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7 Incredible Breweries in Durham, NC (You Will Love)

View of buildings in Durham, including Bull City Burger and Brewery, which is one of the best breweries in Durham
Best breweries in Durham, NC

There are many breweries in Durham where you can get fresh craft beer and have a great time.

Whether you want to have classic styles of beer or more unique ones, the city’s breweries have all kinds of brews, including lagers, IPAs, and stouts. You can also get delicious food at some of these places, including burgers, pizza, desserts, and chilis. In addition to that, at some of these places, fun events take place, such as live music events and trivia nights.

With this Durham breweries guide, you can find out where to go for the best craft beer in the city.

Best Breweries in Durham

Hi-Wire Brewing

Interior of Hi-Wire Brewing
Hi-Wire Brewing from the inside

Hi-Wire Brewing is a brewery that opened in the year 2013 in the city of Asheville. The brewery has multiple locations in North Carolina and other nearby states, of which one is located in Durham.

Hi-Wire Brewing focuses on brewing traditional styles of craft beer, as well as unique small-batch beers.

The Durham taproom opened in 2018. You can go here every day of the week to enjoy a delicious beer. The taproom has 20 unique taps of Hi-Wire beer. These taps include the core brews as well as seasonal brews.

You can also get cocktails and other drinks at Hi-Wire Brewing.

The Durham location has a beautiful interior that features colorful murals, and there is a large covered patio where you can enjoy your drink.

Hi-Wire Brewing doesn’t serve food itself, but the brewery works together with its neighbors at Cugino Forno, which is a pizza restaurant with delicious specialty Neapolitan pizza, salads, and Italian desserts. You can get the food of Cugino Forno delivered to your table at Hi-Wire Brewing by ordering online and adding special instructions.

In addition to that, there are often events at Hi-Wire Brewing, such as trivia nights, workshops, and lots of other types of events.

Address: 800 Taylor St #9-150, Durham, NC 27701

Ponysaurus Brewing

View of beer at Ponysaurus Brewing
Beer at Ponysaurus Brewing (Ponysaurus Brewing Co.)

Ponysaurus Brewing is located in Durham’s Downtown East neighborhood. It was founded in 2015 and it also has a location in Wilmington.

You can both get traditional and experimental styles of beer at Ponysaurus Brewing. The brewery creates American, Belgian, European, and other styles of beer.

There are always many different types of beer on draft, and you can see what’s currently on draft on the website of the brewery.

Can’t decide which beer to try? You can try multiple beers by getting a flight of 4 or 5 beers.

The taproom in Durham is open 7 days per week. At this location, there’s a taproom, a beer garden, and a covered outdoor patio.

Besides great beer, you can also get delicious pizza at Ponysaurus Brewing. You can build your own pizza by choosing a base pie and adding the toppings that you like.

Besides that, you can get cannolis, specialty pizzas, cheese bread, salad, and much more food.

A great way to get to know the brewery is by doing a tour. These tours usually take place on the first Sunday of each month and during a tour of 45 minutes, you can walk through the facility, learn about beer, and do a beer tasting.

Address: 219 Hood St, Durham, NC 27701

Durty Bull Brewing Company

Durty Bull Brewing Company from the outside
Outside of Durty Bull Brewing Company

Durty Bull Brewing Company is a brewery that is based in Durham. At the brewery, you can try unique variants of lagers, hazy IPAs, and other styles of beer.

When you go to the taproom of Durty Bull Brewing Company, there are different beers to try. There are year-round beers, such as the “Lager” and the “Totally Original” hazy IPA.

Besides these year-round brews, there are beers that are only available for a limited amount of time. Some of these are very unique and contain unique ingredients, such as certain types of fruit juices.

In addition to that, lots of events take place at Durty Bull Brewing Company.

For example, there are often days during which there are food trucks at the brewery. This means you can enjoy a beer and delicious food at the same time. The food trucks differ a lot, so you can get different food depending on the day.

Other events that take place at the Durty Bull Brewing Company are live music nights and trivia nights.

Address: 206 Broadway St #104, Durham, NC 27701

Fullsteam Brewery

Outside of Fullsteam Brewery
Fullsteam Brewery from the outside

Fullsteam Brewery is a brewery that was founded in 2010. It focuses on creating Southern beer that celebrates the farm and food traditions of the South.

There are two taprooms, the downtown Durham brewery and tavern, and the Boxyard RTP taproom.

