(Courtesy Gilde)

The Germans are coming! The Germans are coming! And they’re planning to establish a major presence in North Carolina.

Here’s what we know…

Gilde, one of Germany’s oldest brewers is coming to the states and will eventually be building a brewery with the capacity to brew up to 500,000 barrels per year according to the Charlotte Observer.

And the 475 year-old brewer will be establishing its beachhead in a series of steps, starting with Adams Beverages, the largest network of its kind in the region, which has been distributing Gilde imports since 2019.

Next step in Gide’s strategy to further its heritage Pilsners and Hefeweizens in the states is to open actual brick and mortar small-batch brewing facility in Charlotte. And the brewery just released renderings of The Embassy at Gilde Brewery, which the company hopes to open in the Queen City in the fall of 2021.

(Courtesy Gilde)

“We carefully selected Charlotte as our first brewery site outside of Hannover based on the community’s level of interest in high-quality beer and the connection between our two cities through Queen Charlotte, who was Queen of Hannover,” said Mike Gaertner, president of Gilde.

Located in Charlotte’s Lower South End neighborhood, the 9,000-square-foot small-batch brewery will allow seating for 350 guests in both its interior taproom space and outdoor beer garden.

“We’ve been watching Charlotte’s beer scene thrive for almost a decade now,” Karsten Uhlmann, CEO of Gilde said. “As the original craft beer innovators, we will immerse guests in centuries of German brewing heritage combined with the creativity of the American beer movement.”

Willi Wallstab, a renowned German brewing master has been tapped to serve as brewmaster at The Embassy at Gilde Brewery.

According to the press release, Wallstab will move to Charlotte this summer and “become immersed in the Charlotte beer community, oversee the installation of the brewery equipment, and begin brewing operations.”

Under Wallstab’s direction, the brewing team will make and serve Gilde’s six staple beers– pilsner, Kellerbier, Urbock, red rooster, lemon Radler, and pale wheat – in addition to new special releases.

Two-Michelin-Star chef Stefan Hermann has been charged with the creation of Gilde’s culinary program, which will feature German cuisine given a regional and seasonal touch.

The final step in Gide’s strategy to establish itself in the US is to eventually build a much larger production brew facility in Charlotte, which according to the Observer will be “almost 25 times the capacity of Olde Mecklenburg, Charlotte’s biggest brewery.”

All image credits: Gilde/Gensler