North Carolina is quick changing into one of many nation’s high craft brewery locations. However, whereas Asheville holds the crown for many breweries per capita, Wilmington isn’t completely left within the mud. The craft brewery scene is booming within the Cape Concern area, and I’ve received the information that will help you discover all of them.
My highway journey throughout North Carolina from the coast to the mountains began with just a few days visiting the Brunswick Islands, however quickly sufficient, I rolled into Wilmington. I initially deliberate to spend three days exploring town however stayed a day longer as a result of there was simply a lot to see.
Every day began with native espresso, regularly transitioned into museum visits and buying, and inevitably led to at least one – or many extra – craft breweries. Espresso and beer. They had been good bookends for the way in which I wish to journey.
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 just a few breweries grew to almost two dozen all through the Cape Concern area. And it continues to develop.
“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 and marketing supervisor for Entrance Road Brewery and president of the Cape Concern Craft Beer Alliance, which promotes and educates the general public about craft breweries.
The Wilmington Ale Path was fashioned to promote the breweries, bottle outlets, and eating places supporting the Cape Concern area craft breweries. Taking part places provide vouchers that may be bought via the Wilmington Ale Path web site. Every voucher to a brewery is price $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 almost seventy years – you may nonetheless see the arch doorway the place the hearth 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 huge home windows maintain the bar vivid 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 pinnacle brewer, explains. “It was like a band arising with 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 lightweight American wheat beer. Benefit from the beers by the glass or order a flight to pattern all of them – they normally have half a dozen on faucet, they usually 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 Concern 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 Concern 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 through 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.
After 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 individuals 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 just a few at a time, or purchase it by the glass if you realize what you need.
Entrance Road Brewery
Entrance Road Brewery was the one which began all of it in Wilmington. Opening in 1995, it’s 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 had been supremely snug. Brewmaster Christopher McGravey retains the contemporary 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 needs to be their well-known pulled rooster nachos topped with every little thing 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 out there, 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 Venture – Dock Road
When Invoice Hunter and Aaron Skiles based the New Anthem Beer Venture, they knew they would wish a much bigger area. And shortly. In 2016, the duo renovated the final business livery secure 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 middle 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 Concern 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 predominant manufacturing facility and one other taproom.
Waterline Brewing Co.
Whenever you stroll into Waterline Brewing Co., ask to see the scrapbook. Tucked away on a shelf behind the bar, the scrapbook is filled with images of Rob and Eve Robinson and Brian Bell renovating the Nineteen Forties Jacobi {Hardware} constructing right into a brewery.
When it was opened in 2015, the house owners preserved the very best elements of the previous {hardware} constructing, just like the concrete ground, rustic brick partitions, and industrial ceilings. It’s standing room solely across the trendy bar high, however there are many high-top tables inside – and out of doors, you’ll discover cornhole and picnic tables. After an enlargement 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 Venture – Greenfield Road
When Invoice Hunter and Aaron Skiles based the New Anthem Beer Venture, they knew they would wish a much bigger area. And shortly. In 2016, the duo renovated the final business livery secure in downtown Wilmington – situated on Dock Road – right into a brewpub. A beautiful bar wraps round towering stainless-steel vessels on the middle 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 had been renovated into trendy mixed-use areas. On the nook, the New Anthem Beer Venture constructed a manufacturing facility and taproom in a shiny industrial constructing ten instances bigger than their first house.
The entrance quarter of the constructing options painted concrete flooring, vaulting ceilings, and huge 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 parents at New Anthem aren’t afraid to experiment, and it’s inconceivable to peg them to only one kind of beer.
It’s top-of-the-line locations to go to for those who’ve by no means tried craft beer and are not sure 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 snug days. The inside options Twenties service station décor like Charlotte’s Gasoline Pizza, an area chain based in a transformed station.
In 2023, Golden lower 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 unit in Wilmington’s Soda Pop District.
The restaurant retains the economic 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 lovely wooden tables. Seize a flight to pattern just a few 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 individuals don’t take into account me a real craft beer fanatic as a result of my favourite kind of beer is just not 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 reputation 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 encompasses 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 contemporary 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 house. 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 pronounces, “Funky Meals and Ferments,” completely foreshadowing what you’ll discover inside.
Wilmington Brewing Firm
All the things modified when Wilmington natives John and Michelle Savard vacationed in Europe. After touring breweries in Belgium and Germany, the couple returned house to Asheville with a ardour for house 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, try 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 trendy business constructing encompasses a cavernous inside with painted concrete flooring and vaulting ceilings – remember to search for the bocce ball course. Outdoors, take pleasure in drinks with a view of the factitious lake.
Their in depth menu consists of easy-drinking cream ales and lagers, IPAs, ciders, malty stouts, sours, and a small choice 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 every little thing.
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 complete 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 house brewing in 1994 – and it took simply six years for them to show a interest right into a career. In 1999, Billy, his spouse Jetta, and Scott opened Catawba Brewing Firm in a dilapidated warehouse in Glen Alpine, North Carolina. Right this 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 lovely area. Shiny, stainless-steel fermenters stand off to the facet, surrounded by snug 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 quite a lot 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 house, 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 patrons 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 evening.
