the 20th menu of The Speakeasy at Supperland. So thinking about opening 20 teeny, tiny little restaurants. You get a lot of practice with that sort of thing.
Photo by Justin Driscoll
Colleen Hughes at Supperland
What’s new that you’re looking forward to at Leluia Hall?
Maybe you’ve realized this, but no one in Charlotte has ever successfully pulled off a tropical “tiki” or rum bar. I try to personally steer clear of saying “tiki bar,” as it does have some cultural appropriation issues; we prefer to call ourselves like a sort of more tropical-minded cocktail program. Anytime anybody’s opened one [in Charlotte], they have closed within a couple years. Some of them have been good, some of them have been bad, but they have just never stuck around in this market. So a very strong rum is our primary focus and especially, intrinsically, a lot of rums that you can’t purchase in North Carolina.
Pisco is kind of our second littler piece because I like to have a main piece and then a littler piece. And no one, with the exception of Yuma, has really focused on pisco in this market, either. And we’re really good at actionably figuring out how to deliver our cocktail menus at a volume that we need to and in time that we need to.
A lot of times, pitfalls with your more traditional tropical cocktail bars is that they aren’t good at figuring out how to not have drinks with 67 fucking ingredients that every single one has to be poured on the spot and they just take too long. So you could order a round of six drinks and you’re waiting for 25 minutes for them all to come out.
We’re very good at [managing] speed bump cocktails. We put volume drivers in kegs because if we’re gonna have a drink that takes two minutes
FOOD & DRINK FEATURE STORY
to make, we have to have, like, four drinks that can be done in under a minute. That kind of thing sort of decompresses our wells so we can actually get these drinks to the table. Because I hate personally if I’m at a restaurant and my appetizers have hit the table and my drinks still don’t show up for 15 minutes. That drives me insane.
So we try very hard to make sure that our wells and our drinks are set up in the specific way to make us as fast as possible.
You’ve been open about your own struggles with dyslexia. How do you work that advocacy into the way you train your staffs?
We’ve been working on it while we’re implementing our bar training here, being a little bit more conscientious of it. I’ve even said to them, “Sometimes it’s going to seem a little repetitive,” but we’re trying to make sure that our major training is “see, read, do.” We’re hitting all three.
I’m an audio learner. Some people are visual learners. Some people really just like learning hands-on. So we’re trying to make sure that we address all of that in our bar training program here. And it’s kind of like our incubator for it. We’ve gotten a little bit better at Supperland about it, but really just saying, “This is how we will train moving forward.”
And on the national level I’ve been working within the [US Bartenders’ Guild] to talk about alternative learning styles because a lot of people choose bartending because, like me, college just really
wasn’t a great fit for them, because the way you learn isn’t the same way that they want you to learn in academia.
This year you were named a James Beard semifinalist. What did that mean to you?
In the moment I was super excited and then I was extremely overwhelmed. I think in that first day that the [nominations] came out, I had, like, hundreds of people texting me and DMing me … I was so overwhelmed. I think I went through every emotion in the world, from just bawling my eyes out to completely freaking out, being okay, like every gamut of feelings you could have. Now it is really nice.
There’s only a few major awards in the bar industry and when you look at those, you rarely see smaller cities, minor markets, as we call smaller cities, or control states, and we are very much a control state, we have a lot of odds stacked against us. We can’t just buy whatever we want whenever we want it. You know, we can’t buy a lot of stuff. We have to special order. It takes a lot of thought and planning. You just can’t say, I want this random X and it just shows up the next day. That’s just not how it works.
Also, a lot of times when you see those other big awards, they’re in cities that people — industry people or people in general — just travel to a lot anyway. Your New Yorks, your Miami, your New Orleans, they’re in Vegas … Seattle, places that people go to a lot anyway on vacations or for events
or for whatever. You tend to see them more centered there and, very rarely, occasionally, but not always outside of there.
And usually if there’s somebody who’s gotten nominated in a major award like that, they’re from a big market and they’re very well-known and then they move to a smaller place and open a bar, which I’m sure is amazing, but is it really a homesprung thing? Not never, but it’s less common.
So for me, just the acknowledgment of how hard I’ve been working, how hard the city’s been working and how hard all the other bartenders have been working to just even get that kind of acknowledgment here.
