Outer Banks Breweries

Guide to the Outer Banks’ Best Craft Beer, Microbreweries, and More

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Locally-brewed beer is on trend right now, and beer-centric establishments on the Outer Banks do not disappoint. No matter which town you’re staying in, there’s an Outer Banks brewery, pub, or watering hole that serves OBX beer nearby. Each spot offers a unique craft beer experience, and all are locally owned and operated right here on the Outer Banks. We’ve gathered all the information you’ll need to find the breweries, bars, beer stores, and restaurants with exceptional beer selections, including insider tips from OBX locals. Cheers! 

 

🍺 = $6 or less per beer

🍺🍺 = $7 – $9 per beer

🍺🍺🍺= $9 or more per beer

Corolla Beer Garden Whalehead Brewery Off The Wall Taphouse Northern Outer Banks Brewing Company Tap Shack Growlers to Go Swells'a Brewing Duck Dive Bar Outer Banks Brewing Station Jack Brown’s Beer & Burger Joint Swells’a Brewing Beer Company Lost Colony Brewery & Cafe Brew Thru 1718 Brewing Ocracoke
Corolla Beer Garden 1 - sips

Corolla Beer Garden

  • Location: 1148 Ocean Trail, Corolla, NC 27927
  • Price: 🍺 – 🍺🍺🍺 depending on your beer selection
  • Why We Love It: Tucked away in a peaceful corner of Corolla, you’ll find the Corolla Beer Garden. Stop by for a beer and you may find yourself hanging out in the relaxing space for the remainder of your afternoons in Corolla. Located underneath the beautiful live oak trees, Corolla Beer Garden is a must-stop on your Outer Banks vacation. There is live music on many afternoons and evenings during the summer months. Grab one of their t-shirts when you order your beer from the bar. If you’re hungry, order a pizza from Corolla Pizza in the small shopping center next door. Visiting Corolla Beer Garden is weather-dependent, as this establishment is 100% outdoors. They are not open during winter and will close during thunderstorms or other inclement weather. This is one bar that’s worth discovering!
  • Our Favorite Beer: Foothills Brewing Hoppyum IPA for its full-bodied hop flavor that’s tasty until the last drop.  
Corolla Beer Garden
whalehead brewery

Whalehead Brewery

  • Location: 887 Albacore Street, Corolla, NC 27927
  • Price: 🍺 – 🍺🍺🍺 depending on your beer selection 
  • Why We Love It: Whalehead Brewery began brewing craft beer in Corolla in 2022. In addition to the beer brewed in-house, they offer a variety of guest beers on their beer tap wall. Food options include a variety of pizzas and sharable appetizers. Their family-friendly establishment offers both indoor and outdoor seating. 
  • Our Favorite Beer: Whalehead Blonde Whale Ale, brewed in-house, for its refreshing drinkability. 

Off the Wall Tap House 

  • Location: 603 Currituck Clubhouse Dr, Corolla, NC 27927
  • Price: 🍺 – 🍺🍺🍺 depending on your beer selection
  • Why We Love It: A strong member of the Corolla beer scene, Off the Wall Tap House is a fun stop on your Outer Banks trip. Located at the north end of the Harris Teeter shopping center in Corolla, this gem of an establishment blends craft beer and impressive food with technology, all in a casual atmosphere. Their wall of beer allows for easy, self-serve access to all of their beer selections, which rotate regularly. Each beer’s logo and full description are displayed on a screen above the tap. Your server will provide you with a special wristband with a sensor that activates the tap once you’ve selected a beer. With several different cup sizes and self-serve draft beer, you can try as many beers as you’d like or simply focus on one or two favorites. While the focus is on beer at Off the Wall Tap House, the food is equally amazing. Burgers and fries are available, but local seafood, regional delicacies (BBQ!), and exceptional salads can also be found on the menu. Off the Wall Taphouse is family-friendly and a kids menu is available. Patio seating is available and pet-friendly. Growlers are available if you prefer to drink at your vacation home or on the beach. Off the Wall’s growlers are plastic, making them beach and pool area-friendly.
  • Our Favorite Beer: With so many choices, it’s hard to choose just one! We appreciate the opportunity to create our own flights that include regional brews from Smartmouth Brewing Company, Foothills Brewing, and Austin East Ciders, just to name a few. 
what is a growler
off the wall tap house
Northern Outer Banks Brewing Company flight

