Spirit Water

My birthday recently rolled around, and my buddy wanted to treat me to a trip to a nearby brewery. Which one? Good question, and a tough one if the nearly hour of searching is any indication. Whilst perusing a list of breweries on Wikipedia (which was, believe it or not, rather useful, as I learned that a handful of closures had taken place over the past couple years, and I hadn't heard about any of them), I spot a listing in Cary that I'd never heard of before. Checking out the website to see what kind of selection was available, I was greeted by a relatively massive list, one that even included house-made liquor/liqueur, and it mentioned that the brewer/owner/whatever was the same guy who started Small Town those years ago. We had to give it a try, said I. And, lo, we did, and it was a trip.

The place is set aside just so slightly from the road and train tracks, and you wouldn't even necessarily know it's there if you weren't looking for it. A nondescript block of a building on the outside, the innards display that sort of modern chic style that so many taprooms are going with these days: light woods everywhere, neon signs, a handful of screens by the bar, small tables, a collection of board games, and a couch-based area. I almost got the vibe of a mixture between a classic pub and a contemporary hipster hangout. The large box-shaped bar encloses a massive-looking wall full of taps (you can see it on the website, but I wasn't able to fully process it until I saw it in person). We settled in at a table closer to the door (that's where the open seating was) and kinda wondered what to do; we approached the bar looking quizzical and were told that a server would be sent our way post-haste. Said server was very welcoming, very knowledgeable, and even provided a free welcome sample (specifically the Tropic Beach "cocktail"). She walked us through the menu and offered some recommendations, something she would do throughout the night. We proceeded to grab a pair of sample flights, then an additional flight of liquor shots. If the beer had a particular flavor in its name, it was reflected on the tongue with gusto. Water and popcorn were available free of charge, helping absorb some of the abundant alcohol flowing through us. The beers are all solid (assuming you dig the flavor-enriched style they employ), and the liquors were mostly pretty damn good: I even left with a bottle of the peated whiskey for good measure. The pricing seems slightly high for the area, but it's not gonna break the bank. Overall, it was an entertaining visit, one that made me want to revisit in the near future.

I have to admit, I was not very excited to come here. All I had in my head was hard soda. I can say that is not the case at all. While they do specialize in that genre, there is something for everyone here. Most of the in-house beverages trend towards hard soda or cocktails, they have plenty of guest taps to satisfy the stubborn beer heads. The vibe is excellent. The building is new and they have a nice outdoor seating area. The only things that I would say are a negative is that it can be pricey and you might be more intoxicated than you expect when you leave. All in all, a quality destination. Also, they get food trucks. There was a Korean food truck there when we visited and the food was very good. Unfortunately, I don't recall the name. Definitely worth a visit.