Journey Information to Craft Breweries in Wilmington, NC + Excursions and Retailers

Map of Breweries in Wilmington

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The Wilmington Ale Path

Though Entrance Road Brewery was based in 1995, it wasn’t till 2014 that the craft beer scene developed in Wilmington. What began as only some breweries grew to just about two dozen all through the Cape Worry area. And it continues to broaden.

“It was the Asheville Impact,” Ellie Craig defined. “Why drink craft beer within the mountains when you may drink craft beer on the seaside?” Craig is the advertising supervisor for Entrance Road Brewery and president of the Cape Worry Craft Beer Alliance, which promotes and educates the general public about craft breweries.

The Wilmington Ale Path was shaped to promote the breweries, bottle retailers, and eating places supporting the Cape Worry area craft breweries. Taking part places provide vouchers that may be bought by way of the Wilmington Ale Path web site. Every voucher to a brewery is value $6 and can be utilized for something on their menu.

The 1-Day Wilmington Ale Path package deal prices $15 and consists of 4 vouchers, whereas the 3-Day Wilmington Ale Path package deal prices $25 and consists of 7 vouchers.

Discover extra details about the packages and taking part breweries at https://wilmingtonaletrail.com.

Edward Educate Brewery

When Gary Sholar determined to open a brewery, he bought a 1907 constructing on Fourth Road in Wilmington’s Brooklyn Arts District. The constructing served because the native firehouse for practically seventy years – you may nonetheless see the arch doorway the place the fireplace engine would screech out of the constructing.

After an in depth renovation, Edward Educate Brewing opened in 2017. The inside was designed with the bow of a ship hanging over a beautiful bar. White brick partitions and enormous home windows hold the bar brilliant and ethereal throughout sunlight hours. A patio overlooks a tiny gorge the place the railroad used to attach with the waterfront warehouses.

“Edward Educate Brewing,” Zach, the top brewer, explains. “It was like a band arising with a superb identify. It needed to be one thing native and iconic.”

Their craft beers are equally named. Black Spot is their black lager, a tackle a German-style Schwarzbier, and Scallywag Session IPA is a light-weight American wheat beer. Benefit from the beers by the glass or order a flight to pattern all of them – they often have half a dozen on faucet, and so they rotate all year long.

Flytrap Brewing

Whereas engaged on a level at UNC Wilmington, Mike Barlas started brewing craft beer in his storage and found a ardour. In 2014, he opened Flytrap Brewing – named after the elusive Venus Flytrap native to the Cape Worry area.

Flytrap Brewing occupies a nook at Walnut and 4th Road in Wilmington’s Brooklyn Arts District. Pull up a seat on the picket bar, declare one of many excessive tables, or sit outdoors on the concrete patio and benefit from the nice Cape Worry evenings. Barlas enjoys brewing American and Belgian ales, however he additionally produces IPA and stouts for a full menu.

Ironclad Brewery

In 2015, US Navy veteran Ted Coughlin based Ironclad Brewery, naming it after the well-known naval warships in the course of the Civil Struggle. Shopping for a two-story business constructing in-built 1925, the crew spent months meticulously renovating the area for his or her brewery, taproom, and occasion area.

Once they opened, the inside elicited a jaw-dropping expertise. Hardwood flooring, black metal frames, and uncovered rafters within the ceilings created a contemporary industrial look. Wooden tables and chairs, leather-based sofas and armchairs, and highbacked chairs across the bar gently whisper for folks to take a seat for awhile and luxuriate in their chilly craft beer.

Ironclad Brewery covers the vary of craft beer with their takes on the Kolsch, lager, IPA, and pale ale. Get a flight to pattern a number of at a time, or purchase it by the glass if you understand what you need.

Entrance Road Brewery

Entrance Road Brewery was the one which began all of it in Wilmington. Opening in 1995, it’s the town’s longest-operating brewery and a downtown anchor alongside Entrance Road. The brewery and restaurant are situated inside a business constructing accomplished in 1865 as a dry items retailer.

