Durham, Craft Beer, Lemurs, and American Tobacco

Durham North Carolina is near the tail end of the Route 15 Wine Road, but instead of wine, this region is creating a craft beer heritage. It is also the home of Duke University, named after its major benefactor tobacco industrialist Washington Duke. Duke's son, James Buchanan Duke was also a major benefactor to the university as well as the owner of the American Tobacco Company (the successor to his Father's tobacco company) which eventually controlled over 90% of the American cigarette market by the early 1900s. Duke also founded a power company that grew into Duke Energy and supplied power to the hundreds of area textile mills and tobacco manufacturing plants. Today the former American Tobacco warehouses are a major redeveloped area in downtown Durham adjacent to the Durham Bulls stadium and several craft breweries, distilleries, Bull City Ciderworks, and Honeygirl Meadery. In fact, the Bull Durham Beer Co. is the only craft beer company located inside a minor league ballpark.

Another attraction in Durham is the Duke Lemur Center (DLC), "the world’s largest and most diverse collection of lemurs – Earth’s most threatened group of mammals – outside of Madagascar". The DLC is situated on 80 wooded acres two miles from the main Duke University campus and provides a living laboratory where lemurs and their close relatives could be studied intensively and non-invasively. It's budget is partly funded through private tours of the facility such as a Walking with Lemurs tour where our future primatologist spent 90 minutes up close with a trio of Crown Lemurs. The tour also included meeting Mongoose Lemurs, Collared Lemurs, Red Ruffed Lemurs, Black & White Ruffed Lemurs and Aye-Ayes.

After visiting the DLC, theCompass Craft Beverage Finder showed Durham's seven craft breweries were are only a few minutes away so we headed straight for Fullsteam Brewery for lunch and beer. The brewery's mantra is to "brew distinctly Southern beer that fosters agricultural pride and prosperity in a post-tobacco North Carolina. By buying local to brew local, we aim to improve the quality of life of local farmers, foragers, and agricultural entrepreneurs. We seek to pioneer a Southern Beer Economy...one pint at a time." That translates to using at least 10% local ingredients such as the 30% local Humidity Pale Ale - brewed with local triticale, a wheat/rye hybrid. This is a solid beer, full of flavor and balanced seamlessly with bittering hops. My favorite was the Paycheck Pilsner brewed with southern sourced barley and corn with a tasteful and refreshing German style (with a six pack coming home).  There are also more unique beers in Fullsteam's portfolio such as a half dozen IPA styles; the Working Man's Lunch, a brown ale brewed to mimic the southern tradition of RC Cola and a Moonpie; the Carver Sweet Potato Lager, made from 200 pounds of North Carolina and named to honor Dr. George Washington Carver; and the Coffee Is For Closers Porter - inspired by iced coffee and made with Muddy Dog Sumatran Coffee. There's a lot of experimentation going on here.

There's also a  lot of experimentation going on at Ponysaurus Brewing where I would recommend visiting in the evening to enjoy the fire pit -- and the Fig Saison. That's what attracted me to the brewery and the beer is complex and delicious. Similarly, the Oyster Saison is as complex but in the mineral direction. The Ponysaurus Réserve Ale is a Belgian Dark Strong Ale featuring plenty of brown malts and Belgian candy syrup made in-house; the 10% abv is never felt. Finally, the Rye Pale Ale rounded out my sampler, light spices and balanced bitterness. Well done.

The final beer of note was the Van Gogh Breakfast Stout from Durty Bull Brewing Company.  The was poured a couple spots around town and is brewed with with local coffee from Joe Van Gogh. It is truly a delicious breakfast stout which could easily replace the  warmer staple. Cheers to the Bulls.

Exploring the Wilmington Craft Beer Scene

A family wedding lead me to Wilmington North Carolina where I found a thriving beer culture. Not only were their several excellent beer bars, a local bookstore (Old Books on Front St.) served beer, wine, and mead. And this port city is home to several breweries, most of which I was able to visit or at a minimum sample a beer. Regrets to BroomTail Craft Brews as the one brewery I completely missed.

We started the weekend with lunch at Front Street Brewery, a brewpub located in a 1865 era building and serving microbrews and southern styled pub food .  And don't leave without trying the 'Beers'wick Stew or Low Country Grit Cakes. Front Street is also the Granddaddy of the local beer movement having opened a decade ago. Year round they provide eight beers on tap, augmented by a couple seasonals. I thought the Coastal Kolsch was spot on with the Dram Tree Scottish Ale a decent wee heavy, although a bit on the sweeter side. The brewery also houses the largest whiskey selection I've ever seen, 300+, that made my eyes water in temptation. Wow. 

The bride and groom judiciously provided guests with a goody bag when checking into their hotel room and each bag contained a crowler of Wilmington Brewing Company Sneaky Goose Double IPA. Yes a crowler -- a 32 ounce canned container. Once the city's premier brewing supply store, the operation now includes a 3bbl brewery and tasting room. And good beer if the Sneaky Goose is any indication as it was heavy, but with a smooth backbone and plenty of aromatics. The brewery also offers a Kolsch, Stout, Saison, and Porter -- next trip.


Before the ceremony a few of us ventured a couple blocks to Ironclad Brewery, a newcomer that specializes in home grown beer and live music.  I tasted over half their menu and all were solid representatives of their respective styles starting with the Teach's Chocolate Stout. Plenty of smooth chocolate in this one. Two other smooth beers were their two lighter options Lydia's Lager (Munich Helles Lager) and the Old Baldy Golden Ale. And the Fish Tale Pale Ale was rather tasty as it had plenty of citrus in the tail. Wish we had more time to hangout.

It's not a beer trip unless we visit an aquarium or zoo and fortunately for the little one, there's one of each in the beaches south of Wilmington. And along the route theCompass alerted us to Good Hops Brewing in Carolina Beach. The brewery is the companion to Lookout Brewing Company in Black Mountain and brews daily on a 3 barrel system and provide a wide range of ales. A seasonal Saison and the Donna Golden Ale were nice starts to the session, but the clear favorites were the Flip Hop IPA and Bravehop Scotch Ale. The former is a clean IPA, big but refreshing on the palate. The later is currently a sour that requires a few sips to penetrate into the wee heavy flavors. A fantastic beer.


The final stop during the weekend was to the First Anniversary Party at Flytrap Brewing. And not just any party, a sour beer party. The lineup was stellar, unfortunately no samples so I stuck with the Gose and Belgium Blonde aged in Hungarian Oak. The Gose was very unique, stone fruits up front and slightly tart and salty on the back end. The oak aged Belgium was phenomenal; some funk and brett finishing slightly sour. Well worth the high price tag. The brewery was rocking that night with a large crowd and live music.  Seems like an appropriate metaphor to the overall Wilmington craft beer scene. Cheers.