The Flying Saucer

If you like beer — not Budweiser or Miller Lite but ales, stouts, porters, or bocks — then you will love The Flying Saucer in the University area of Charlotte. You will really love The Flying Saucer.

With more than 200 beers on their menu, the bar is a beer nerd’s paradise — and the establishment recognizes this with their Web site domain name http://beerknurd.com. What’s more impressive than the gigantic beer menu is that none of the beers are from large American breweries.

You won’t find a Coors Light or a Michelob Ultra, but instead will order pints of craft beers only the most dedicated beer snobs have ever heard of. Breweries like Stone, Founders, Bells and Dogfish Head litter the expansive list, but The Flying Saucer has taken steps to introduce beer novices to this world with a “Saucer Flight” — five taster glasses of different beers to try. 

For those who want a little more long-term adventure, The Flying Saucer created the “U.F.O. Club.” For $18, members of the Club get a “Beerknurd” T-shirt and a membership card. Each visit to The Flying Saucer you will scan your membership card with the bartender and order a beer.

You get prizes for drinking 50, 100, and 150 different beers (over the course of many weeks or years, not in one sitting!), but the real prize comes at number 200. Once you hit this goal, you get immortalized on the wall with the brass plated “Ring of Honor” that states your name, the date completed and a quote of your choice. The walls are decorated with hundreds of plates, but there is still room for more.

The real star of The Flying Saucer is the beer, but the establishment also serves up lots of food to make sure you don’t “fly” on an empty stomach. Appetizers — like Beer Brat Nachos, a Bowl O’ Wings, or a Saucer Bratzel — run $6 to $8. Bratwurst plates, sandwiches, burgers and wraps run $7 to $9. 

HelloCharlotte Tip: Monday’s are $2.75 “Pint Nights,” a less expensive way to rack up beers for the “U.F.O. Club.” 

- by Mike D'Avria, Charlotte Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

He worked for the daily newspaper, The Athens Banner-Herald in Athens, Ga. before turning to freelance writing and video production.

Mike is the Executive Editor of CampLeadership.org, and has lived in Charlotte for four years.