The previous constructing was heat, with creaking picket flooring and a white tin metallic ceiling, however the leather-based cushioned benches on the cubicles have been supremely comfy. Brewmaster Christopher McGravey retains the recent beer flowing with lager, porter, and IPAs – the Coastal Pilsner is one among their flagship beers. The meals at Entrance Road Brewery is famous. Beer-battered fish, sandwiches, and burgers – for those who attempt something, it must be their well-known pulled hen nachos topped with the whole lot you’d ever need on nachos.

However the largest shock at Entrance Road Brewery isn’t the award-winning craft beer or the favored meals menu. It’s the whiskey bar. With 480 whiskeys accessible, Entrance Road Brewery is without doubt one of the largest whiskey bars within the nation. For $15, diners can pattern three whiskeys of your selecting or let one of many educated servers select them for you.

New Anthem Beer Challenge – Dock Road

When Invoice Hunter and Aaron Skiles based the New Anthem Beer Challenge, they knew they would wish a much bigger area. And shortly. In 2016, the duo renovated the final business livery steady in downtown Wilmington – situated on Dock Road – right into a brewpub.

The McLellan Constructing taproom has a beautiful bar wrapping round towering stainless-steel vessels on the heart of the area. It’s a cushty place to take pleasure in a chilly craft beer. And it’s a handy place about two blocks from the Cape Worry Riverwalk and one block from Market Road.

In 2019, the brewery outgrew the livery area in downtown Wilmington. The house owners discovered a business constructing close to Greenfield Lake south of downtown. After renovation, the second location opened as their essential manufacturing facility and one other taproom.

Waterline Brewing Co.

While you stroll into Waterline Brewing Co., ask to see the scrapbook. Tucked away on a shelf behind the bar, the scrapbook is full of photographs of Rob and Eve Robinson and Brian Bell renovating the Forties Jacobi {Hardware} constructing right into a brewery.

When it was opened in 2015, the house owners preserved one of the best components of the previous {hardware} constructing, just like the concrete flooring, rustic brick partitions, and industrial ceilings. It’s standing room solely across the fashionable bar high, however there are many high-top tables inside – and outdoors, you’ll discover cornhole and picnic tables. After an growth into an unused portion of the constructing, the shiny stainless-steel manufacturing facility was accomplished, and guests can take a peek inside whereas having fun with their craft beers.

New Anthem Beer Challenge – Greenfield Road

When Invoice Hunter and Aaron Skiles based the New Anthem Beer Challenge, they knew they would wish a much bigger area. And shortly. In 2016, the duo renovated the final business livery steady in downtown Wilmington – situated on Dock Road – right into a brewpub. A beautiful bar wraps round towering stainless-steel vessels on the heart of the area.

In 2019, the native brewery expanded to a second location close to Greenfield Lake, about ten minutes from downtown. Two blocks of previous business buildings and warehouses have been renovated into fashionable mixed-use areas. On the nook, the New Anthem Beer Challenge constructed a manufacturing facility and taproom in a shiny industrial constructing ten instances bigger than their first dwelling.

The entrance quarter of the constructing options painted concrete flooring, vaulting ceilings, and enormous home windows flooding the area with daylight. Guests can sit at high-top tables or on the bar whereas they pattern the craft beers. The oldsters at New Anthem aren’t afraid to experiment, and it’s not possible to peg them to only one sort of beer.

It’s probably the greatest locations to go to for those who’ve by no means tried craft beer and are uncertain what you’ll take pleasure in.

Bowstring Burgers and Brewpub

When Ben Yannessa, Brad Bowles, and Matt Golden collaborated to open Bowstring Pizza and Brewyard in Raleigh, they selected an intriguing web site: a former Gulf Oil service station. The gorgeously renovated constructing makes use of storage doorways for an open-air restaurant on comfy days. The inside options Twenties service station décor like Charlotte’s Gasoline Pizza, a neighborhood chain based in a transformed station.