Northern Outer Banks Brewing Company

  • Location: 520 Old Stoney Rd, Suite J, Corolla, NC 27927
  • Price: 🍺🍺
  • Why We Love It: This small, family-owned and operated microbrewery hails as Corolla’s first microbrewery. Using the best ingredients available, the resulting brews are super fresh and aromatic. Northern Outer Banks Brewery offers four flagship beers, each with a local name and flavor: Corolla Saison, Penny’s Hill IPA, Swan Beach Honey Pale Ale, and Corolla Lager. New beers are rotated into the lineup regularly. Patio seating is available just outside of the brewery and beer flights are available so you can sample several of their Outer Banks craft beers. Tours, led by brewery owner Kathleen, are available upon request. 
  • Our Favorite Beer: Penny’s Hill IPA due to its fresh, hoppy flavor and easy drinkability 
Penny's Hill IPA

Tap Shack

  • Location: 1209 Duck Rd, Duck, NC 27949
  • Price: 🍺🍺
  • Why We Love It: The amazing beer-drinking atmosphere. Tap Shack is an oasis in the backyard of Coastal Cravings, but the yard has everything you need for a fun and relaxing afternoon or evening with a tasty draft beer. They have live music every night during the warm months, and comfortable seating, yard games, a bar, and a variety of tables and chairs so you can find a space to get comfortable to drink your brew. This OBX beer hidden gem is not to be missed.
  • Our Favorite Beer: Southern Pines Hefeweizen for its smooth, fluffy consistency and citrusy flavor
Tap Shack Duck live music

Growlers to Go

  • Location: 1187 Duck Road, Duck, NC 27949
  • Price: 🍺 – 🍺🍺🍺 depending on your beer selection
  • Why We Love It: Growlers to Go offers the flexibility of either relaxing with a pint in a laid-back atmosphere or buying your craft beer to enjoy at your vacation home. Offering beer on tap, beer in cans or bottles, and growlers if you’d like your draft beer to go. If you’re enjoying your beer on-site, choose a pint of one type of beer or order a flight to taste different varieties. There are over 40 taps at each store – an impressive number of beers to choose from. Outer Banks beers and regional North Carolina beers are featured. Fine wine and premium cigars are available, as well as mimosas and mimosa flights. 
  • Our Favorite Beer: 1718 Ocracoke Sun Days Orange Zest Wheat for its refreshing citrus twist that’s perfect on a hot summer day. 
Duck Dive Bar

Swells’a Brewing Duck Dive Bar

  • Location: 106 Scarborough Lane, Duck, NC 27949
  • Price: 🍺🍺
  • Why We Love It: Tucked under the trees behind Scarborough Lane Shoppes in Downtown Duck, this hidden gem will surely be your new favorite watering hole. Specialty beers are brewed at Swells’a Brewing in the heart of Kill Devil Hills. Featuring a wide variety of locally brewed craft beer, specialty cocktails, and curated wine, all with a laidback beach vibe. Featured beers range from pilsners to IPAs to stouts with varying ABVs, each with a creative, beachy name. Once you find this piece of paradise, you’ll surely return night after night. Live music offerings are available in the evenings, Mondays through Fridays, during the season. If you like to sling some discs while sipping your beverage of choice, bring ’em along, as there are disc golf baskets on-site. 
  • Our Favorite Beer: Kahuna Matata is a fruited sour, lightly tart with vanilla, pineapple, and cherry. It’s pineapple upside down cake in beer form. A refreshing must-have for summer evenings. 
brewing station band

Outer Banks Brewing Station

  • Location: 600 S Croatan Hwy, Kill Devil Hills, NC 27948
  • Price: 🍺🍺
  • Why We Love It: The Outer Banks Brewing Station has it all – excellent Outer Banks beer, delicious menus, an excellent facility (indoors and out), and great nightlife. Hailing as the first wind-powered brewery in the USA, the farmhouse-style building is easily identifiable from the bypass road by the tall silos and windmill spinning behind it. Their high-quality beers range from pilsner to porter and everything in between, with several choices of signature brews available year-round and seasonal offerings. Beer flights are available for multi-beer samplings. Enjoy your beers at night inside this Outer Banks brewery while listening to a nationally-touring band, or step outside to the large yard and chill out at one of the picnic tables or play corn hole. The backyard is fully fenced and includes a massive pirate ship playset that is popular with the kids. Tours of the brewery are available.
  • Our Favorite Beer: Ölsch is a light Kölsch beer that is a staple at Outer Banks Brewing Station. This refreshing pale ale has been on tap since the brewery opened its doors in 2001. 
Outer Banks Brewing Station

