Who are we?
Joe Davis
Like many beer drinkers before me, my first real introduction to beer was by way of college parties with kegs and cans of American light lagers. These first interactions with the beverage left me with a bad taste in my mouth (pun intended) and taught me that beer tasted like, well…beer. Things went on like this for a bit until I met some older college friends who had a better appreciation of beer. They drank things called “India pale ales” and after tasting one I wasn’t sure how someone could enjoy drinking these (or how they manage to sell them by the keg). My palate was left dazed and confused, but this experience taught me that beer had one element I hadn’t considered before, flavor. Fast forward a few years and a move to NC and my relatively new beer hobby kept growing. I bought John Palmer’s How to Brew, got a home brew kit, and brewed up a few beers that my friends and I thought were, to quote one of those friends, “not the best beer I’ve ever had, but I would definitely drink these.” Well, life got in the way and the brew setup sat in the closet for a bit. Enter: COVID-19. Shut downs and stay at home orders meant I couldn’t go to my favorite local breweries and easily enjoy their craft. I gained a greater appreciation for beer and dove headfirst into everything beer. I began reading books, purposefully tasting, and trying more styles that I traditionally wouldn’t reach for. I soon rediscovered what I loved about beer in the first place: the complexity, the history, and the flavor. When breweries reopened, I couldn’t wait to get there and enjoy their new beers from a different perspective. This led me to an idea and I reached out to Nick to see if he wanted to start a beer blog with me. Not surprisingly, he said yes and here you are, East Carolina Beer and Brewing. We’re on a mission to refine our palates, explore NC craft beer, boost our home brew knowledge, and most importantly enjoy some brews.
Cheers!
Nick Duncan
Many of you reading this blog will find yourself with plenty of practice drinking and/or brewing craft beer, but I’m sure some of you will be relatively new to the scene. Let me start by saying that my introduction to craft beer was…not very exciting. The first true craft beer I remember was a Goose Island IPA, and the bitterness was not appealing in the slightest. I left IPAs alone for some time, but eventually I started trying new beers from local breweries, which were popping up near me. To my surprise, I was enjoying the taste of the beer I was trying; beer was becoming more than just something I drank in college to have fun. Before moving to NC, I lived in Iowa for 20+ years, and Omaha, NE was seeing an influx of microbreweries in the area. After college, that type of venue seemed more appealing than a bar so I started gravitating toward breweries. I eventually went on my first brewery tour at Lucky Bucket Brewing Co. in La Vista, NE. This was the first of many, and since then, I have toured probably 20+ different breweries of all different sizes – from basement brewing facilities to national distributors like Boulevard, Sierra Nevada, and New Belgium. Seeing how beer was made only increased my desire to continue trying local crafts. When I moved to Greenville in 2016, I found that North Carolina turned out to be a great place to live if you were interested in craft beer; the state is full of breweries and taprooms, so it didn’t take long for me to get even more exposure to different styles of beer. I met Joe in 2017 while enjoying a pint together, and as they say, the rest was history. In the years we’ve known each other, we’ve tried hundreds of beers and visited many different breweries. When he asked me to work on this beer blog with him, showcasing the excellent beer and microbreweries in ENC, I knew it would be a great outlet for us. Joe and I are very excited and passionate about sharing our experiences with new beers, some home brewing, and the great breweries we have the pleasure of visiting. I hope that you enjoy reading!