By Jonathan Wells | December 3, 2015
My inbox is full of communiqués from breweries, either touting upcoming events or beer releases, sometimes even providing homebrewing advice. Until last week, it’s all been beer-related until the newly-opened Three Spirits Brewery created a new category: qualified medical advice.
Owner/brewer Tabu Terrell isn’t your average brewmaster, nor is Three Spirits your normal Charlotte brewery. He’s a former emergency room doctor for starters, picking up the homebrewing hobby back in 1999 as a way to destress from work. This is where things get downright Dickensian: He could go the route of Jacob Marley and let his work utterly consume him, or instead have an Ebenezer Scrooge-esque change of heart.
Three years ago Tabu chose the latter option, leaving medicine behind and becoming a stay-at-home dad while planning the eventual Three Spirits Brewery. The name owes itself to the three ghosts that prompted Scrooge’s own change of heart, and a stylized Scrooge curmudgeon graces the brewery’s logo.
The beer focus is on what Tabu refers to as “comfort beers,” those with alcohol contents falling between four and six percent. The highest octane beer on tap at the grand open was Ain’t No Hop Steppin’ IPA, weighing in at a still-manageable 6.5% abv. Other beers of note included an apricot blonde ale sure to appease fans of Magic Hat’s #9 (“Southern Bliss”) and a remarkably crisp Helles lager (“Helles Bane”). In total, six beers comprise the Three Spirits lineup, with the next beer on deck to be an oatmeal chocolate stout.
Overall, the beer quality is surprisingly solid and even for a start-up brewery. Typically, scaling up homebrew recipes to be brewed on a larger system takes some tweaks, but Three Spirits manages to keep from stumbling out the gate.
An unusual journey brought Tabu and his Three Spirits into Charlotte’s beer scene, but his “comfort beers” mentality and relaxing taproom atmosphere make this brewery a welcome new addition to the ranks of Charlotte’s brewing scene.
Three Spirits Brewery is located at 5046 Old Pineville Road in Charlotte, open on Thursday and Friday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday from 2 p.m. until 8 p.m.
https://www.charlotteagenda.com/28753/theres-no-bah-humbug-at-three-spirits-brewery/
