RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA

At a light industrial section just north of downtown in a maroon brick building (with yellow insignia), RALEIGH BREWING COMPANY opened March 9, 2013. Run by married co-owners Kristie and Patrick Nystedt, the friendly noir-like beer joint served well-rounded American, British, Belgian, Scottish and Czech styled fare from its dank maroon-walled high-ceiling tasting room on my June ’13 summer sojourn.

Since future renovations seem imminent, its worth noting the spacious cement-floored pub area can easily be expanded to the gigantic back-spaced brewing room. For now, Atlantic Brewing Supply Company runs the left space while a narrow outdoor porch and parking lot benches provide extra drinking spots.

Settling at the trusty tasting room bar (featuring white bell-shaped light fixtures, exposed pipes, 10 bar stools, 10 tables and 4 dartboards), blonde bartender, Rachel, serves eight 6-ounce samplers as MGMT’s hook-filled “Kids” plays in the backround this sunny afternoon.

As a soft-toned sessionable opener, City Of Blokes English Bitter proves to be a durable English pub ale with its dry-honeyed toasted nuttiness, serene hop-spiced pale malting and earth-toned vegetal fungi snip.

Also light and crisp, Uncommon Curiosity Lager brought grassy-hopped cereal graining to dry citric-vegetal tones. Dryer still, Moravian Rhapsody Czech Pils gathered citric-hopped pale malts for vegetal squash, asparagus and celery pungency.

These easygoing libations led the way for more complex fare. Pilsner-malted Hell Yes Mam Belgian Golden offered honey-spiced Belgian candi-sugaring to ripe banana, apricot and pear fruiting. Scott’s Petit Saison plied black-peppered herbage to rotted orange juicing.

Arguably the best offering, House Of Clay Rye IPA saturated dry-hopped rye toasting with grapefruit-peeled dessicated orange bittering and dark floral-spiced pineapple, mango, kiwi and passion fruit tropicalia.

Seductive Blatherskite Scottish Ale may’ve topped all previous servings as well. Its caramel-honeyed toffee malts, cereal grained sugaring and ripe fruiting seemed sweeter and more enjoyable stylistically.

On the dark side, finely detailed Hidden Pipe Porter rounded up dark-roasted chocolate malts, coffee-roasted cappuccino creaminess and sugared molasses to elevate tertiary black cherry, blackberry and black grape notions.

An appealing freestyle microbrewery with rangy fare and ambitious determination, Raleigh Brewing represents the beer-centric North Carolina capitol quite well.

www.raleighbrewingcompany.com

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA

The City of Oaks’ and its smaller neighboring industrial municipality, Durham, house North Carolina State and Duke, while the more affluent, less populated, Chapel Hill, is home to University of North Carolina. After visiting N.C. State campus and middling local brewpub GREENSHIELDS, July ‘03 (closed ’07), stopped by fabulous Super 7 Even, one of the finest beer stores in the country at that time (located in Exxon station at 6901 Louisburg Road), finding cornucopia of Highland, Carolina, Charleston, Cottonwood, Pipkin, and Dogwood brews. Soon after, North Carolina’s microbrew revolution happened.

Leading the way for Raleigh’s current brewpub explosion in 2008, BOYLAN BRIDGE BREWING COMPANY became popular a few years before hard-nosed competitors Lonerider, Trophy, Big Boss and Raleigh Brewing came to fruition. Up a hill across the railroad tracks overlooking Oak City’s skyline in a rustic beige brick building, this yellow wood furnished cafe-styled pub brings brusque blue collar fare to hard working locals.

Besides the hand crafted beer, perhaps the most outstanding feature of Boylan Bridge is the large side deck with red-white umbrellas – a comfortable outdoor station boasting the most picturesque view of downtown.

During the start of a June ’13 family trip, we ate Corn Tortilla Chipped Nachos while grabbing a few samplers from the glass-encased stainless steel brewtanks while sitting across from the cozy soffit-covered center bar next to framed poster art. Today’s blackboard beer list offers five in-house choices to go alongside Americana fare such as the Angus Burger, Philly Cheesesteak, BLT and Crab Cake Sandwich.

Sturdy flagship beer, Rail Pale Ale, gathered orange-peeled grapefruit bittering for prickly floral hop-spiced crisping, placing tangy peach-tangerine illusions down below.

Mild Endless Summer Ale brought corn syrupy lemon-grapefruit tartness to wood-dried hop spicing while maintaining a brisk carbolic spritz. Similarly pleasant, Autumn Amber Ale amplified its lemon-soured citric foundation with spicy perfume-hopped bittering.

On the dark side, caramel-malted Brown Ale left subtle coffee-oiled honey nut, butternut and praline illusions atop toffee candied soaping. A better bet, Pullman Porter, added molasses-smoked mocha malts and dried fruiting to coffee-roasted nuttiness, leaving a caramel-burnt sweetness on the back of the tongue.

Retaining stylistic integrity while expanding the loose guidelines on the bitter end just a tad, Boylan Bridge’s common fare makes fine crossover fodder for mainstream drinkers ready to take a bold step forward discovering the craft beer revolution.

www.boylanbridge.com

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA

Located three miles northeast from downtown just inside the Raleigh beltline at a white warehouse facility, BIG BOSS BREWING COMPANY is one of the city’s largest microbrew operations as of my June ’13 visit. Established in 2006 by University of North Carolina grad Geoff Lamb and brewmaster Brad Wynn, this plentiful brewhouse makes five year-round offerings (Bad Penny Brown/ High Roller IPA/ Angry Angel Kolsh/ Blanco Diablo Wit/ Hell’s Belle Belgian Ale) plus a long lineup of seasonals and one-offs (reviewed in the Beer Index).

At the English tavern-styled taproom above the brewery, patrons seem intrigued by the retro-styled arcade game dispensing beers to winners on my initial stopover. A large blackboard beer list, several flat-screen TV’s, high-shelved collectible beer bottles, pool tables, ping pong and darts dot the entirety. A bottling plant for 6-packs and serving tanks readying kegs reside downstairs on the expansive first floor.

Not afraid to bend stylistic boundaries, Big Boss beers tend to gleefully test the limits. D’Icer Dunkelweizen renders sourdough wheat malting for lemon-dried plantain, vinous green grape and oaken cherry, leaving behind any stylized banana-browned sweetness.

Surprisingly, thick molasses sweetness coats the front end of Bad Penny Brown Ale, a hop-oiled sidestep placing coffee-soured black chocolate over expectant walnut bittering.

www.bigbossbrewing.com