4 Heist Movies Paired with Heist Brewery

North Carolina’s Heist Brewery is hailed as a leader in Charlotte craft beer. Let’s pair some of their brews with exciting heist movies!

For those who haven’t heard, North Carolina’s craft beer scene all out exploded over the past decade. The state’s dotted all over with brewers slinging everything from sours to stouts, but today the spotlight shines on Heist Brewery in Charlotte.

When Heist opened in 2012, it was a small brewhouse that primarily served as an experimental research and development facility. As Charlotte Magazine notes, there was no production side at the time, but there was a little brewpub whose reputation was far stronger in the realm of cocktails rather than beer.

For most, that’d be the end to any big brewing dreams. But for Heist, it was just a false start. The next couple years saw a small but talented team of former home brewers come on board, and the brewery stealthily worked its way onto the production scene.

Now considered one of the Queen City’s top beer slingers, one could say the brewery’s rise is kind of like its own heist story. That’s a stretch of course — the real story behind Heist’s name goes back to the days of Prohibition.

As brewery owner Kurt Hogan told the Charlotte Observer in 2019, “My buddy and I were just spit balling names…We were really into the Prohibition era, and with Charlotte being a banking capital we wanted to play off of that.”

Even more interestingly, Hogan claims that famous bank robber and original heist-er Baby Face Nelson was his grandmother’s cousin. Turns out the name ‘Heist’ fits the brewery in more ways than one.

Likewise, it’s only fitting to put on a fun caper while you sip their beer.

4 Heist Movies to Pair with 4 Heist Brewery Beers

The Ocean’s movies are often the first that come to mind when thinking of heist movies. But while those are tons of fun and would all make great pairings with Heist Brewery (Ocean’s 11 in particular never gets old), they’re obvious choices. When you’re trying some new beers, why not branch out a little?

Time to assemble the team, slide into stylish montages and prepare for some crazy twists. These four unique heist movies pair beautifully with these four beers from the Charlotte Brewery.

Loophole Theory Stout with Logan Lucky (2017)

Any heist beer and movie pairing list focused around a North Carolina brewery needs to start with Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky. The characters here are from West Virginia, but their whole goal is to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway (just outside of Charlotte in Concord, NC). See? Connections to Heist Brewery’s territory already!

Though as Soderbergh did the Ocean’s movies, one might go into Logan Lucky expecting it to feel very “been there, done that.” But these guys are not George Clooney and his sleek troupe of heist men, nor is the Charlotte Motor Speedway a glitzy Vegas casino. The heist here is an act of desperation by people who don’t do this sort of stuff for a living, but they do have some brains about them, and they do really need the money.   What unfolds is pretty darn fun, and while not thoroughly unpredictable, there are some twists you really don’t see coming.

So, where does Heist’s Loophole Theory Stout fit in? A collaboration with Maine’s Barreled Souls Brewing, this brew’s origins are like a nod to the movie’s heroes recruiting some outside help to unfold their plan. And even though it does pack a mind-walloping 12.5% ABV, the alcohol doesn’t overshadow the delicious flavors of chocolate ganache, nutty caramel, and toasted coconut. Kind of like how the movie doesn’t let its star power steal from the tightly-wound storytelling. This is a film about relatable, unlikely heroes getting what’s theirs (or at least what they believe to be theirs). Daniel Craig is here, but James Bond is nowhere to be found.

Besides, the beer tastes like boozy German chocolate cake, so its desserty goodness is like a celebration of a heist surprisingly well executed in a most unexpected form. Move aside, Danny Ocean. You’ve got some country competition.

Everybody Needs a Thrill Pale Ale with Masterminds (2016)

Masterminds is another North Carolina crime caper, but that’s about as much similarity as it shares with Logan Lucky. The entire premise here is that nobody involved really knows what they’re doing, but boy, do they think they’re on top of it. Fascinatingly, this story also happens to be based on the real-life Loomis-Fargo heist in 1997. Apparently the FBI had the main guy right away, and it didn’t take long to track down the rest of those involved due to their poor planning and miscommunication. The whole shebang makes for a very interesting, entertaining movie helmed by Zach Galfianakis and Kristen Wiig.

Should everybody participate in heists if given the opportunity? No, but everybody does need a thrill sometimes. A much safer bet is exploring an interesting craft beer like Heist’s Everybody Needs a Thrill.

This 5.8% Pale Ale seems like any other Hazy at a glance, but that’s because the adventure’s all on the nose and tongue. Mosaic and Citra Hops are in the boil and the dry hop, along with doses of Cryo Pop. Unfamiliar? This hop product is massively potent and designed for extra intense aromas of stone fruit and citrus. Merged with the vivid flavors of fresh-cut melon and berry from the regular hops, the result is an ethereal and complex dance of flavor.

Needless the say, the beer’s kind of a genius compared to the characters onscreen.

Dark Czech Lager with Inside Man (2006)

Now for something completely different. That’s Heist’s introduction to their description of Dark Czech Lager, which is indeed pretty darn different from most Lagers you’ve tasted. For one thing, it looks like a Porter or Stout when poured. But while it does have a toasted malt quality, this beer is shockingly airy and refreshing in body. And just when you think you know what it’s all about, let it linger on the tongue for dazzling nuances of drippy caramel and chocolate. With this special brew, there’s one special heist movie in particular that comes to mind.

Only Spike Lee’s Inside Man is nowhere near being your typical heist movie. There’s no “gather the team” montage, no overly stylish long-shots, no excess of witty banter or knowing gazes. The story here isn’t that the heist is happening, but how it happened through a series of events that have already taken place by the time we’re dropped in. Also unlike the vast majority of movies in this genre, this one’s told from the perspective of the two detectives on the scene, with input from the numerous people who were held hostage for 24 hours. Or are they the criminals themselves? It’s all very worth the ride.

Addicted to the Shindig IPA with Sneakers (1992)

I can’t help it. Every time I look at the label for Addicted to the Shindig IPA, the RHCP lyrics rise up swiftly in my mind:

Can’t stop addicted to the shindig,
Chop top he says I’m gonna win big,
Choose not a life of imitation,
Distant cousin to the reservation!

I’ve heard a lot of different explanations for the meaning of those lyrics, but I think the literal interpretation is a sign that this beer fits well with the fourth and final heist movie on today’s list. Sneakers follows a group of aging crime professionals who have certainly not chosen a life of imitation. They’ve spent decades “addicted to the shindig,” that is, working as security hackers. Finally, they get a contract with the NSA to recover a mysterious tech box that will clear their names — will they win big?

It might sound like I stretch, but can I mention the fact that the movie takes place in California? Just another thing Sneakers and the beer’s RHCP reference have in common. Besides, Addicted to the Shindig is a West Coast IPA.

Of course, the name’s only one reason to pair up this 7.2% beer with the movie. Brewed with a rarely-seen combination of El Dorado, Sequoia and Azacca Hops, the IPA boasts a wealth of surprisingly soft floral notes throughout each bitter, fruit-and-pine decorated sip. Sneakers too has a surprising softness to it in the midst of all its thrills.

Instead of the suave, confident characters we see in so many other heist movies, the characters here are fairly subdued people. There appears to be a loneliness in their profession, and it’s something they struggle with. Come for the fun, stay for the surprising depth — this beer and movie pairing just makes sense.

Tried Heist Brewery? What movie (and what beer) would you pair up?