On March 15, the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day, an affable group of people gathered at Divine Barrel Brewing in NoDa. Some were clad in the green T-shirts associated with America’s unofficial drinking holiday and a few ordered beers in the sunlit taproom.
When two men sat down, one behind a music stand and a microphone and the other at a piano, it became clear that more was afoot than a simple gathering of friends quaffing a few brews; these celebratory beer drinkers were here to croon, carol and chorus.
Keyboardist Dave Barnaba struck the opening chords that kicked off a jaunty singalong while choirmaster and ringleader Pete Leo led Carolina Beer Choir in song.
“The beer choir is the choir that sings while drinking beer/ The beer choir is the choir that sings while drinking beer/ So bottoms up! Cheers!/ Let’s sing while drinking beer…”
“It’s a fun tune,” says songleader Leo, who founded the Carolina Beer Choir.
In his day job, Leo is the artistic and executive director of Carolina Voices, a nonprofit choral arts organization committed to uniting communities through song. Launched as Charlotte Choral Society in 1953, the organization is known for its annual Singing Christmas Tree — a towering, tree-shaped structure adorned with lights and singers who perform holiday classics from within its branches.
Though lesser known than that inspiring holiday favorite, Carolina Voices also supports three vocal ensembles: MainStage, Impromptu Singers, and Festival Singers. Carolina Beer Choir is yet another, less formal outfit sponsored by Carolina Voices, a local chapter of a national organization, the national Beer Choir organization.
Brewing up a beer choir
Founded in St. Louis in 2015 by composer Michael Engelhardt, Beer Choir is a national movement in which people gather in pubs and breweries to drink and sing together. The organization’s website boasts 70 chapters ranging from New Orleans and Los Angeles/Southern California to O’Neill, Nebraska and Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Leo was teaching high school in Wheaton, Illinois when he learned about Beer Choir. He loved the idea of people singing beer songs while drinking, socializing and having a good time, so he mentally bookmarked the organization and its concept.
A Wheaton native, Leo got his start singing in the local Methodist church where his father served as pastor. Struck by the performing bug, he joined the Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus, which performs regularly with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Leo toured nationally and internationally with the chorus, and the experience encouraged him to study music education.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, then a Master’s of Music in Choral Conducting from the University of Southern California, Leo became a high school choir director in Wheaton before moving to Charlotte in 2008.
He connected with Carolina Voices through the Singing Christmas Tree while serving as director of music and worship arts at Matthews United Methodist Church. After 11 years, Leo left Matthews United Methodist and has been working with Carolina Voices since 2011.
In 2017, Leo reached out to Adam Reinwald, current artistic director and owner of Beer Choir, who had acquired the business from Engelgardt. Leo got the go-ahead to launch a Charlotte chapter of the choir. The parent organization compiled a choir hymnal, arrangements of traditional pub tunes, pop hits and song parodies.
“[Reinwald] allowed us to download the hymnal for free and away we ran,” Leo says. In 2023, Carolina Beer Choir received a formal charter as a Beer Choir chapter. The national organization handles booking details for all Charlotte engagements in return for nominal dues.
Singing with suds
“Not being prepared is essential to the concept of Carolina Beer Choir,” Leo says.
Unlike traditional choirs, Carolina Beer Choir doesn’t require rehearsals or auditions. The idea is that when you attend a show, you become the show, singing tunes from the tipsy hymnal at local breweries. When Leo started recruiting singers for the choir, he reached out to several people who volunteer and perform for Carolina Voices.
“There are a number of singers … at Carolina Voices, who, after rehearsal, love to go grab a drink,” Leo says.
So why not include a little singing with the drinking, Leo reasoned. It turned out to be an easy sell.
In an email to Queen City Nerve, Daniel Sykes writes that he’s been a member of Carolina Voices’ Mainstage Choir for eight years and has been involved with Carolina Beer Choir since its inception.
Sykes’ favorite tune to perform with the choir is “The Wild Rover.”
“It’s a great Irish singing song [where] you have to speed up,” Leo says. “Each time you do the next verse, you gotta do it faster.”
Current Carolina Voices member Kari Anderson writes that she joined the crew after first engaging with Carolina Voices.
“My favorite Beer Choir song is ‘Do Re Mi,’ a parody from The Sound of Music,” Anderson writes. “We sing ‘Ray, the guy who pours my beer,’ because we have a singer named Ray who we all point to.”
Leo emphasizes the choir’s casual approach to performing. The singing may be accomplished, but the atmosphere is chill and the show is devoted to fun — and fundraising. At Divine Barrel shows, the venue contributes a dollar for every beer sold during the choir’s set to Carolina Voices.
As choir members filter into a show venue, Leo distributes copies of the hymnals. Barnaba mans the keyboards while Leo acts as song leader. Typically the gig lasts two hours, with four half-hour sets including four to five songs apiece.
In between each set, Leo leads trivia contests where audience members vie for dollar-store prizes or Barnaba will play a few opening notes asking contestants to name the tune. Choir members also drink and socialize between sets. Leo claims that he and Barnaba do their level best to keep up with the rest of the group with their drinking
“We like to say the more we drink, the better we sound,” Leo says, adding that no one has ever gotten too tipsy to sing.
Each show typically opens with the Beer Choir theme song.
“We jump into familiar songs and sprinkle in some new ones along the way,” Leo says.
The Charlotte choir has been adding songs of its own to the repertoire, and Leo proudly proclaims that the latest edition of the national Beer Choir hymnal includes several new tunes added by Carolina Beer Choir.
Leo notes that renditions of Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me” and Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places” are audience favorites.
“We’ve developed a special closing number,” Leo says: a parody of “All By Myself” by singer-songwriter Eric Carmen, rewritten to include the heartrending refrain, “Drunk by Myself.”
“People just belt it out,” Leo says.
Read more: Distro Beer Hub Applies the Food Hall Model to Craft Beer
Since launching in 2017 with a show at Uptown’s 7th Street Market, Carolina Beer Choir has continued to grow. Leo cites a Feb. 29, 2020 performance at Salud in NoDa as one of his favorites. It took place on leap year, retitled Leap Beer for the occasion.
“We had over a hundred people participating,” Leo remembers.
Oktoberfest and St. Patrick’s Day have typically been the most regular dates for Carolina Beer Choir shows, Leo notes, adding that the ensemble’s first Christmastime show on Dec. 1, 2024, at Divine Barrel Brewing, was also a rousing success.
The Carolina Beer Choir has also booked its first show at the expanded Beer Temple in Matthews on June 12.
Leo’s goal for the choir’s convivial gigs is for all participants — performers and audience alike — to have a good time while raising funds for Carolina Voices and awareness for the city’s craft beer brewing scene.
Carolina Beer Choir reminds participants that it’s so much fun to lift our voices in song — and we don’t have to be great vocalists to do it.
