Local Beer in Wake Forest, NC

This beer is a love letter to the broskis, brosephs, dudes and dudettes. A super clean, dry, hop forward pale ale. It starts with step-mashed pilsner malt for an enhanced malt balance and hopped with a collage of US and NZ hops in the whirlpool. It’s then dry hopped with heaps of Riwaka, Nelson, and a touch of Mosaic cryo.

We took part in trialing a new product from Crosby Hop Farm in Oregon. They’ve been working on applying the “Cryo” method, or the cryogenic concentration of lupulin and removal of vegetal matter, on freshly harvested unkilned hops. This method could improve shelf life and shipping costs of the hops themselves, two big barriers to brewing these types of beers. We used their estate grown Comet hop strain in the kettle and dry hop. The resulting beer is very low in bitterness with some expected earthy fresh hop characteristics combined with a watermelon like fruitiness.

We may not enjoy living together, but dying together isn’t going to solve anything. Flavored dark beers don’t always have to be a big decision with boozy consequences. We used all our tactics to pack in body and flavor into a little porter and dosed it up with peanut butter, cacao nibs and marshmallow. Does not contain lactose.

Nothing beats a dark lager as fall temperatures are finally here. Dark brown with subtle roast from German dehusked roasted malt with a slightly hoppy twist from noble Hallertau Mittelfruh hops and lagered 8 weeks.

Part of our mission as a brewery is to always try new things, stay plugged into what’s new in ingredients and processing and trial them in the infinite quest for the holy grail or just the love for new experiences.  This one uses a new yeast called Pomona which is a yeast blend combining tropical characteristics with haze positive and biotransformation genes critical to the Hazy IPA style.  Brewed with NZ Nectaron and Riwaka hops which tend to be less aggressive than US hops to allow the yeast to do its thing. 

Lager brewers nationwide are on a shared quest to make Festbier more available in the US. This is not the darker amber “Märzen-style” but the golden elixir they drink in Munich during Oktoberfest. Our favorite Durham maltster at Epiphany Craft Malt got his start in the industry working at Brauerei Ayinger and used his connections and good looks to seal a deal with a family farm in Germany who only supplies a couple well known Bavarian breweries with their Ursprung Festmalt. This beer showcases this special malt with a small addition of Munich and Vienna malts for color and desirable autumn-evoking aromas. Fermented cold and slow and lagered in horizontal tanks for 8 weeks. Prost!

A unique Polish style beer that ties together old world smoke character with light lager drinkability. Made with 100% oak smoked wheat malt for a beautiful smoky aroma and slight opaque yellow appearance. Lagered for 8 weeks to clean up the fermentation character and bring out a surprisingly refreshing citrus finish.

German kettle sour made with 100% local barley and wheat from Epiphany Craft Malt in Durham.  Try it neat if you want a tart little refresher, or make it a fruit beer with balanced acidity by adding one of our house made syrups made by Jess, our talented bartender at the Bird’s Nest cocktail bar next door.  Current flavors are Mango Habanero, Cherry Raspberry, and Mango Passionfruit, $2 per syrup. 

A super condensed and dark version of a stout using the absolute minimal amount of water you can use to make beer. Boiled for 4-6 hours (or more) to reduce any leftover water back out and be left with stouty syrup. Fermented and aged for maximum smoothness, we aged this one for seven months in tanks before dosing it with Ugandan vanilla beans and Bones Hazelnut Coffee. 

Celebrating The Federal’s 20th anniversary, our friend’s neighborhood bar and restaurant in Durham. We wanted to brew a style that was more common on a menu 20 years ago, something that was approachable in flavor and price point but also not too plain at the same time. Belgian malt went through a long 2.5 hour step mash which provides a special array of sugars for the yeast, and in our opinion makes a more authentically Belgian flavor. Hopped with Liberty in late boil and a small dry hop. Fermented with yeast sourced from Achouffe brewery, giving one of the more unique ester and phenol profiles amongst the Belgian yeasts.

