About Us
Local Beer in Wake Forest, NC
Blackbird Brewery Beer
We at Blackbird Brewery understand that craft beer is no mere beverage. Each drop, each pint, is a form of history, anthropology and sociology. We are students and teachers of the culture and process of brewing. We do not just deal in tanks or barrels or kegs, but in magic and transformation—of our art, craft and chemistry—by every subtle aroma, each fleeting moment.
We explore flavor development through challenging and lesser used traditional techniques combined with the newest discoveries and ingredients we can find. Our highly customized 7bbl brewhouse houses an automated mash mixer and decoction capabilities giving us more control over recipe variables and the ability to process local non-malted grains. We also squeezed in tank designs for adjuncts, fruit, high hop loads, massive malt loads, and natural carbonation in horizontal tanks. This means authentic European styles, expressive IPAs, tart fruit beers, barrel aged stouts and barleywines. Read on to see what local beers we are brewing!
In addition we offer prosecco and cider on draft, fine wines by the glass, and an assortment of non-alcoholic drinks. Making a trip here for something particular? We do our very best to keep the beer page updated but it’s always best to check our live inventory before traveling.
Looking for our distribution page? Visit our Wholesale Requests page to submit your request for distribution within the Triangle Area.
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.
- Style: Hazy IPA
- ABV: 7.2
Seven Days is a homage to a modern classic hop combo that is delightfully ghoulish. Citra & Mosaic meld so well together but is not for the faint of hearts. It crawls out of the nearest television sets with citrus and tropical fruit to ensnare you with its tantalizing delights. Be warned once you finish your last drop, don’t answer your phone for you may catch the curse of Seven Days and want to consume it everyday of the week.
- Style: West Coast IPA
- ABV: 7.0
A collaboration with Hopfly Brewing Co. in Charlotte. Whether you’re a level 10 Wiz blaster or a Wizzy boi or gal we’ve got the beer for you. Wizard staff is here to aid you through any side quests you traverse through. This West Coast Pale Ale utilizes Cannabis terpenes and through the use of alchemy we conjured up a hop combo to complement it. The terpene, sourced from a strain called Gelato, brings pine and dark berry notes and no THC or CBD. May this low abv, punchy flavored Westy help you roll some crit 20s and blast some fools into dust.
- Style: West Coast Pale Ale with Cannabis Terpenes
- Collab: Hopfly Brewing Co.
- ABV: 5.0% ABV, 0% THC
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!
- Style: Festbier
- ABV: 5.9
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.
- Style: Oak Smoked Wheat Lager
- ABV: 4.0
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.
- Style: Sour Ale
- ABV: 3.0
If those birthday invites keep stacking up and you’re not sure you can afford them all, talk to us about our 6.5% interest!*, 30 year fixed loan. The asterisk means we round up to 8%, it’s just called the “6.5% interest!” loan. It’ll cover the tapas, or the bouncy house rental. While you’re signing the papers, enjoy this hazy IPA packed with flavors to help you forget about interest rates and the economy. Hopped with Citra, Mosaic, and Krush brimming with a medley of tropical fruits reminiscent of those caprisuns you crushed at all those birthdays.
- Style: Hazy IPA
- ABV: 7.6
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.
- Style: Pastry Milk Stout
- ABV: 10.7
Brewed using mashing techniques to maximize balance in lower ABV hoppy beers, this showcases the new ‘24 crop of Nelson from New Zealand Freestyle Farms with a complimentary touch of Hop Revolution Riwaka.
- Style: West Coast Pale Ale
- ABV: 5.6
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.
- Style: Belgian Blonde Ale
- ABV: 5.4
Hold on to your butts, Brochachos! This West Coast IPA is pale yellow and crispy, but loaded with flavor from earthy pineapple Idaho #7 lupomax during and after fermentation, with a nice accompaniment of Strata with its fresh cannabis vibes and NZ grown Nelson’s white grape character. Try before you deny cause it’s shmackin’, dude.
- Style: West Coast IPA
- ABV: 7.0
While traversing treacherous dungeons and fighting heaps of baddies one’s hit points can dwindle and diminish. A good old health potion from the potion seller can regenerate those battle bruises and woes. Be weary of some potion sellers though. They may be conniving or arrogant and think that their inventory of potions are too powerful for a mere mortal to consume. This luscious elixir might be said potion. This Hazy IPA was conjured up with heaps of New Zealand Motueka and a dash of Nelson hops. Bursting with tropical citrus fruit with subtle hints of melon and stone fruit. May this fruit forward potion aid you well on your journey.
- Style: Hazy IPA
- ABV: 7.4
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!
- Style: Watermelon Lime Gose
- ABV: 5.5
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.
- Style: Russian Imperial Stout
- ABV: 9.0
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!
- Style: Farmhouse Style Ale
- ABV: 5.7
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.
- Style: Weizenbock
- ABV: 7.8
Brewed with piles and piles of freshly harvested Strata hops from Crosby Farms in Oregon. Each September during hop harvest, hop farms offer a one time special order of fresh hops to brewers willing to work with these fluffy, wet, sticky hops for a special brew. It’s become an annual tradition and celebration of harvest for brewers. The hops are either picked up at the farm or overnighted to breweries on harvest day where we then have to use them within 24 hours before they spoil. The rest of the harvest is kiln dried, pelletized and vacuum sealed to create a shelf stable hop product we can use year-around. Typically these beers have some green hop notes, but with a saturated and unique resiny flavor you can only get from fresh hops!
- Style: Fresh Hop IPA
- ABV: 6.5
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.
- Style: Hefeweizen
- ABV: 4.8
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.
- Style: Kolsch
- ABV: 4.5