🍻 Charlotte Diary: State of Confusion & Craft Beer Confessions

🍽️ The Restaurant: 📍 State of Confusion (perfect name for my week) Closed-door surprise: Planned to revisit Gilde (to fix my tip blunder), but it was shut on Mon/Tues 😅. Pivot success: Stumbled into this hip spot with local brews on tap. 🍺 The Beer: Mountain Candy IPA Style: American IPA (by a Charlotte brewery) Color: Hazy gold 🏆 Aroma: Zesty citrus + faint candy sweetness 🍬 Taste: Juicy upfront (think: rainbow candy 🍭) Mid-palate: Peach + herbal bitterness 🌿 Finish: Barely-there hops with a phenolic twist Verdict: 83/100—unexpectedly crushable! 🍗 The Food: Cheesy chicken cutlet (survival mode after 3 straight American meals 🤢). Convo with the bartender: Me: "Where’s the hazy IPA love in Charlotte?" Her: Lightning-speed reply (caught 20% 😅) → "Beer = life here!" Bonus: Free coozie souvenir! 😩 The Struggle: 4:30 PM "quitting time"... but 9 AM China meetings mean I work nights. American food fatigue: My Chinese stomach is begging for congee. #Charlotte #CraftBeer #ExpatLife 🍜