Something's Brewing

North Carolina is known for many things. Basketball. Barbecue. The annual hollering contest in Spivey’s Corner. But the time has come to add another distinction to the list: great beer. With over forty craft breweries and counting, North Carolina now boasts more microbreweries than any other state in the South, thanks in part to support from a growing population of young fans of these handmade local brews, especially in destinations like Asheville, Chapel Hill, and Raleigh. But more important, North Carolina’s distribution laws are among the most beer-friendly in the South, helping independent microbreweries and brewpubs to flourish. Thank you, State House. From the mountains to the coastal plain, here’s a tour of five Carolina breweries serving up some of the finest beer in the country.

Highland Brewing Company
Asheville
Home to nine microbreweries alone, Appalachian hot spot Asheville might be the epicenter of Southern beer. But of the plethora of local choices, the oldest and most acclaimed is Highland Brewing Company. Brewmaster John Lyda is an Asheville native and got his start on a home-brew kit purchased by his mother at a church rummage sale. How things have changed. Founded in 1994, Highland at first filled its kegs from retrofitted dairy equipment, but today it has more than outgrown the old milk machines, and Lyda’s beers are available in seven states throughout the South. But better than buying a six-pack at your local grocery, take a tour of the brewery (available every weekday at 4:00 p.m.) and up your chances of finding one of a half dozen seasonal offerings (like the chocolaty Tasgall Ale). And as for why Asheville is such a hotbed for brewers? “Beer is ninety-five percent water,” Lyda says, “and Asheville has excellent brewing water.” Maybe so, but water never tasted as good as a Highland Gaelic Ale. highlandbrewing.com

Foothills Brewing
Winston-Salem
Winston-Salem is a tobacco town and has been ever since R. J. Reynolds started rolling Camels at the turn of the twentieth century (not to mention Winstons and Salems, in case you never put that together), but Foothills Brewing, founded in 2004, is a good reason to start rethinking this Piedmont city’s identity. Located in a rehabbed Chrysler dealership built in the 1920s, Foothills offers a full restaurant on-site and at least seven different beers year-round, including a popular India pale ale (IPA) and a pilsner. But what it’s really known for is its “cult classic”—the Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout. This past February, close to four hundred people lined up outside the brewery to buy four bottles each of the strong dark ale, made available to the public for only one day of the year (though supplies last on tap throughout the month). And even though you can buy only four bottles apiece, people fly in from as far away as California and Michigan to get their chocolate fix. This year the bottles disappeared in an hour and a half. foothillsbrewing.com

Natty Greene’s Pub & Brewing Company
Greensboro & Raleigh
Natty Greene’s, located in the center of a newly rejuvenated downtown Greensboro, prides itself on flawless, simple beers. Its standards cover the beer spectrum from pale to amber to wheat to brown (the shade that won the silver medal at the 2006 Great American Beer Festival). But simple isn’t all Natty Greene’s does. About thirty specialty recipes from brewmaster Sebastian Wolfrum’s private recipe book pop up throughout a normal calendar year. And though there’s a new location scheduled to open in Raleigh this spring, Natty Greene’s original home on Elm Street in Greensboro is the place to visit. The three-floor 1896 brick building was at one point a hotel, and because of fire damage in the past, there’s a large open section in the front that was left as is during renovation. Sit under the chandelier in this now soaring open space, have a burger and a beer, and don’t pay any attention to the rumored ghosts. After all, you didn’t come for the spirits—you came for the beer. bigdraft.com

Carolina Brewery
Chapel Hill & Pittsboro
While some beers may have a blue ribbon painted on the can, Carolina Brewery’s popular microbrews pick up the real thing in competitions across the country. Its Flagship IPA won the gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2006 and the Carolinas Championship of Beer in 2008. One of the oldest microbreweries in the state, Carolina Brewery owes much of its success to the charming English-born brewmaster Jon Connolly. In an area filled with farmers’ markets, Connolly draws a direct line from the increased awareness of regional food to the burgeoning microbrewery culture. “I’m not going to make any health claims about beer,” he says, “but if you’re going to buy fresh vegetables from the farmers’ market, why get a beer that traveled all the way from Europe?” Hard to argue with logic like that. Both locations feature a pub and restaurant, and don’t forget to pick up a growler (a half-gallon refillable glass jug) on the way out. carolinabrewery.com

The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery
Farmville
That Duck-Rabbit founder Paul Philippon is a former philosophy professor should come as little surprise. The beer’s logo, a classic optical illusion that appears simultaneously as both a duck and a rabbit, is pulled directly from the pages of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s seminal treatise Philosophical Investigations. But despite the visual mind tricks, Duck-Rabbit doesn’t play around with beer. After the brewery sold its first drink in 2004, its staples—an amber, an American brown, a porter, and a milk stout (its most popular choice)—have been cherished by beer lovers throughout the state. The brewery sits on four acres of land in the tiny eastern hamlet of Farmville, and a tasting room is in the works for the near future. For now, though, tours are free and available any time—just call ahead. If it isn’t a bottling day (when all hands are on deck), you stand a good chance of getting a tour from the philosopher himself. And if he doesn’t decipher the meaning of life for you, he can at least explain how to brew barley wine and help you pick out one of his high-alcohol content specialty brews, like the spectacular Russian Imperial Stout. duckrabbitbrewery.com