Local Beer in Wake Forest, NC

Comin’ real in 2025, it’s the next episode. Straight off the streets of CPT. King of the beats, you ride em in your fleet. North Carolina to the Westside, we whoopty whooped up this crisp and clear IPA with Strata, Citra and Mosaic. Dank enough for dippin’ through hoods with Doc in the back sippin’ on gnac. Hey-ey-eyay, IPA everyday.

Nothing matters but knowing nothing matters. It’s just beer, so keep drinking through. All the things you love about hazy IPA in a smaller package. The hops? NZ Motueka.

What was the boat that brought them all together on Gilligan’s Island? It was the S.S. Minnow. This hazy is oaty and full bodied with lots of Citra and a new hop, Elani which pushes it in a tropical pineapple direction. The ideal desert island beer when you’re stranded with a group of castaways. 7.2% ABV

We never decided, at least I ‘think’, what A-O River means. Forgive us. But, y’know, you’ve forgiven us before for not getting it right. At least we had a good time. The new style West Coast IPA brewers are focusing on is West Coast Pils, and this is our first take on it. Pilsner malt and European noble hops are added on brewday, and after a few days in cool lager fermentation we ramped up temperatures and dry hopped it with Mosaic and Motueka, similar to how we’d make an IPA. Hopefully we’ll see more of these in the near future. Yours, Dave “King River”. 4.8% ABV

Double decoction mashed and lagered to clarity, trying some of our lager processes on an ale in the ongoing quest for greatness, or differentness, or landing somewhere between. Munich, biscuit and dark crystal malts put a malty spin on this approachable medium gravity Belgian.

Unfiltered, youthful lager style that has been served in Germany dating back to the Middle Ages. This is the stuff that lager brewers drink on a daily basis straight off the tanks. Fermented a little warmer with a little more aroma hops than our typical pilsner recipe. Brewed with Czech Saaz and New Zealand Motueka hops, the former being the oldest hop in the world and the latter being one of the newest which was bred from the former, so it’s all in the family!

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.

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.

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!  

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%.

Modern, West Coast IPAs are one of our favorite styles. We went tried and true with the “holy trinity” hops of Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe. Fermented bone dry with balanced bitterness to produce clean, clear hop juice. If you had any doubts before, we are sure they’re gone. Blackbird is your home away from home and where I belong.

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.

The classic light and crisp German ale, drinks like a lager but with unique stone fruit, salt cracker and chalky aromas you only find in Kolsch. A special selection of malts and hops we don’t share with our other beers, a special yeast strain, tricky alkaline, and three week cold conditioning to settle into its personality makes this a one of a kind beer style we can’t get enough of.