In 2023, Golden reduce the ribbon on a second location in Wilmington. Following the development of changing previous areas, Bowstring Burgers and Brewpub is in a renovated soda bottling manufacturing facility in Wilmington’s Soda Pop District.

The restaurant retains the commercial vibe with concrete flooring and excessive ceilings. Scrumptious burgers are served with crunchy tater tots. And, in fact, there’s a menu for the chilly craft beer.

Hello-Wire Brewing

In 2013, Bryna Frosaker and Adam Charnack opened Hello-Wire Brewing in Asheville on the reverse finish of the state. Since then, the brewery has expanded throughout 9 states.

In Wilmington, Hello-Wire renovated a former business constructing right into a taproom funhouse. Painted concrete flooring and an uncovered ceiling are offset with stunning murals and beautiful wooden tables. Seize a flight to pattern a number of of their beers, head over to the ping pong tables, or seize a desk outdoors beneath the string lights and open skies.

Bull Metropolis Ciderworks

Some folks don’t contemplate me a real craft beer fanatic as a result of my favourite sort of beer just isn’t an IPA – it’s a tough cider. In 2013, John Clowney, Ben Inglod, AJ Nelson, and Ryan Bogard collaborated on opening a tough cider brewery in Durham.

The crew renovated a 1947 Carpenter Motor Co. service storage right into a tiny brewery restricted to solely filling growlers on demand. However by 2016, the brewery’s recognition allowed them to maneuver into a much bigger location and open a taproom.

Bull Metropolis Ciderworks opened its fifth location in Wilmington. A big business constructing was renovated into a cushty taproom with concrete flooring, outsized home windows, and comfy seating. The gravel patio includes a firepit and Adirondack chairs for these cool spring and autumn evenings.

Panacea Brewing Firm

In 1993, Artie and Robin Hill started experimenting with fermentation in highschool. Shh! Don’t inform anybody. In 2016, the couple based Panacea Brewing Firm within the Burgaw Incubator Kitchen, a co-op area designed to assist recent companies get began. With a 1975 Volkswagen Westfalia transformed right into a cell taproom, the couple traveled to native farmers’ markets and occasions promoting their kombucha.

What’s Kombucha | Kombucha is a fermented black or inexperienced tea that’s sweetened with a really low alcohol by quantity. Also referred to as mushroom tea – though it’s truly micro organism and yeast – proponents declare kombucha has a number of well being advantages.

In 2017, they moved into their first everlasting dwelling. Three years later, they moved into a brand new area on Oleander Drive. Brightly coloured, mismatched furnishings and eye-popping murals await guests to the comfy area. The awning over the door broadcasts, “Funky Meals and Ferments,” completely foreshadowing what you’ll discover inside.

Wilmington Brewing Firm

Every thing modified when Wilmington natives John and Michelle Savard vacationed in Europe. After touring breweries in Belgium and Germany, the couple returned dwelling to Asheville with a ardour for dwelling brewing. In 2014, they moved to Wilmington and opened the Wilmington Brewing Firm.

The business constructing close to the center of city – and simply minutes from the UNC Wilmington campus – is inviting, with cushioned bar stools at a bar wrapped in corrugated metallic. Pattern their craft beers inside or take them outdoors to picket picnic tables. Whereas visiting, take a look at their sister firm, Wilmington Homebrew Provide.

Flying Machine Brewing Firm

In 2018, David Sweigart and Grant Steadman opened Flying Machine Brewing Firm in midtown Wilmington. The 17,000-square-foot fashionable business constructing includes a cavernous inside with painted concrete flooring and vaulting ceilings – make sure to search for the bocce ball course. Exterior, take pleasure in drinks with a view of the substitute lake.

Their intensive menu consists of easy-drinking cream ales and lagers, IPAs, ciders, malty stouts, sours, and a small collection of wine. Purchase them by the glass or take pleasure in a flight of 4 beers to pattern their menu.

Invoice’s Brewing Co. Taproom

In 2016, John Musser and his daughter, Brookes Musser, opened Invoice’s Entrance Porch on Market Road. The brewery was behind the constructing, with a small entrance seating space. For 4 years, they welcomed guests whereas perfecting their craft.

