Tickets are now available for the 12th annual World Beer Festival Raleigh, held at the N.C. State Fairgrounds on Saturday, April 1.
With more than a dozen breweries in Raleigh, it’s easy to spend a day or two tasting locally-made beers straight from their source. But before it’s time to head home, here are some of the beer bars and bottle shops located throughout Raleigh.
Bottle Shops
Paddy O’Beers (121 Fayetteville St.) may have won a 2014 poll among local residents as the best place for a blind date in Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, but it’s an ideal spot to find a new beer to fall in love with, too.
Grab an appetizer, salad or sandwich at State of Beer (401 Hillsborough St.). In addition to beers by the bottle, customers can also leave with a 32-ounce crowler of a favorite draft beer.
There’s a generous selection of options at Tasty Beverage Co. (327 W Davie St., Suite #106), which serves by the glass, growler and sells beer from across the state and country.
Along with hundreds of bottles at The Stag’s Head (106 Glenwood Ave.), 16 taps—including a rotating cask—are poured into beer specific glassware served by style.
The dog-friendly House of Hops (6909 Glenwood Ave., Suite #100) features bottles, cans and 24 draft selections that change on a daily basis. If you live in the area, check out its weekly run club on Wednesday nights that offers discounts to local businesses to members.
Beer isn’t the only thing to catch a buzz on at BottleMixx (8111 Creedmoor Road, Suite #153), which also stocks Raleigh roasted Larry’s Coffee. There are also 16 rotating bottles of wine served daily.
At D’s Bottle Shop & Craft Beer College (13200 Falls of Neuse Road, Suite #115), more than 500 packaged beer brands can be found. Pull up to the bar made from the flooring of a former tobacco factory from nearby Durham.
Lincoln Bottle Shop (7451 Six Forks Road) doubles as both a place to pick up beer to go, but also an opportunity to sample brews made at Lincoln Brewing Co. about 15 miles away in Fuquay-Varina.
Grab a group of friends and start a game of Cards Against Humanity at one of Crafty Beer Shop’s two locations (2003 Fairview Road and 8450 Honeycutt Road, Suite 108), which offers more than just beer to keep you entertained. If you’re going solo, free WiFi will help you browse the Internet or check in to your next pint.
Another three locations are found under the Bottle Revolution banner (4025 Lake Boone Trail; 7713 Lead Mine Road; and 10970 Chapel Hill Road, Morrisville) which allow customers to buy by the single bottle or can to mix a six-pack from over 1,000 beers. The Lake Boone Trail and Chapel Hill Road locations are ticket vendors for this year’s World Beer Festival—Raleigh.
Regular tastings with local and regional breweries are held at The Hop Yard (1141 Falls River Ave.). Choose a beer from 18 taps or walk the aisles to find a North Carolina beer ready to go.
A curated tap list can be found at Drink Drank Drunk (905 W Morgan St,), with local, regional and imported options. The fun lies with the shop’s “Gambler” beer, a mystery tap that will cost you $2, but you won’t know what the beer is until after it’s poured. Good luck testing fate.
A North Carolina-focused tap list will greet you, but North Street Beer Station (521 W North St.) makes it easy to catch a different kind of buzz, too. In addition to a beer selection, shoppers can get a pour of coffee from the local Oak City Coffee Roasters.
Drink with a cause at Pelagic Beer and Wine (300 Pace St.). The name means “of or pertaining to the open sea” which shows up in company donations to ocean conservation and environmentally-focused non-profits.
Check the flatscreen “beer boards” at Ridgewood Wine & Beer (1214 Ridgewood Road) for the latest on draft and what Untappd users have to say about each beer. Grab a growler or sip a pint from 16 draft options.
Wine is first in the name at Wine and Beer 101 (5910 Duraleigh Road), but beer is not an afterthought. Grab the latest packaged released from in-state favorites like Wicked Weed or Burial, but find plenty of other bottles and cans to stock your fridge. Draft pours, too.
Bars
At Trophy Tap and Table (225 S. Wilmington St.), the owners of local favorite Trophy Brewing serve a mix of their own beer with guest taps. If you’re feeling hungry, a menu rotates heavily around rotisserie chicken and three housemade sauces: mild with vinegar, Beer Mustard made with Trophy Wife IPA and brown mustard, and an Indian pepper sauce.
The Raleigh Times Bar (14 E. Hargett St.) is regularly cited as Raleigh’s best beer bar by local publications, aided by a staff comprised entirely of Cicerone Certified Beer Servers.
Visit Flying Saucer (328 W. Morgan St.) on a Sunday, when North Carolina draft beers are $3 each, but that won’t make your decision any easier thanks to more than 80 beers on tap.
Find the world’s largest selection of draft beers at the Raleigh Beer Garden (614 Glenwood Ave.) which features enough taps to drink a different beer every day of the year, including a Leap Day. Downstairs focuses entirely on North Carolina brews, while an upstairs bar serves a variety of national and international brands.
Turn back the clock with friends at Boxcar Bar and Arcade (14 W. Martin St.), where customers can play more than 50 arcade games, from classics like Rampage and Space Invaders to Street Fighter and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. There are also a dozen pinball machines, air hockey, foosball and old game consoles like Nintendo and Sega Genesis. The 25 taps are nice, too.
It’s easy to find local sports fans at Village Draft House (428 Daniels St.) watching Carolina Hurricanes and college basketball on large flat screen TVs hung throughout the bar. Pick from the 100 beers on tap and nibble on the house favorite pickle chips.
Put on your pastel colors and acid wash jeans to relive your glory days at the 1980s and 1990s-themed Coglin’s Raleigh (226 Fayetteville St.). Scrunchies are optional.
Enjoy an upscale vibe and six locally-focused taps at The Architect Bar & Social House (108 1/2 East Hargett St.) and dozens more bottles and cans from which you can choose your favorite wit, pale ale or stout.
London Bridge Pub (110 E. Hargett St.) is the place to go if you want to catch a soccer match. Lots of indoor/outdoor seating where you’re likely to strike up a conversation with another patron about local team North Carolina FC.