Trophy Brewing in Raleigh, NC

After drinking quite a bit at a very good bar, The Busy Bee, for my friend's rehearsal dinner, I decided the mile walk to Trophy brewing would do me some good. Turned out I was right since the walk was easy and it let me sober up a bit before getting there. I wasn't sure what to expect but Trophy looks like a small store front with a bar in the front and probably a large back room for the brewing area.

When I got there, probably around 10:30pm on a Friday, there were a couple of seats at the bar so I sat myself down and ordered a 30 Fathoms, a Baltic Porter. I had been excited to try their Rosemary Gose but it unfortunately had kicked the day before. Oh well.

Since I had already had a few strong beers at The Busy Bee my notes are, well, kind of crap. But that happens and we'll deal. Sweet milky nose on this. Baltic Porter's are generally a bit stronger than regular porters and sweeter than imperial ones so that makes sense. Body followed with fruit and roast with a bit of creaminess. Tasty enough even with my muddled senses.

After that I knew I only had one more in me so I went the stereotypical route and ordered the Double IPA. I have no idea if it has a fancy name since I didn't write it down and neither BeerAdvocate nor Trophy's website lists it. We'll just have to live without it.

Solid nose with straight orange citrus notes. Body was a mix of bitterness, sugar and caramel with citrus and vanilla coming in the back. The finish and aftertaste were more of an earthy bitterness. Pretty decent double ipa and worth trying if it comes back on in the future.

So, yeah, a quick visit and a slightly drunk one but thems the breaks. I was planning on hitting this place before The Busy Bee but the airline misplaced our bag so they wasted hours of our time and I wasn't able to make it. I was just happy to make it at all after that. I took a picture of their taps since they really follow through on their name with decorations too.

Okay that picture doesn't show things completely clearly but the taps are trophies. Like the ones you used to get for participating in sports. Pretty funny. The bar itself was real nice as were all the people. Talked to a bunch of them too. Basically, if you are in Raleigh, I would come check this place out. Definitely worth your time.