Then, they modified the whole lot.

In 2020, they renovated the constructing and rebranded it as Invoice’s Brewing Co. Taproom. Head brewer Jim Deaton moved to a brand new facility, and your entire constructing on Market Road was transformed into an occasion area and taproom. Guests can order savory meals from Capt’n Payments Yard Grill subsequent door, together with the wonderful tater tot skillets, and get it delivered whereas sampling the beer menu.

Catawba Brewing Firm

Billy and Scott Pyatt fell in love with dwelling brewing in 1994 – and it took simply six years for them to show a passion right into a occupation. In 1999, Billy, his spouse Jetta, and Scott opened Catawba Brewing Firm in a dilapidated warehouse in Glen Alpine, North Carolina. At the moment, the 30-barrel brewhouse has moved to Morganton, and the brewing firm has six places throughout the Carolinas – the brewpub in Wilmington opened in 2021.

Situated on New Centre Drive close to the UNC Wilmington campus, the brewpub is a contemporary and beautiful area. Shiny, stainless-steel fermenters stand off to the facet, surrounded by comfy tables and chairs. Extra tables and chairs are scattered beneath string lights on the patio outdoors – the right place to hang around after the solar has gone down.

Catawba’s hottest craft beer is their White Zombie White Ale, however they all the time have a wide range of others to attempt. Order by the glass or attempt a number of in a flight.

By the Seashore Brewing

Man Gulutz is a well-known craft beer story: a ardour for brewing beer developed from a house brew equipment. After years of brewing at dwelling, Gulutz and Kim Findley renovated a business constructing into a house for By the Seashore Brewing.

Video games are widespread on the small hole-in-the-wall brewery. Cornhole, pool, darts, and board video games can be found for purchasers consuming their chilly craft beer. There are many locations to take a seat and benefit from the consuming expertise.

The brand new brewery remains to be increasing, and lots of choices are coming quickly. Reside music will quickly fill the air on weekends. And, they’ll quickly be one among my favourite sorts of institutions – freshly brewed espresso by day and beer by night time.

Broomtail Craft Brewery

Barry Owings is a water chemist. His spouse, Lisa, is an artist. In 1990, the couple transformed the household barn right into a brew analysis facility. In 2014, the husband-and-wife crew took their love of brewing to the following degree after they opened Broomtail Craft Brewer. Enterprise was good, and simply three years after opening, the couple tripled their manufacturing capability.

Broomtail Craft Brewery is in a business district alongside Market Road on the town’s north facet. From the skin, the drab business constructing hides the joyful inside. A small picket bar wrapped in corrugated metallic awaits guests desperate to attempt their beers. Chalkboard menus hold on the brightly coloured wall.

The Owings like experimenting however principally keep on with ales, IPAs, and sours. Purchase a beer by the glass or pattern the menu with a flight. There are comfy seats and a foosball desk if you will discover room inside. Exterior, a number of areas within the parking zone have been taken over by outside seating within the shade of an enormous tree.

Outer Dunes Brewing Firm

Shortly after Phil and Ellie Mabe met in 2005, they realized they shared a ardour for brewing. Like many breweries, theirs began with a five-gallon homebrew system in a tiny residence. In 2021, the Mabes purchased a former tavern and opened Outer Dunes Brewing Firm.

Excessive chairs encompass a darkish wooden bar contained in the small constructing with low ceilings. However outdoors, the brewing firm presents a magic really feel with lights strung between the thick limbs of oak timber that solid a perpetual shade from their leaves year-round. Picnic tables and patio units are unfold throughout the bottom, the right place to take pleasure in their porters, IPAs, and pale ales.

Waterman’s Brewing

In 2017, Bob Excessive, Craig Gee, and Don Webber opened Waterman’s Brewing simply minutes from Wrightsville Seashore – and all these thirsty beachgoers returning dwelling. Excessive introduced Zac Brown – the person, not the band – throughout the nation to run the brewery. Now, head brewer Alexis Scrivani places her diploma in Fermentation Science from App State to good use.

