Long communal tables and a beer garden greet you at Old Mecklenburg Brewery, a Charlotte institution that draws on the German immigrant heritage of the Piedmont Carolinas to produce traditional lagers and ales in the German style. The brewery was founded in 2009 by John Marrino, who was inspired by the community-centered Biergärten he encountered while living in Munich. The taproom and beer garden that anchor the Old Mecklenburg experience are deliberately designed to evoke that tradition — long communal tables, live music, food, and an outdoor space that encourages lingering conversation rather than hurried drinking.
Charlotte's craft beer scene has exploded since Old Mecklenburg opened, with dozens of breweries now operating across the city, but OMB remains one of the anchors — a place that proved Charlotte had the appetite for thoughtful, locally made beer. German immigrants settled the Piedmont Carolinas in significant numbers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, alongside the Scots-Irish who are more often cited as the region's founding European population. The brewery's German aesthetic is not an affectation; it is a recovery of a heritage that was real and present in this landscape long before anyone thought to celebrate it.