Charlotte, NC is about to get a little bit bubblier as the city gets its first seltzery as Summit Seltzer Co. prepares to open this Friday, September 18. Officially the first seltzery on the east coast, Summit’s brewery and taproom is 3,880 square feet and will serve both hard and soft seltzers on tap. 

Owner Kristin Cagney and head brewer Ben Quinones make all of their craft hard seltzer in the Charlotte facility. Summit’s inaugural menu will have six spiked seltzers on tap ranging from 4.9 to 7.5 percent alcohol. There are also two non-alcoholic seltzers on the menu (lemon and grapefruit, for starters) as well as hard seltzer based cocktails. 

Summit’s hard seltzers come in some truly unique flavors accompanied by clever names. For instance, its No Cap includes jalapeno, green peppers, and pineapple while the Dry Hop WAP (Western Appalachian Pineapple, of course) is made from pineapple, mango, and strawberry. 

Other inaugural flavors include the tart lime Base Camp, Cool as a… (cucumber lime), the mixed berry Chasing Sunsets, and finally the sentimental Toast to Charlotte, an acai berry based seltzer named for Ms. Cagney’s late friend Charlotte. Proceeds from this seltzer will go to Read Charlotte, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting literacy among children in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area.  

The seltzers typically have some color to them due to their fruit and other natural ingredients, as opposed to the clear spiked and sparkling canned drinks to which we’ve grown accustomed. Mr. Quinones and his team have also had fun creating their seltzer based cocktail menu, each of which is its own work of art. 

At $9 per cocktail, each flavor is made from a base of Summit’s 14.5 percent ABV seltzer, making them a strong drink indeed. Cagney says these concoctions are “way more than just club soda.” Ranging from 100 to 150 calories each, these cocktails are still a lighter choice – at least calorically speaking. 

The seltzery’s opening has been highly anticipated by the community of Charlotte and seltzer aficionados alike. For its first two weekends in business, Summit sold online reservations for Fridays and Saturdays. A reservation costs $15 per person, but that price includes two seltzers (normally $5 each for the hard kind) plus a souvenir cup and koozie. 

Ms. Cagney reports that the response to the online reservations has been huge, yet they are taking care to keep customers as distanced as possible. “We did multiple 90-minute block reservations to ensure we could get as many people in as responsibly as possible,” Cagney told us. “We sold out within 8 hours!”

In addition to its variety of house made hard and soft seltzers, the seltzery houses activities like shuffleboard and foosball. In case you work up an appetite, there will be a rotating food truck on hand. Once it is safe to do so, Summit also plans to host larger events, including silent discos, birthday parties, and even yoga and other fitness classes.

2215 Thrift Road, Charlotte, NC

Current hours (subject to change due to social-distancing):
Monday-Thursday, 4-10 PM
Friday  1-11 PM
Saturday  11 AM – 11 PM (currently by reservation only)
Sunday  11 AM – 8 PM

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