I know I personally got nominated, but I also know that I wouldn’t have been able to if a lot of people hadn’t been doing their jobs well. You know, it’s like it is a personal award, but it really isn’t, especially in a city like this. I think maybe it would be different if we were in New York and you were like, I got this nomination because you’re in so much already, but here it really took a lot just to get to that level. So I’m certainly very thankful for that. And I don’t forget that, you know.
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RPITKIN@QCNERVE.COM
APRIL 30 - MAY 6 MAY 7 - MAY 13
ARIES (March 21 to April 19) A seemingly stalled romantic situation could benefit from your reassurance that you want this relationship to work. And if you do, use a tad more of your irresistible Arian charm!
TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Going to new places and meeting new people appeals to both the Taurean’s romantic and practical side. After all, you never can tell where these new contacts will take you, right?
GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) A career-changing opportunity that didn’t work out when you first considered it could come up again. But this time, remember that you have more to offer and act accordingly.
CANCER (June 21 to July 22) There could be some tensions in relationships — domestic or workaday. But a calm approach that doesn’t raise anger levels and a frank discussion will soon resolve the problem.
LEO (July 23 to August 22) It’s a good idea to begin preparing for a career change that you’ve been thinking about for a while. Start to sharpen your skills and expand your background to be ready when it calls.
VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Bless the Virgo skepticism that has kept you from falling into traps that others seem to rush into. But you might want to give a new possibility the benefit of the doubt, at least on a trial basis.
LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Travelingand career-related energy is strong in your aspect. Perhaps your job will take you to someplace exotic, or you might be setting up meetings with potential clients or employers. Whatever it is, good luck!
SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Someone might use deception to try to push you into making a decision that you’re not fully comfortable with. But your keen SCORPIO senses should keep you alert to any such attempt.
SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Romance dominates this week when Cupid shafts the Archer for a change. Positive things are also happening in the workplace. Expect important news to arrive by the week’s end.
CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Anyone trying to bully the Sea Goat — whether it involves a personal or professional matter — will learn a painful lesson. Others will also benefit from the Goat’s strong example.
AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) Congratulations! With things going the way they are, you should be able to spare some time and take a break from your hectic schedule for some well-earned fun and games.
PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Your sharp Piscean intuition should be able to uncover the true agendas of those who might be trying to catch the Fish in one of their schemes.
BORN THIS WEEK: Your flair for innovative art and design keeps you at least a step ahead of most everyone else. You’re a visionary!
ARIES (March 21 to April 19) The cautious side of your usually adventurous nature stands you in good stead this week. Someone might, indeed, be trying to pull the wool over the Sheep’s eyes.
TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Planetary alignment still causes unsettling situations. Consider delaying matters that aren’t a priority until the weekend. Cheer up! The next such alignment isn’t until 2028.
GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Family matters take precedence. Spend more time with those close to you. A career move sounds promising, but ask for more facts before making a decision.
CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Your watchword this week is “tact!” While honesty is, of course, the best policy, it’s best to temper your tendency toward bluntness with discretion.
LEO (July 23 to August 22) Nothing pleases our Leos and Leonas more than to know they’re admired, and this week, you’ll be overwhelmed with compliments. Enjoy the adulation! You earned it.
VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) You’re making progress in your dealings with a troubled loved one. Continue to offer understanding and support. You’ll soon see positive results.
LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Change is favored this week. You might want to reassess a situation that has become too demanding. Also, reconsider a job move that you rejected earlier.
SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) A loved one returns after a long separation. At work, a decision is made that could lead to the changes you hoped for. The next step is up to you.
SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) This is a good time to set things straight in your personal relationships. Some decisions might be difficult but necessary if you’re to turn things around.
CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Cupid rules the Capricorn Goat’s heart this week. It’s a good time to start a new romance or reaffirm your commitment to your current beloved.
AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) Travel and entertainment are favored for the rest of the month. You earned this good time. Enjoy it with friends and family members!
PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Someone you’ve been close to reveals a secret that could put this relationship at risk. Consider the full impact of the admission before making a decision.
BORN THIS WEEK: You have a sense of justice that sometimes makes you a mite too judgmental, but it also makes you a trusted, loyal friend.
