Burial’s Transfer Co. taproom and bottle shop expansion provides even more reason to drink the award-winning beer.
WEB EXCLUSIVE Almost exactly two years since Burial Beer Co. expanded its Raleigh taproom in Transfer Co. Food Hall (dubbed The Exhibit), the Asheville-founded brewery is in the process of expanding yet again. Obviously, Raleighites are big fans.
After Longleaf Swine BBQ backed out of the corner spot at Transfer Co. (right next to The Exhibit) last year because of plans to open elsewhere, Burial snatched it up. The extra space allows for Burial to expand the taproom with additional seating (including two-tops!) and build out a bottle shop, giving Burial enthusiasts even more ways to enjoy the brewery’s unique selection of beers, ciders, sours and wines—in person or at home—plus brews from some Raleigh-based breweries as well.
Burial is also doubling the number of taps available at The Exhibit—bringing the total number of draft options to 24. The more taps, the more chances for Burial to show off new releases—which come out very often. The brewery also recently launched natural winery Visuals Wine, which specializes in fermented wines, ciders and aperitifs. So, basically, there will always be something to look forward to.
Art is going to be a big part of The Exhibit’s expansion too. The Burial team is working with a local muralist to create large pieces out of the brewery’s colorful (and oftentimes super-trippy) can and bottle designs, which will only add to the taproom’s edgy vibe. Outside seating will be available around the entire corner of Transfer Co. for when it’s warm enough to sip brews outside in the sun again. Spring couldn’t come soon enough.
The story behind Raleigh breweries’ unique can designs.
Picking out a can of beer is a personal affair and, for the adventurous, the selection may be based on how the can looks rather than what kind of beer it contains.
“People see something that looks good or sounds like an interesting description on the can—that sells it,” explains Chris Powers, co-owner of Raleigh’s Trophy Brewing Company.
Breweries throughout the city rely on unique, eye-catching can designs to attract customers and tempt them into buying their beer over others. Trophy, Crank Arm Brewing Company and Burial Beer Co. all have professional artists, designers or illustrators that create their beer can designs for them.
At Crank Arm, each beer revolves around the brewery’s cycling theme. Co-owner Adam Eckhardt has worked with former Crank Arm bartender Adam Balding, now of design firm Saturday’s Gravy, since they started canning at the brewery three years ago. Eckhardt says the names for Crank Arm beers always come first, then the can design. Ever since Crank Arm came out with its design for the Road Hazard New England IPA, a colorful, psychedelic can design, the cans have gotten more creative.
“We went from that standard, stylized can to me getting to be able to express some crazy ideas I had, and Adam has made them all happen,” Eckhardt says. “You have to have a good product and then you have to market it well, and the can design definitely helps with that.”
Powers says Trophy’s process is similar and the brewery works with three different designers: Thomas Jennings from Charlotte designs Trophy’s popular core beers; Natasha Walker from Raleigh designs the brewery’s allyship series, and Chicago-based graphic designer Charlotte Croy Hudson designs all of Trophy’s 12-ounce sour cans.
Powers says the entire process of coming up with a design, brewing the beer, getting the label approved by the ABC Commission and manufacturing the cans can take anywhere from six weeks to two months, depending on how long the designer takes and how quickly the design is approved, so breweries, including Burial Beer Co. and Crank Arm, have to plan far in advance for special beer can releases.
Burial releases around 300 new can and bottle designs each year, all of which are done by Minneapolis-based illustrator David Paul Seymour. Burial co-owner Doug Reiser keeps a journal of peculiar things he sees, reads or says during his everyday life and draws inspiration from those anecdotes when pressed to come up with new can designs and names. Most of Burial’s cans hew to the theme of the celebration of life and death.
“We’ve always tried to embrace that natural mystic piece and the regenerative function of existence here,” Reiser says. “Not only are customers stoked to drink the beer but also to check out the art and evaluate the content and think about it.”
Though coming up with new beer can designs takes time, effort, creativity and collaboration, brewers say it’s worth it for them to make sure their beers stand out among the competition.
“Product development is really crucial, from the storytelling perspective,” says Reiser. “We’ve always told people we’d never half-ass their beverage, but we’d never half-ass their experience, either. Every beer has an elaborate story.”
Even though there’s a shutdown, many of the 30+ breweries on the Raleigh Beer Trail 2020 are still open for online orders and curbside pickup…and you can still get your Raleigh Beer Trail passport stamped for visiting!
Sour beers are a less hoppy, more funky-tasting category of brew that have been making their mark in and around Raleigh. Below, you’ll find a short overview of some of the many sours you can find at breweries and restaurants—we look forward to getting out and about and drinking them all again!—encompassing a range of tart and tasty flavors that even the casual beer drinker can appreciate. You can find some of these sours at local grocery stores including Whole Foods, Lowes Foods and Wegmans and at national bottle shops such as Total Wine. Keep an eye out for curbside takeout and delivery programs at these stores, as well as at local restaurants, bottle shops and bars that might still be open to sell you a six-pack—to go, of course—or a bottle or two.
Rosette Rosé-Inspired Ale* and Piglette Grisette* by Brewery Bhavana
If rosé and beer had a baby, Brewery Bhavana’s Rosette would be their delightful-tasting offspring. The rosé-inspired ale is bubbly, floral and fruity, just like your favorite bottle of sparkling. Meanwhile, the Piglette Grisette has a clean, subtle sour taste that doesn’t stray too far from a light beer.
Wounds That Cannot Heal and Ascent of the Blessed at Burial Beer Co.
Within the plant-filled Burial Beer Co. at Transfer Company, you’ll find a variety of tasty sour beers featuring dark names. The Wounds That Cannot Heal sour mostly takes on the flavor of a golden ale with a hint of citrus, while the Ascent of the Blessed sour carries fruity notes of wine.
R&D Passionfruit Gose*
R&D’s Passionfruit Gose is great for those just getting into sours. It has a mild fruitiness that’s crisp and delightful—perfect for easy sipping.
Cranberry Gose by Clouds Brewing
This punchy pink gose is known as a kettle sour, a style of sour that’s brewed in a stainless-steel kettle to produce an exceptionally tart taste. Clouds’ refreshing cranberry version is both fruity and tangy.
Necromancy by Wye Hill
One sip of Wye Hill’s Necromancy tiki sour and you’ll be transported to a sandy beach on a tropical island somewhere far away. The unique small batch sour beer gets its tropical flavors from fruit juices and rum-infused spices such as allspice, clove and star anise, resulting in a tart and fruity taste that’s almost too good to be true.
Total Protonic Reversal by Trophy Brewing Company
This dry-hopped Norwegian raw ale is the first sour to come out of Trophy’s new sour beer program at its Morgan Street location. The beer is light and refreshing, with just a hint of sour and herb notes.
