Flying Bull Beer Company

I had early dinner here on a Saturday with a family group recently. It was a beautiful day, and we appreciated the open, modern taproom restaurant with light pouring in and great views of the quiet Durham street. The beer selection was pretty good, with 15 taps of their own beers, plus a seltzer and a cider. The styles ranged from standard IPAs and a Blonde to Coconut Stout, Scotch Ale and a Sour. The beer flight I sampled was mostly solid. So the beer was decent, but the rest of the experience could have been better.

Despite a largely empty pub, the service was very slow and poor. It took forever to order, forever to get food and there was very little attention to any of our needs. The food was just OK. Overall, I'd say this is a decent place to sit and have a beer in Durham, but I wouldn't go out of my way and I wouldn't make it a beer and food destination.

I visited Flying Bull while hanging out in Durham a couple months ago. They have a new, clean, modern, and comfy taproom, with the brewhouse visible through windows from the taproom. It’s a full restaurant and bar, with a full menu and cocktails and whatnot. Quite welcoming, and the service at the bar was excellent — the bartender Guillaume was a hoot. I had their “OG” burger which was darn good.

There were only 7 beers on tap when I visited: an American IPA, vanilla imperial stout plus a rotating imperial stout, WCIPA, blonde, Kölsch, and saison. The saison was pretty solid and the Kölsch wasn’t bad either. I would definitely return if in Durham for some food and beers, and would like to sample more of what they have, because while it’s small their taplist was interesting.