A wheat beer gets a dose of sea salt and goes through a clean ale fermentation.  Once complete, a team of 2-3 people spend all day zesting and juicing limes and adding it to the tank.  After a week of resting on lime zest, watermelon concentrate gets added to the tank, which is then carbonated and packaged.  It’s a Water Melóne inside a Lime Gose!  It’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen in your life!  

Kanpai is ‘cheers’ in Japanese. Inspired by Ian’s Japanese classmates at Siebel Institute brewing school. When it’s 2am and the group has been enjoying beers all over Munich, everyone needs a good “Kanpai!” and it’s on to the next bar. We used our brewhouse mash mixer to cereal mash short grain sushi rice, making the starches available, and then blend it into our pilsner malt mash to enzymatically break it down into a rice syrup. Over 40% of this beer comes from rice. It’s then hopped with floral Lorien hops and lagered several weeks. This is a deliciously light and delicate beer.

Part of our staff beer series where each team member gets a chance to choose a beer style and spend a day creating it themselves on the brewhouse!  This one is Rishi’s turn!  He brewed a Russian Imperial Stout with Harmony and Ian.  The recipe is a throwback to early 2000’s Imperial Stouts when roast and hop bitterness were prized traits that mingled beautifully on a high ABV malt base and are less sweet than the flavored imperial stouts of today.  Brewed with a good dose of roasted barley and features a notable hop aroma and firm bitterness from Cascade, Nugget and Simcoe hops.  

Saison Du Héritage was brewed out of love for authentic Belgian Saisons. We did our best to pay our respects to the tradition and methods of brewing this style of beer. Utilizing local rustic malts such as spelt and red wheat from Epiphany Craft Malt in Durham, along with doing a traditional step mash. This beer consists of a blend of 2 saison strains from Belgium and is full of luscious fruity esters. This beer is also naturally carbonated to heighten the drinking experience and flavor. A votre santé mon amies!

Pride of Spitalfields pub holds a special place in my heart and this beer is an homage to a fun filled night at a boozer of a London pub. The night was filled with plenty of laughs on top of a slight roast from some English lads yelling “You’re Toast Mate!” This beer is perfectly sessionable coming in at 3.5% ABV, and has a delightful malty backbone that is reminiscent of a freshly toasted baguette. Balanced and easy to drink and perfect for any occasion, even if you’re getting roasted by your friends. So don’t be a tosser and order yourself and your friends a proper pint of this beer.

Dunkels are a staple on any Bavarian beer menu. Malty but with great drinkability, it’s designed to be consumed by the liter. Getting the majority of its color from higher kilned Munich-style malt, this single decocted brew was patiently lagered and weighs in at an approachable 4.7% ABV

Learning and speaking a new language is hard, even more so when you’ve imbibed on a few alcoholic beverages. For those bold enough to attempt said feats this beer is for you. We brewed this Mexican lager with flaked Maize and Pilsner malt and then conditioned it on freshly squeezed lime juice, zest, and Pink Himalayan sea salt. Refreshing waves of lime and hints of salt transport you to warm sunny days. As a warning, this liquid vacation of a beer may increase your craving for chips and salsa.

Even more Weizen than Perry’s Epiphany. This is a higher gravity version of a Hefeweizen with higher portions of wheat. In addition to locally grown red wheat from Perry Family Farm in Rolesville, we included British Maris Otter and Belgian Special B malts for a copper colored Hefe with notes of caramel and dark fruit. We still keep the overall profile subtle with high drinkability. An autumnal delight.

Classic German style wheat beer. 50% of this beer is made from wheat grown at Perry Family Farm in Rolesville four miles from the brewery and malted at Epiphany Craft Malt in Durham. Brewed the hard way, this went through five mash steps including two decoctions to get every bit of character these malts have to offer. Naturally carbonated and unfiltered.