Inside, Waterman’s Brewing is without doubt one of the coziest breweries within the Cape Worry area. A fire anchors one wall, surrounded by comfy chairs and tables. Swiveling excessive chairs on the bar provide a peek on the shiny manufacturing line by way of a big window. Lovely images adorns the partitions.

From the start, a kitchen was a part of the brewery’s plans. The brunch menu, served on Saturdays and Sundays, provides a small pattern of breakfast objects and burgers. The common diner menu has a larger collection of appetizers, tacos, and burgers – the loaded tater tots are significantly savory.

Mad Mole Brewing

There are two issues the oldsters at Mad Mole Brewing Firm need everybody to know. The primary is how the identify took place. In 2018, pals and colleagues Martin de Jongh, Ole Pederson, Chris Worden, and Thomas Varnum opened the newest brewing firm within the Cape Worry area. The identify is a play on the founders’ names – take the “M” from Martin and “Ole” from Pederson, and you’ve got Mole. They known as it Mad Mole to reference the mad scientist function performed by the top brewery in each brewery.

The second factor they need folks to know is their beer is “brewed by the solar.” Photo voltaic panels on the roof present all the ability they should course of their small-batch craft beers. Their beers usually align with IPA and pale ale with their very own tackle the domestically in style Kolsch.

Inside, the taproom has a beautiful picket bar and some tables scattered throughout a concrete flooring. Exterior, tables and chairs on a patio are good for these cool evenings when the solar hits the horizon and the temps drop ten levels.

Wrightsville Seashore Brewery

Wrightsville Seashore native Jud Watkins spent his youth fishing for oysters within the shallow waters along with his father and grandfather. The thought was developed throughout their lengthy conversations for a brewery to accompany the tasty oysters. In 2017, Jud and Amber Watkins realized that dream after they opened Wrightsville Seashore Brewery.

The brewery is in a beautiful constructing about fifteen minutes from the seaside. Naturally stained wooden tables cowl the ground within the cavernous constructing. On the entrance, a bar stretches the width of the constructing with comfy excessive chairs. Practically twenty beers are stored on faucet at any time, a formidable sight whereas sitting on the bar.

Head brewer Chris Zirnheld began in homebrewing and now has a number of skilled certificates within the craft brewing trade. He covers the vary of craft beers with IPA, pale ale, Kolsch, pilsner, and stout. Their 007

is an fascinating combined drink that begins with their Kolsch Krush beer, provides vodka and orange juice, and ends in a mix of flavors greatest left tantalizingly undescribed.

DrumTrout Brewing Firm

Ali and Joe Bagwell are the quintessential North Carolina couple. Joe graduated from NC State College, and Ali graduated from UNC Wilmington. They’ve lived in Wilmington for nearly 20 years. After which, they opened DrumTrout Brewing Firm.

The brewing firm is within the Fulton Station buying heart on School Highway between Wilmington and Carolina Seashore. It’s a simple brewery to go to, with loads of parking and fewer congested site visitors than a downtown brewery.

From the skin, it seems to be like every other enterprise within the brick-walled retail constructing with a metallic awning. However inside, it’s something however unusual. The concrete flooring is painted to resemble the ocean. A beautiful bar surrounded by comfy chairs is the point of interest. And there’s a patio within the buying heart that gives a yard really feel.

Good Hops Brewing

Good Hops Brewing combines two of my favourite issues to do when touring: craft beer and disc golf. The brewery sits on 4 acres in Carolina Seashore, about 20-Half-hour from Wilmington. Michael Jones and Christopher Richards constructed a 9-hole par three course within the wooded space behind the brewery.

The brewery opened in a small retail constructing with varied traditional craft beers, like IPA, Pale Ale, and Pilsner. There’s loads of comfy seating inside on chilly or wet days. But when the climate is sweet, you’ll need to sit on the patio dealing with the disc golf course.

