Becoming the first commercial brewery in oceanic Pender County, Surf City’s SALTY TURTLE BEER COMPANY opened its doors during Christmastime, 2017. Inside a tan aluminum-sided cabin on popular Highway 50, the cement-floored Salty Turtle features a copper plexiglass resin L-shaped 12-seat bar (with aqua blue draught board), wood tables, covered front deck and small turfed benches plus sidling slate-floored patio.
A veteran-owned establishment ‘dedicated to serving the local community with artisan-crafted beers,’ the seven-barrel facility is one mile from Topsail Beach. Described as a ‘beach-themed Cheers,’ Salty Turtle grew out of the spirit of homebrewing and their Coastline Kolsch has reached a high level of local popularity.
My wife and I hit the pub on a hot, sticky Thursday evening, late August ’24, to enjoy nine stylishly proper, conservatively streamlined brews.
Flagship Coastline Kolsch saddled its brisk floral-perfumed lemon musk with grassy hop astringency and white peppered herbage contrasting wheat-flaked pilsner malts.
Palest golden Kojima Rice Lager plied sweet rice-flaked pilsner malting to lemon lime-prickled yellow grape esters and dried floral wisps.
Pleasurable summertime Gose, Hwy 50 Tangerine Vanilla, let sea-salted dried coriander, briny lemon souring and Hallertau Blanc-hopped green grape esters reach tart powdered candy midst as oaken vanilla contrasts sugared vanilla over white wheated sourdough base.
Likable iced latte knockoff, Betio Coffee Blonde, burst forth with whole bean coffee overtones, creamy milk-sugared vanilla sweetness and dark nutty splurge, relegating its spritzy citrus splash.
Then came the India Pale Ales. Sessionable aluminum-cleared West Coast-styled Run It Back let floral-daubed lemony orange tanginess, mild grapefruit bittering and piney herbage merge while bolder West Coast IPA, Meticulous, combined lemony grapefruit sugaring with ascending pine tones anchored by honeyed Vienna malts.
The most straightforward IPA, Alligator Bay, sunk lemon musk, grapefruit zest and orange bittering into crystal malt sugaring, profiling tropical Cascade hops against woody Centennial-Columbus hops.
Slight roasted coffee nuttiness and caramelized Maris Otter malting set the stage for Barnicle Bill’s Brown Ale, leaving mossy earthen residue upon its biscuity bottom.
Roasted chocolate-coffee gained milk-sugared vanilla sweetness to contrast the nutty espresso reminder of Swingbridge Breakfast Stout, a relaxing mocha bound digestif.