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 subsequent stage 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 town’s north facet. From the surface, the drab business constructing hides the joyful inside. A small picket bar wrapped in corrugated metallic awaits guests desirous to attempt their beers. Chalkboard menus hold on the brightly coloured wall.
The Owings like experimenting however principally persist with ales, IPAs, and sours. Purchase a beer by the glass or pattern the menu with a flight. There are snug seats and a foosball desk if you will discover room inside. Outdoors, just a few areas within the parking zone have been taken over by outside seating within the shade of a large 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 forged 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 house. 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 Concern area. A hearth anchors one wall, surrounded by snug chairs and tables. Swiveling excessive chairs on the bar provide a peek on the shiny manufacturing line via a big window. Stunning 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, affords a small pattern of breakfast gadgets and burgers. The common diner menu has a better choice 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, mates and colleagues Martin de Jongh, Ole Pederson, Chris Worden, and Thomas Varnum opened the newest brewing firm within the Cape Concern 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 referred to as it Mad Mole to reference the mad scientist position performed by the pinnacle brewery in each brewery.
The second factor they need individuals to know is their beer is “brewed by the solar.” Photo voltaic panels on the roof present all the facility they should course of their small-batch craft beers. Their beers sometimes align with IPA and pale ale with their very own tackle the domestically standard Kolsch.
Inside, the taproom has a beautiful picket bar and some tables scattered throughout a concrete ground. Outdoors, 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 together with his father and grandfather. The concept 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 snug 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 business. He covers the vary of craft beers with IPA, pale ale, Kolsch, pilsner, and stout. Their 007
is an fascinating blended drink that begins with their Kolsch Krush beer, provides vodka and orange juice, and ends in a mix of flavors finest 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 twenty years. After which, they opened DrumTrout Brewing Firm.
The brewing firm is within the Fulton Station buying middle on School Highway between Wilmington and Carolina Seashore. It’s a straightforward brewery to go to, with loads of parking and fewer congested visitors than a downtown brewery.
From the surface, it seems to be like some other enterprise within the brick-walled retail constructing with a metallic awning. However inside, it’s something however peculiar. The concrete ground is painted to resemble the ocean. A beautiful bar surrounded by snug chairs is the point of interest. And there’s a patio within the buying middle 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 basic craft beers, like IPA, Pale Ale, and Pilsner. There’s loads of snug seating inside on chilly or wet days. But when the climate is good, you’ll wish to sit on the patio dealing with the disc golf course.
The parents operating the brewery advise individuals to carry their very own meals and discs. I all the time have mine packed within the automotive.
Craft Beer Retailers
Generally, you solely wish to seize a case of craft beer to take house. However craft breweries don’t all the time promote their beers in bottles or cans. How else are you able to carry your new favourite craft beer house?
4 retailers in Wilmington provide a formidable choice 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 form of place to go to. A couple of dozen craft beers are on faucet at any time. The market has an amazing choice of craft beers, exhausting 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 shortly turned a go-to place for craft beer lovers all through the area.
And it’s in a former Nineteen Fifties gasoline station! I really like the highway journey connection. Refrigerated coolers are similar to those in trendy gasoline stations – besides these are filled with 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 just a few seats for an informal 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 house on the evening’s finish. However for vacationers, we’d like one other place to remain. Wilmington is a bustling metropolis for business, and the college attracts 1000’s of tourists all year long. What does that imply?
There are numerous nice inns in Wilmington. Listed below are some locations I like to recommend for spending just a few nights in Wilmington.
The Consolation Inn close to the UNC Wilmington campus is a superb lodge for just a few nights. The lodge options free on-site parking and an out of doors swimming pool. Rooms embody two full beds or one king mattress.
The Vacation Inn Categorical was wedged onto a property in the course of city between a automotive dealership and the bottom of a Walmart – but it surely’s a nice place to remain. The lodge options free on-site parking and a pleasant outside swimming pool that might 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 finest locations to remain. The downtown lodge 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 lodge 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 outfitted 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 Middle, town’s conference middle, the lodge 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 Concern 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 lodge encompasses 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 lodge has direct entry to the Cape Concern Riverwalk on the waterfront. The lodge options non-public parking for a further price, an out of doors 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.
Often Requested Questions
There are at the moment 23 craft breweries in Wilmington, however that quantity is rising nearly month-to-month.
Entrance Road Brewery is the oldest brewery in Wilmington, NC. The brewery opened in 1995.
Entrance Road Brewery opened in 1995 in Wilmington, NC.
Highland Brewing Firm is the most important brewery in North Carolina by manufacturing quantity. Opened in 1994 by retired engineer Oscar Wong, it was the primary authorized brewery in Asheville since prohibition.
No, Wilmington is just not an open container metropolis. In contrast to different standard craft beer locations, guests are usually not allowed to depart the brewery’s premises with an open container.