North Carolina: Aviator Brewery - Craft Beer Brewing

On previous visits to North Carolina I have visited a vineyard and winery as well as a moonshine distillery so it just seems to fall into order that this time I take a tour around a craft beer brewery!  Aviator Brewery is located in Fuquay Varina, NC about three miles from my sister's house.

On the Main Street of old Fuquay Aviator Brewery also have a bar - The Tap Room,

a store - The Bottle Shop

and a restaurant called The Smokehouse, all within walking distance from each other.

First stop though was the brewery for a brewery tour.  What do you do when you fly private aircraft and have some down time - you start brewing beer of course!  When you have so many friends stopping by for a glass and the owners of the airplane hangars say that is too many people then what? You move premises and start craft brewing on a much larger scale and Aviator Brewery is born.

When you get to the premises and whilst you wait for the next tour to begin you can sample some of the many beers on offer and of course buy a pint to drink whilst you wait.  There is outdoor seating and a few games to keep you occupied!

The beers all have creative names and very creative ABV strengths rising up to around 13%!

The rise in craft beer brewing in North Carolina surged when the limit for ABV was raised to 15% in the state with Raleigh, the state's capital city having over 20 craft brewers alone and a total of just over 175 craft beer breweries spring up throughout the state.
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After tasting some of the beers on offer we began our tour around the brewery.  The whole process is done in a compact and ultra modern environment.  It is a very slick operation with only 23,000 sq ft of space to brew and can now fill 300 cans per minute!

A quick pit stop for a pint before finishing our tour.  Cheers!!

Aviator believe that beer should be put into cans to better care for the amber liquid inside.  Cans make sure the beer is not affected by sunlight or air as is possible with bottles.  It is also easier to recycle cans.

Our guide said "Anyone can make a beer, the craft is hiding the alcohol taste and leaving the beer taste.". There were loads of pallets loaded with beer cans waiting to be filled,

shrink warpped and packed ready to be shipped out.

Mr R certainly enjoyed trying some of the beers on tap the day we visited!!

Following our tour we proceeded to The Tap House and sat outside on a warm Spring evening, drinking beer and listening to live, local music - pure Southern comfort!

We visited Aviator Brewery with a Groupon voucher thereby we received branded glass each and free beer to take home.  I was not required to write a positive review.  As usual all opinions and photos are my own. No photos may be reproduced in any form without my express permission.

North Carolina: Making Moonshine at Broadslab Distillery

In the 1920s America there was no work or money due to the financial crash - the depression and no alcohol because of prohibition.  It was no fun sitting around with friends with no money and no drink so ultimately men began to distill their own.  The practice of illegal stills in isolated backwoods locations under the silver moon was given the name of 'Moonshine' whiskey!

Meanwhile deep down south there were many men stood guarding their home made stills where they were distilling a colourless liquid. The problem with this liquid was that it was very high in alcohol content and as it was during the prohibition period of the depression it was also highly illegal.  It was also a dangerous pastime - if the still didn't blow up and kill you often the moonshine would!

Fast forward to present day and today you can make moonshine with a licence under strict conditions, a bonded warehouse and a legal still. Moonshine making has been in Jeremy Norris's family for five generations and is alive and distilling in Benson, North Carolina.

Broadslab Distillery doesn't purchase commercially available grain alcohol, they take pride in growing and Harvesting their own food grade white corn.  Their special malting process produces a smooth mash when blended with pure cane sugar and left to ferment in oak barrels.  Broadslab Legacy Shine is distilled in small batches in a large copper still.

Take a tour of the still and hear Jeremy tell the tales of moonshine distilling form  his granddad's days

Broadslab produce five different spirits.  Broadslab Legacy Shine, Broadslab Legacy Reserve (limited edition product with a light amber glow from aging in traditional charred oak barrels, Broadslab Legacy Appleshine as well as Carolina Coast Spiced and Silver rums made with premium, table grade molasses and pure granulated cane sugar, crafted and distilled on the premises at the distillery in Johnson County, North Carolina.

You can make a purchase of Moonshine in the gift shop however due to a weird North Carolina law you can only purchase 1 ltr per person per year from the gift shop! Guess I will have to go back again to get another bottle!

Once the tour is finished you get a tasting session in the bar/gift shop where you can taste the nuances of the different blends (my favourite was the Spiced Apple - which I think would make a great liquid to soak sultanas for an apple and spice cake!).

I thought Moonshine would be rough and the first sip is kind of rough however from the second sip onwards it is smooth like the clouds rolling over the stills in the woods!

I thoroughly enjoyed my tour of Broadslab Distillery and look forward to getting another bottle of Moonshine this year! I was not required to write a positive review.  All opinions and photos are my own.  

No photos may be reproduced in any form without my written consent.

Time travelling - my outlook.

How many people these days take time travel for granted? With such nonchalance we sit in airports waiting for our call to board an airplane and travel at altitudes above 35,000ft at ground speeds equivalent to over 500 miles per hour as we plan to travel back in time or forward in time to a new day, a new adventure.

We travel around the world to another country, another continent, another culture as easily as we take a bus or train across town.

For one reason or another, a story to long to go into now, I had not flown across the Atlantic for quite few years, not been home to my people, my family but at long last here I am traveling to Boston, Mass today, staying in a hotel then flying in the morning to North Carolina, a state I have never been to before to visit my sister for three weeks. 

Sitting aboard this Virgin Atlantic flight, the same route and airline I always take to the USA, in the relative luxury of Premium Economy I am reflecting on the adventure ahead.

An airport waiting area with such comfy rocking chairs to while away the waiting time!

Sisters, two women with a special bond, an understanding a connection. I am very excited to see her and her family tomorrow.

I left my country for two years when I was seventeen and somehow never went home to live. Over the years I have made this journey  many times, sometimes twice a year with husband, children, friends however this year I am traveling on my own.

For the past three years I have written a food blog, adding drinks along the way and now the addition of a new perspective, travel blogging. I will be reporting my journey from a food blogger's perspective with recipes, restaurant reviews, local knowledge and great photos. I hope you feel like you are here with me and enjoy the trip!

Well, here we go, As Dorothy said when she clicked her heels together "There's no place like home!