1. TELEVISION: Which actor was nominated for an Emmy for the same character on three different sitcoms?
2. MOVIES: Who was the first actor to refuse an Oscar award for Best Actor?
3. GEOGRAPHY: Which modern city is in the shadow of the active volcano Mount Vesuvius?
4. FOOD & DRINK: What gas is used to create seltzer water?
5. SCIENCE: What is the center of an atom called?
6. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: Who are the six men who have made a career Grand Slam in pro golf?
7. ANATOMY: What is the largest artery in the body?
8. LITERATURE: For which category is the O. Henry Award given?
9. ASTRONOMY: Which star system is nearest to our solar system?
10. U.S. PRESIDENTS: How many presidents have died in office?
PLACE A NUMBER IN THE EMPTY BOXES IN SUCH A WAY THAT EACH ROW ACROSS, EACH COLUMN DOWN AND EACH SMALL 9-BOX SQUARE CONTAINS ALL OF THE NUMBERS ONE TO NINE.
NERVE ENDINGS
IT TAKES A VILLAGE
Why the costs of childcare shouldn’t be borne alone
BY GWEN FRISBIE-FULTON
I’m a heck of a proud mom.
My son is graduating high school next month and will head to college in the fall. We’ve spent the last year researching engineering programs and visiting campuses. He’s been accepted into all of his top schools and I’m over the moon.
I’ve known for a long time that college would be a big expense, but I’ve wanted — badly — to make it happen for him. I’m a single mom and never made a lot of money, so I’ve planned the best I can for this moment, putting away savings here and there.
Now, as we apply for scholarships and financial aid and figure out how to tackle this enormous expense, I can’t help but think back to the early days when he was little. The huge, insurmountable financial hurdle was always child care.
A few weeks after my son was born, I returned to work — starting a long decade of negotiating, finagling and being grateful for child care. I trudged through it like it was my burden alone to bear.
Before he was in kindergarten, I paid over half my take-home salary to pay for child care. Half. My. Salary. I know I’m not alone.
Once he started school, the cost went down but I still needed to pay for after-school care because I didn’t get off until 5 p.m.
Those days are long gone. Now he drives, has a job and is increasingly independent. But if I do the math on what I spent on child care and summer programs for that first decade of his life, it comes out to be almost exactly what his first-choice college would cost for all four years. This is the same college I do not have the money to pay for today.
Here in North Carolina, Gov. Josh Stein recently formed a task force to study the problem. According to a report from the NC Department of Commerce, the average annual cost of center-based care for one infant is nearly $13,000 — or, as Stein pointed out, more than tuition at our state’s flagship public university, UNC-Chapel Hill. And that’s if you’re lucky enough to find a spot for your child.
We’ve long known that there is a child care crisis in the United States, with rising costs to parents and low pay for child care workers. Forty percent of those who work in childcare make so little they qualify for some form of public assistance, like food subsidies, according to EdNC. There is one slot available for every five families that need one, resulting in those eye-popping price tags and long waitlists.
Despite all this, we continue to treat childcare as a personal problem that deserves only private suffering. I spent years thinking that it was my own fault that I had a child too young, that I didn’t have a lucrative enough career, that I chose to be a single parent.
But the truth is, child care is a public concern. As alone as I felt, child care wasn’t just my cross to bear. The situation involved my parents, who took my son and his friends for a few weeks each summer into their home because my neighbors and I couldn’t afford summer camps. It also involved my good friend Kathy, who picked my son up from school and watched him until I got home, all for pay well below her value or worth. It involved my neighbors, with whom I would trade child care so we could each attend after-hour work functions or go to the grocery store alone.
And now it’s an intergenerational problem, impacting my son’s college choices because of the past cost of child care.
It’s also an economic problem for our state and our country. A third of parents with young children are putting career plans on hold because of the cost of child care, and 60% miss work due to the difficulty of finding steady child care, according to a 2023 report by the NC Chamber of Commerce.
We all deserve better. Why is our government and our society making it impossible simply to work?
We haven’t made this a political issue because our politics have taught us to believe that the extraordinary burden of child care is our failing, not a collective one.
Gov. Stein’s committee will no doubt land on solutions — and I hope that there will be the political will to achieve them. Creating that political will is up to us: the moms, employers, and child care workers directly impacted by the current failing system. We need to move out of the hushed conversations on the side of the playground and turn our concerns into clear, public demands that can solve this crisis for the next generation.
