We met Azalea Coast’s brewer, Ethan, at Empire’s trade show at the Grove Park Inn on Tuesday. Azalea Coast is another North Carolina craft brewery making its debut in WNC. Located in Wilmington, we’re happy to support our in-state breweries with a little shelf space. Now in from Azalea Coast is Teach’s Chocolate Stout, IPA, and Fokker Ale. The one that really blew our socks off at the show was the Navigator Lager, which was 10.0% abv. Look out, Samichlaus.

Our other favorite Coast Brewing Company, also has a stout named for Edward Teach called Blackbeerd. Coast is now hand-bottling and Ted’s Butcherblock is releasing it in Charleston soon along with the Hopart IPA. Road trip!

Finally, our beer spies tell us that Big Boss Brewing of Raleigh will be here very soon. Big Boss, formerly Edenton, has rebranded, rebrewed, and rejuvenated. Pretty impressive ratings, too.