Jack Brown’s Beer & Burger Joint

    • Location: 800 S Virginia Dare Trail, Kill Devil Hills, NC 27948
    • Price: 🍺 – 🍺🍺🍺 depending on your beer selection
    • Why We Love It: Jack Brown’s focuses on two things: burgers and beer, and they do it well. From local brew offerings to rare beers from around the world, a variety of all styles of beer is available. Seasonal and new beers are constantly worked into the rotation. They even have the “Notch Club” that serious beer drinkers can earn membership in by drinking 100 different beers. Pace yourself, it’s a long-term project! The goal is to keep you coming back to hang out at the bar and try new beers. The burgers are all-natural wagyu beef with creative twists, such as the El Chupacabra, which is topped with sweet-chili bacon jam and goat cheese. Jack Brown’s offers live music and yard games for the ultimate beer drinking experience. 
    • Our Favorite Beer: Catawba Brewing Co. Evening Joe for its refreshingly light and crisp cold brew coffee ale with notes of vanilla
jack brown's logo
swellsa brewing
Swells'a Brewing in Kill Devil Hills

Swells’a Brewing Beer Company

  • Location: 1802 S Virginia Dare Trail, Kill Devil Hills, NC 27948
  • Price: 🍺 – 🍺🍺🍺 depending on your beer selection
  • Why We Love It: Swells’a Brewing Beer Company is the longtime dream of two local OBX surfers. Their beers are brewed onsite and offer an ever-rotating variety to satisfy any beer lover’s palate. They even occasionally brew their own seltzer! They also feature locally-made non-alcoholic Hay Point kombucha, as well as delicious, locally-made Gutsy Grain soft pretzels. Beer flights are available if you can’t decide on just one brew. Select canned and bottled beverages are available in the cooler, such as JuneShine Hard Kombucha. Swells’a Brewing Beer Company’s building is a stunning coastal abode, and they have a fenced yard, perfect for watching little ones while you sip your beverage of choice. 
  • Our Favorite Beer: All Rights, All Rights, All Rights IPA is clean, bright, and snappy, featuring a blood orange and piney character. Wooderson approved. 
swellsa brewing

Lost Colony Tavern

  • Location: 208 Queen Elizabeth Ave, Manteo, NC 27954
  • Price: 🍺
  • Why We Love It: What started as a beloved restaurant in downtown Manteo has evolved into a full-fledged brewery and cafe. British and Irish style beers are their specialty. Several of their beers are proud World Beer Championship medal winners. Brewed in a former boat shop in Stumpy Point, Lost Colony Brewery can produce up to 1,000 gallons of beer at a time. Each beer has a locally-inspired name and incredible label artwork and a story to go with it. Their beer is available at many locations along the Outer Banks, but taking a trip down to The Lost Colony Brewery & Cafe allows you to enjoy their amazing food along with your OBX craft beer. 
  • Our Favorite Beer: Hatteras Red for its gentle session-ale hoppiness and the sassy history associated with its name
Lost Colony Hatteras Red

Brew Thru

  • Locations: 

🚗 790 Ocean Trail, Corolla, NC 27927

🚙 4728 N Croatan Hwy, Kitty Hawk, NC 27949

🚌 3101 N Croatan Hwy, Kill Devil Hills, NC 27948

🏎 2203 S Croatan Hwy, Nags Head, NC 27959

🚲 3700 S Virginia Dare Trail, Nags Head, NC 27959

  • Price: 🍺 – 🍺🍺🍺 depending on your beer selection
  • Why We Love It: The Outer Banks’ one and only drive-through convenience store. Brew Thru offers over 125 beers, ranging from your standard light beers to local and regional NC microbrews. They even offer kegs. They also offer convenience store staples, such as sodas and snacks, as well as everything you could possibly need for the beach. Their T-shirts are legendary, with new designs coming out each year. Brew Thru is an excellent option for folks with a car full of kids that you don’t wish to take into a beer store or brewpub. You get your beer and they think driving through the store is the best thing ever! 
  • Our Favorite Beer: Wicked Weed Pernicious IPA for its bold IPA flavor with fruity notes
Brew Thru
1718 brewing ocracoke

1718 Brewing Ocracoke

  • Location: 1129 Irvin Garrish Hwy, Ocracoke, NC 27960
  • Price:🍺 – 🍺🍺🍺 depending on your beer selection
  • Why We Love It: It’s no secret that we love Ocracoke Island and 1718 Brewing Company is one of our favorite places to drop in and grab a cold beer. The beer selection is constantly evolving, and flights are available to sample the latest offerings. Featuring a classic brewery atmosphere, yet located on a remote island that is truly something special. Live music and open mic night are on the agenda for certain nights. Canned beers are available so you can take your favorite beer home with you. Food is available to order from Plum Pointe Kitchen. 
  • Our Favorite Beer: Mexican Hot Chocolate Stout for its dark beer drinkability, featuring a malty flavor with hints of chile and spice
Outer Banks Brewing Station

Enjoy a Fine Meal At An Outer Banks Brewery 🍻

Many Outer Banks restaurants serve local OBX beer, but the Outer Banks Brewing Station has exceptional food as well. Check them out for a great meal, tasty microbrews, and excellent live music. 

Courtney Wisecarver

Courtney Wisecarver

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