The oldsters working the brewery advise folks to deliver their very own meals and discs. I all the time have mine packed within the automotive.

Craft Beer Retailers

Typically, you solely need to seize a case of craft beer to take dwelling. However craft breweries don’t all the time promote their beers in bottles or cans. How else are you able to deliver your new favourite craft beer dwelling?

4 retailers in Wilmington provide a formidable collection of craft beer in bottles and cans. And it’s not simply the native breweries – a few of these markets have craft beer nationwide.

Tipsy Goat Bottles and Faucets

Tipsy Goat is a beer market and taproom – the right sort of place to go to. A few dozen craft beers are on faucet at any time. The market has an amazing collection of craft beers, onerous ciders, and mead all through the nation.

Fermental Beer & Wine

Fermental Beer & Wine is greater than only a craft beer market and taproom – it’s a Wilmington vacation spot. It was the primary craft beer market within the metropolis and rapidly grew to become a go-to place for craft beer lovers all through the area.

And it’s in a former Fifties fuel station! I like the highway journey connection. Refrigerated coolers are identical to those in fashionable fuel stations – besides these are full of chilly craft beer from all through the nation.

Session Beer Market

Session Beer Market is Wilmington’s latest place to purchase craft beer in bottles or cans. A small taproom bar is wedged into the nook of the market. It’s extra like a vineyard than a bar, although, with only some seats for an off-the-cuff expertise.

The place to Keep

The locals love the craft beer scene in Wilmington as a result of it’s perhaps a thirty-minute drive to get dwelling on the night time’s finish. However for vacationers, we’d like one other place to remain. Wilmington is a bustling metropolis for trade, and the college attracts hundreds of holiday makers all year long. What does that imply?

There are a variety of nice inns in Wilmington. Listed here are some locations I like to recommend for spending a number of nights in Wilmington.

The Consolation Inn close to the UNC Wilmington campus is a superb resort for a number of nights. The resort options free on-site parking and an outside swimming pool. Rooms embody two full beds or one king mattress.

The Vacation Inn Specific was wedged onto a property in the course of city between a automotive dealership and the bottom of a Walmart – however it’s a nice place to remain. The resort options free on-site parking and a pleasant outside swimming pool that will probably be peaceable within the evenings. Rooms embody two queen beds or one king mattress.

Finest Western Plus – previously the Shoreline Inn – is one among Wilmington’s greatest locations to remain. The downtown resort is on the riverfront, with rooms providing spectacular views however no balconies. Free on-site parking is included. Rooms function two full beds, one king mattress, and the King Suite has one king mattress and a sleeper couch.

Hampton Inn & Suites is the high beneficial place to remain in Wilmington. The resort is a 20-minute drive from downtown however solely a 10-minute drive from Wrightsville Seashore. The outside options free on-site parking and a beautiful outside swimming pool. Rooms embody two full beds or one king mattress, and the suites embody a king mattress and sleeper couch. Some rooms embody a completely geared up kitchen with a small eating desk, good for touring households.

Aloft is without doubt one of the latest inns in downtown Wilmington. Situated on the Shoreline Heart, the town’s conference heart, the resort is strolling distance of most eating places and buying within the historic district. Rooms embody two queen beds or a king mattress with views of the Cape Worry River or downtown, and among the rooms embody a balcony.

Hampton Inn in downtown Wilmington is a superb place to remain if you wish to be inside strolling distance of breweries, eating places, buying, and leisure. The resort includes a small indoor swimming pool and glorious complimentary sizzling breakfast each morning. Rooms embody two queen beds or a king mattress.

Resort Ballast is the high beneficial place to remain in downtown Wilmington. The resort has direct entry to the Cape Worry Riverwalk on the waterfront. The resort options personal parking for a further charge, an outside swimming pool with a river view, and an on-site restaurant and bar. Rooms embody two full beds or a king mattress, views of downtown or the river, and the one-bedroom suite features a king mattress and a sleeper couch.

Incessantly Requested Questions