We have invited a couple of the most talented servers from the Duckworth’s location as well hand-picking the rest of the staff from around Charlotte’s best restaurants. We will be offering fine dining food in a comfortable setting where you don’t have to get dressed up, with top-notch service. Photo credit Wendy Raymond at Taps & Snaps ( note from Cat-I recommend the East Village) I will recommend The Asian Pear or the Morning Flip as they have been my two favorites so far. I strongly encourage you to read the descriptions of the cocktails on the iPad and choose for yourself which one sounds like you. Ron, and now the rest of us at the Cellar, understand some craft cocktails. Tasty, tasty, research! I have enjoyed the cocktails that Ron has created more than any we tried in New York. Rob Duckworth took us up there for research. Six of us went to New York City and tried cocktails all over the city- this was not as terrible as it sounds. Ron has spent many hours mixing cocktails for us to try this is a tough job, but we can suffer through the sampling of these tasty drinks. The man behind the cocktails is Ron Oleksa. This is a trend that has been catching on in Charlotte, Asheville, Atlanta, and larger southern towns over the past couple of years. One of the most exciting ventures in the new concept is the addition of craft cocktails. We will also be offering some really great wines by the glass as well as by the bottle. We are also focusing on a large bottle selection (for consumption onsite or to take home) in the namesake “Cellar” that will be introduced at a later date. In addition to the draft beer there will be canned mostly local craft beers available. Anyone who is familiar with the Duckworth’s brand will know the only thing modest about the beer wall is the number of taps. The Cellar will contain a modest twenty select taps and a beer engine for cask beers. The Cellar at Duckworth’s is opening to the public July 20th as a gastropub with a beer obsession. I am confident The Cellar will change the dynamic of what we think of as a beer-centric restaurant in the Southeast. It has been really cool to see the progression from week to week as we develop this super restaurant. While that is an exaggeration, I am surrounded by some extremely talented people. This is quite possibly the most brain power in one room since Thomas Jefferson dined alone. Every Wednesday a group of eight experts in their individual fields all met to sculpt this concept.

I am the General Manager of this new concept and I want to share my experience of the development and progression of this restaurant. I don’t normally talk about my own career in a public forum, but to answer all of the questions that I have had from so many people, I will. The most recent location boasts 151 Craft Beer on tap and 170 flat screen TVs! There is also a 55″ iPad mounted to the wall for your beer menu browsing while you wait for a table. There are now five locations in and around the Charlotte area. If you are familiar with Charlotte and/or craft beer, you are surely aware of Duckworth’s Grill and Tap House.

The cellar at duckworth