Gwen Frisbie-Fulton is a North Carolina storyteller and organizer who writes about race, class, gender and politics in the South. Follow her at her Substack: Working Class Storytelling. This opinion column was syndicated by Beacon Media.
Trivia Answers
Kelsey Grammer for “Wings,” “Cheers” and
George C. Scott, for
Naples, Italy.
Carbon dioxide.
Nucleus.
Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
SAVAGE LOVE
DEFAULTING
You have to know the rules to follow them
BY DAN SAVAGE
My wife and I are socially monogamous but have a DADT arrangement that applies if we’re not in our home city. While my wife would prefer that I divulge details to her, I don’t want to hear her details, so we defaulted to DADT based on my preferences. Because we aren’t out to friends about being open and I can’t share this with my wife, I don’t have anyone I can talk to about this, so I am writing to you.
I just had an outstanding weekend getaway with a new friend. Nothing in particular was over the top about our itinerary — saunas and cold plunges followed by fancy meals — but time flew by while also seeming to stand still. The sex was WOW and our conversations about serious subjects were spiced with tongue-in-cheek teasing about this fantasy world we were playing in. She is poly and can share details with her partners, but she enjoys the “secrecy” aspect of my arrangement. We’ve been messaging each other about just how hot our getaway was and have already scheduled our next trip together in a few months. Messaging someone else from “home base” may constitute a rules violation. Here is my question: How do I sustain the erotic tension with this new friend with so much time between now and our next date? We are planning to introduce Shibari into our play next time, with me tying her, so I was thinking sending some self-tie photos or photos of the ties I plan on doing would sustain the erotic tension. But taking photos at “home base” would obviously count as another possible rules violation.
Context for the two “rule violations” I’ve cited: There is an implied agreement between my wife and I to suspend engagement with play partners while at “home base.” This is probably more my rule than my wife’s rule.
BENDING RULES IN EROTIC FRENZY
Let’s get the question you asked out of the way first: Will sending your new friend photos of Shibari knots sustain the erotic tension in the long run-up to your next meeting? Maybe. Maybe not. What works for one person — what cranks one person up — doesn’t necessarily work for another person. Hearing about your sexual adventures turns your wife on, apparently, while hearing about hers turns you off. That’s why you defaulted to “don’t ask, don’t tell.” So yeah, sending knotty photos is obviously gonna work for you — that’s why you wanna do it — but only your new friend knows whether they’re gonna work for her.
So, ask her. Dirty pics? Dirty texts? Dirty stories? Or would she prefer to reconnect, via text, shortly before your next planned meeting? She could be busy with other partners and, as much as she’s looking forward to connecting with you again, texting
with you on a daily or even weekly basis might be too distracting. Or it could be a welcome distraction — again, you’re gonna have to communicate with her about this, BRIEF, not me. (But even if she wants to swap sexts for the next three months, BRIEF, show a little restraint; you wanna build erotic tension, not burn through it.)
And speaking of communication…
The DADT agreement you have with your wife is way too vague. You mentioned one basic rule in addition to no asking and no telling: no engaging with other partners from home base. But that rule seems to have been implied or inferred somehow, not agreed upon. So, are you allowed to text a play partner when you’re back in your home city? Are sext messages worse than casual check-ins? Is complete radio silence required between visits, or just physical no-contact? And here’s the biggie: Are these “rules” actually rules, or are they just your preferences that your wife is honoring (or mirroring) without question … because that’s what you needed? And if these unwritten/unverbalized rules were defaulted into for your comfort, BRIEF, and they’re not working for you anymore, why haven’t you talked to your wife about changing them? If it’s because you have a hard time talking about this — if opening your marriage was fraught — that’s understandable. If it’s because you want to be free to sext up a storm with your side pieces but don’t want your wife doing the same, that’s not an “arrangement,” BRIEF, that’s a shitty and manipulative double standard.
Non-monogamous relationships require more communication, not less — well, at least the ethically non-monogamous relationships do. While it’s great that you found someone you click with and you’re excited to see again, you owe it to your wife to have a real conversation about the terms of your DADT agreement. You need settings, not default settings; you need agreements, not assumptions. And if you’re allowed to do something — if you’ve already given yourself permission to do something — your wife should be allowed to do that same thing.
