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Beer drinking is down—so what’s brewing for local breweries?
In sobering news for local breweries, for the second year in a row, the North Carolina Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association reports beer drinking is down.
To wit, several Raleigh breweries tapped out: New Anthem Beer Project and Clouds Brewing Downtown abruptly shuttered—the former after less than a year of business—while Little City Brewing morphed into Flour & Barrel, with brewing operations continuing under a different name.
In spite of those closures, a recent wave of breweries has saturated the market—and Little City’s transition signifies a shifting demand. As such, local brewers are optimistic about craft beer’s future in Raleigh—even though the key to growth, they say, includes getting comfortable with not everyone wanting to drink their beer.
Sound counterintuitive? Maybe, but these brewers say appealing to as many people as they can will keep the good times—and beer—flowing.
Now, adds Adam Eckhardt, owner of community-embedded Crank Arm Brewing, “you need to have a wide variety of offerings to appeal to the non-beer drinkers in a group.” Accordingly, upon the passage of late 2023 legislation allowing breweries to sell mixed beverages, Eckhardt quickly added a cocktail program to its supplemental wine, seltzer and cider offerings to broaden its appeal.
While Clouds Brewing was initially reluctant to add hard liquor to taproom menus—because brewerygoers naturally drink beer, right?—the go-to now pours cocktails in its Durham and Chapel Hill locales, with plans to add spirits to its Raleigh taproom. “If you have a group of five people,” says co-owner Matt MacNeil, “one or two will drink beer the whole time, but the rest will want to move on to other options.”
Beyond spirits, MacNeil says he’s also seen more people gravitating toward THC beverages and exploring nonalcoholic options, both of which he’s added to the lineup, similar to Bond Brothers. And these strategies seem to be working.
Local breweries like Crank Arm are on the rebound, with a recently bowed Durham location joining Clouds’ Brightleaf Square locale. Clouds also has its eyes set on opening additional spots, while Bond Brothers continues to make progress on its latest addition, NoCo Beverage, slated to bow in
the Salvage Yard development across from Raleigh Iron Works.
Not to be left out, Voodoo Brewing is breaking onto the DTR scene; Raleigh heavy hitter Trophy Brewing expects to crack open its seventh location with Trophy Five Points in 2026, and newcomer Crooked Hammock is slated to soon tap in the Crabtree Corridor as well.
In essence, “beer is starting to bounce back,” says Standard Beer + Food brewmaster and co-owner Whit Baker, also of the popular Bond Brothers Beer Company in Cary. He adds the 3 to 4% dip made a huge impact for breweries that weren’t focused on giving customers what they want.
Ultimately, what it all comes down to is customer service, says Flour & Barrel’s Anthony Rapillo, and to ensure you can deliver a drink for the mood of the moment. “If people focus on that, new breweries can be successful,” he says. Looks like there’s a hoppy ending in store for local breweries after all.
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