Beer Lover’s Guide to the Triangle Area

I was going to write a fabulous guide outlining all of the great breweries, brewpubs, taprooms and beer stores here in the Triangle area of North Carolina. As I was doing some research, however, I discovered that several people have already done all of the hard work for me. So, rather than make yet another list, I think I’ll ramble a bit on the work they’ve done, a little about the area, and growing beer culture you can find here. First though, a geography lesson.

The Triangle area is comprised of the 3 major cities of Durham, Chapel Hill and Raleigh as well as many outlying suburbs.

If you are at all familiar with sports, you’ve almost certainly heard of Tobacco Road and the famous rivalries between Duke, UNC Chapel Hill and NC State Universities. We are also proud to be the home of  The 2005/2006 Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes. The area is also home to several large sites for tech/biotech companies like IBM, RedHat, GlaxoSmithKline, Cisco, SAS, SonyEricsson, PeopleClick and many others.  As such, you may one day find yourself in the area for business, or perhaps visiting some un-beer-educated relatives.  Fear not though,  thanks to the recent craft beer explosion and the efforts of some hard working North Carolina citizens, your visit to our fine state shall not be one without good beer.

A little over 2 years ago and through the efforts PoptheCap campaign, the citizens of North Carolina successfully lobbied to raise the ABV cap on beer from 5.9% to 15%.  There was a growing contingent of beer lovers even with the old cap, but as you can imagine selection of beers available in this area has grown considerably since the law was changed.  We’ve even had a couple of new breweries open just this year.  Triangle Brewing Company and Big Boss Brewing, both opened in July of 2007, are producing beers that would have been illegal under the old cap.  You can’t talk about Triangle Area breweries without at least mentioning the grand-daddy of them all though.  The Carolina Brewing Company, in Holly Springs since 1995, is also now producing season and specialty releases over the previous old cap.  Unfortunately for you, you’ll have to come to the here to get them, as none of our breweries currently distribute outside of the area (more beer for me!).  All of them are good for a free tour (including free beer) on varying Saturday afternoons throughout the month.  So if you find yourself stuck in a hotel or at grandma’s house with nothing to do, look them up!

We also host a fine selection of brewpubs and bottle shops.  Probably the easiest way to locate them all is through the use of the beer mapper at beermapping.com.  Just zoom on in on the Triangle area and find the closest beer venue.

I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention some of the other beer goings-on in the area.  Start by picking up a subscription to All About Beer Magazine.  Their offices are right here in downtown Durham.  While you’re at it, pickup tickets to their World Beer Festival, twice a year in Durham and Raleigh.  You can also sign up for the Brew Cruise on their site as well.  Finally,  stop on by PoptheCap.org and Beerinator.com for up to date beer events going on in the area.

As you can see, the area is quickly becoming a hotbed of beer activity.  Whether you’re just visiting or you live in the area, rest assured there is no shortage of beer adventure to seek out.

Tagged as: beer, durham. chapel hill, guide, north Carolina, raleigh, triangle