I’m a cis woman in my mid-thirties in an open relationship with my long-term partner, who is a trans man. Because I don’t frequently have sex with people other than him, I haven’t been on any kind of contraception since pretty early on in our relationship. It was SUCH a relief to be done with IUDs and birth control pills! Within our open relationship, our rule has been to always use condoms when having sex with people with penises. This goes for both of us, even though my partner can’t get pregnant — it has just been our rule for safety.
As I have gotten back out there, there are more dicks entering my life and I’m noticing that cis men, while respectful of my request for condom use, clearly prefer not to use them. I’m beginning to question this as a hard rule. What if a potential partner has no other sex partners and has been tested for STIs? What if they do have other sex partners but have been tested? What if they’ve had a vasectomy? What if they haven’t? What if we are careful with the pull-out method AND maybe take extra precautions using the Fertility Awareness Method? I’d like to hear your take on condoms for PIV sex, which might also help me to talk about it with my primary partner. Help a girl out who wants to raw dog it sometime soon?
WANTS A PENIS
You and your partner agreed to one very explicit rule — good on you both for making the rules clear — and now you want to renegotiate that rule. It’s going to be a complicated conversation, WAP, and you may not get the answer you want right away (or at all), but renegotiating the rules shouldn’t be against the rules.
Here are my thoughts on condoms and PIV sex: Seeing as abortion has been banned or heavily restricted in more than half the states, and seeing as Republicans are right now working to roll back access to both medication abortion and birth control, anyone with a working flesh-and-blood dick who wants to raw dog a casual sex partner — straight guys, bi guys, pan guys, non-binary theys, homoflexible gays, whatever — should get a vasectomy before those are banned. Now more than ever, men and other dick-having AMABs need to ejaculate responsibly, in the immortal (and viral) words of Gabrielle Stanley Blair, aka “Design Mom.”
In fairness to the men and other penis-having people you’ve been with, WAP, it doesn’t sound like you’re being pressured into ditching condoms by selfish or inconsiderate dicks. You’re the one who wants a raw dogging — for your own reasons, for your own pleasure — and you’re reassessing the risks for your own sake. So, it’s time to reopen negotiations with your partner about the condomon-every-dick rule you agreed to when you first opened your relationship. You don’t want to ditch condoms entirely — that would be buts — but you would like to be able to make exceptions for trusted, regular partners who’ve been tested recently and maybe aren’t sleeping with anyone else right now.
Now, a negative STI test result doesn’t confer immunity. Someone could pick up an STI after testing, WAP, and if they slept with you before they started showing symptoms, you could wind up infected too. That might be an unacceptable risk in your partner’s eyes … but it might not be. If your partner is having sex with cis men, he’s probably encountered guys who don’t want to use condoms — or refuse to use condoms — because they’re on PrEP and DoxyPEP. For all you know, WAP, your partner may want to renegotiate the condom rule just as badly as you do.
P.S. Gay guys? They’re coming for our PrEP too.
I’m a lesbian in my early twenties who just started experimenting with anal with my girlfriend. It’s been great fun! However, I have
discovered that my ass gets wet, producing sizeable quantities of slightly yellow slippery discharge — enough that a bit sometimes squirts out when I fart! Everything I have read says that the rectum should be fairly dry. What could be the root of my self-lubing asshole?!?
WE’RE EXPLORING THIS ANAL STUFF SERIOUSLY
Oh, I love a good, ol’ fashioned sex question: If you’re using as much lube as you should as an anal newbie — and you should be using a lot and then adding more — some of that lube is gonna get so far up inside you, WETASS, that you’re not gonna be able to crap it all out when you’re done. Which means some residual/leftover lube is gonna work its way down and out over the next 12 hours or so. So, if you’ve only noticed your ass producing slightly yellow slippery discharge (technical term: santorum) on the days you’ve done butt stuff, that’s probably just lube leaking out of you. But if you’re noticing discharge even on days when your girlfriend hasn’t been plowing your ass, that could be a sign of a sexually transmitted infection, WETASS, and you’re gonna need to talk to a doctor about that, not an advice columnist.
Got problems? Yes, you do! Email your question for the column to mailbox@savage.love; or record your question for the Savage Lovecast at savage. love/askdan; podcasts, columns and more at Savage.Love.
