Anchors Down! Beers Up!
Open since April 2024, Topsail Island Brewing offers a wide variety of house-brewed craft beers that impress The PubScout.
Since it’s an hour and a half ride from my home in OIB, I had been to Sneads Ferry only once, and that was a few years ago to cover a new (at the time) beer bar, taproom and bottle shop known as The Crooked Lotus. While it thrived for a few years, owner Nicole Schmidt decided to take it in another direction by making it an upscale, classy cocktail spot called Centerfire Cocktail Lounge.
My publisher asked me to check it out, and while making plans to visit, I noticed that not far away there was a new brewery called Topsail Island Brewing. As it was less than quarter-mile from Centerfire, I figured I would kill two birds with one stone — and one visit.
New brewery 90 minutes away near a pending assignment? Count me there. Before I went, however, I did some research on the place. Pat Fontana had a nice article about it and its unusual gestation period in Topsail Magazine that provided some solid info.
Fully out of the womb in April 2024, Topsail Brewing has proceeded to make friends and influence beer drinkers in Sneads Ferry and beyond. Centerfire Owner Nicole Schmidt, who knows her beer like a Cicerone knows his, told me later that Topsail’s beers are ”SO good!” I agreed.
After enjoying two flights (beyond the usual one flight when he is working and driving), The PubScout would concur. Brewer Zack Wakefield, who arrived at his job interview with a hundred of his own recipes, is as creative as he is dedicated to traditional styles.
Spark, a Czech pils made with Bohemian Pilsner malt and added Saaz hops is both crisp and spicy. Intended as a transitional beer for Budmillercoors drinkers, it is decidedly more flavorful and intense than the mainstream stuff.
Psyops, an 8% Belgian trippel, is dead on style. Brewed with apricot, wildflower honey jasmine flowers and crystal hops, it employs Epiphany, Modern Pilsner and Bruehmalt malts to achieve the proper effect. It also comes in a version that is brewed with pomegranates, making that iteration slightly more acidic and slightly sweeter, though the finish is anything but sweet. Both, however, are solid examples of the style.
In the Shadows, a schwarzbier, is outstanding, made with Dutch dark chocolate, coffee and riverbed and Epiphany hops. The German hops are tettnanger, and the combination was a winning one.
Space Waves is a creditable, smooth hazy IPA made with flaked oats and white wheat, which give the beer a creamy vanilla-like flavor. Motueka, Galaxy and Mosaic are the hops that make it go. After an initial bitterness, the smooth kicks in.
After In The Shadows, I had to try Ignore the Thunder, a dangerously drinkable 8% brown ale made with peanuts and chocolate. Talk about liquid Goobers! It would make a great accompaniment to dessert, especially a chocolate one, and it would acquit itself well solo, too.
The same could be said for Paying Tribute, a drinkable, sessionable porter made with blackstrap molasses and pecans. It’s a very pleasant beer that can stand on its own, but would pair well with game meats or Mexican food with molé sauce. It took a while for the molasses and pecans to step forward, but they did and nicely so.
Stump Sound is a decent, passable Oyster Stout worth a pint or two, and would also satisfy by itself or with any oyster dish, raw or cooked.
When chatting with Wakefield, I inquired whether he was planning to brew a winter warmer, to which he said that Cardigan was debuting at that very moment. I’ve had and enjoyed many winter warmers, from SA Winter Lager to Harpoon. Cardigan a 6.1% winter ale could hang with any of them.
The indoor portion of the brewery is both comfortable and inviting, and there is a lot more space outside. If you’re hungry at Topsail Island Brewing, food available from the nearby Rick’s restaurant, but it’s a limited munchie menu. They offer events, too, such as vendor markets, game nights and live music.
Kyle, my barman, was most friendly and informative, and truth be told, that applied to everyone in the place, whether employees or customers, like the four beautiful models I met. Kyle allowed that since the April opening, business has been very good.
That may have something to do with the fact that a new beer comes out every week, and there has only been one beer that was ever brewed twice: a concoction called Pete’s Way named after the owner. In fact, the road you will take to the brewery off Highway 210 is called Pete’s Way.
Topsail Island Brewing’s slogan is Anchors Down! Beers Up! If you’re ever in Sneads Ferry, Topsail Beach, North Topsail or even Holly Ridge, find your way to Pete’s Way.
And drop your anchor at the end of the road. Your beer is up ahead.
Want to go?
Topsail Island Brewing
514 Pete’s Way, Sneads Ferry
topsailbrewingco.com
Request a copy today!