For its beers, Fullsteam Brewery uses lots of ingredients from the South. Since the brewery was founded, it has spent more than 850,000 dollars on ingredients from Southern farms.

There are three year-round classic beers that are always on tap. These are “Paycheck, which is a pilsner, “Humidity”, which is an IPA, and “Rocket Science”, which is an IPA as well.

Besides these year-round beers, there are seasonal beers and limited releases that can be great to try.

At both locations of Fullsteam Brewery, you can get delicious food. For example, at the downtown Durham location, you can get delicious burgers. At the Boxyard RTP location, you can get sandwiches, pizza, and other dishes, as well as food from any of the neighbors of the brewery.

Address: 726 Rigsbee Ave, Durham, NC 27701

Bull City Burger and Brewery

Drinks at Bull City Burger and Brewery
Beer at Bull City Burger and Brewery (Bull City Burger and Brewery)

Bull City Burger and Brewery is a restaurant and craft brewery that is located in downtown Durham.

You can get freshly brewed beer at the brewery that is made with malt, hops, yeast, and water. What’s on tap often rotates, and there are many unique beers to try. The beers that are on tap are seasonal and unique.

To see what’s currently on tap at Bull City Burger and Brewery, you can look at the brewery’s website.

Besides great beer, Bull City Burger and Brewery also has a large food menu with many options. It’s one of the best places for burgers in Durham.

There are many specialty burgers, and you can also build your own burger. One of the best specialty burgers is the Pimento Burger, which is made with house-made pimento cheese and thick-cut ginger pickled cucumbers.

The Green Monster burger, which comes with gruyere, shaved onion, and roasted poblano peppers, is a delicious burger too.

The restaurant also serves great vegan burgers and other vegan dishes.

Some other dishes to get at the brewery, besides burgers, are different types of chili, lots of desserts, hotdogs, and more.

Going to Bull City Burger and Brewery is also one of the best date ideas in Durham.

Address: 107 E Parrish St, Durham, NC 27701

Bull City Ciderworks Durham

Two drinks at Bull City Ciderworks Durham
Drinks at Bull City Ciderworks Durham

Bull City Ciderworks is a Durham-based cider company that has several locations in North Carolina. This company was founded in 2013 and is open 7 days per week.

You can get ciders at Bull City Ciderworks which are made with 100% apple juice and without high fructose corny syrup.

The Durham location has 24 draft cider taps and also offers craft beers from North Carolina and cocktails.

There are 6 core ciders that are always available. One of these core ciders is the “Cardinal Cin”, which is a semi-sweet cinnamon-infused cider that also includes cherry and cinnamon aroma.

Besides core ciders, there are seasonal ciders and ciders that are available for a limited time only.

To find out which ciders, beers, and other drinks are available, you can look at the website of Bull City Ciderworks.

The Durham location features a large outdoor space and is dog-friendly.

In addition to great cider, you can also get great food at the Durham location. That’s because there are food trucks almost every day that serve delicious food. You can see the schedule of food trucks on the cidery’s website.

Address: 305 S Roxboro St, Durham, NC 27701

Flying Bull Beer Company

The Flying Bull Beer Company is also one of the best breweries in Durham. It is located on Ninth Street. There’s also a new location on Morris Street.

You can choose from a great selection of stouts, IPAs, porters, and other types of beer when you go to this place. For example, one of the beers of the brewery is the “Black Flower Vanilla Imperial Stout”, which is a stout that is mixed with cacao.

To see what’s currently on tap at the location that you are going to, you can look at the website of the brewery. Besides beer from the Flying Bull Beer Company, you can also get beer from micro and nano breweries from other places in North Carolina here.

Address: 752 9th St, Durham, NC 27705

More Durham Articles

Best things to do in Durham

Lunch in Durham

Coffee shops in Durham

Day trips from Durham

Things to do with kids in Durham

Durham Breweries Tips

Do you want to get delicious beer and are you also planning to have dinner? Many of the places on this Durham breweries list also offer delicious food, so you can get beer and have dinner at the same time. One place where you can do this is Bull City Burger and Brewery, which serves great craft beer as well as delicious burgers.

Also, when deciding on going to one of these breweries, I recommend to first find out if there are events taking place at any of the breweries that you want to go to.

View of buildings and nature in Durham
View of buildings in Durham

Breweries in Durham Map


Thanks for reading my guide to the best breweries in Durham, NC. As you see, there are incredible breweries in the city!

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