Festive Fun! Brewgaloo 2026

What's the brew-ha-ha?

Brewgaloo is North Carolina's largest craft beer festival, held annually in downtown Raleigh over two days in April. It typically showcases over 100 NC breweries alongside local food trucks, vendors, and live music, attracting over 50,000 attendees.

However, this year was a little different. We’ll begin by not addressing the elephant in the room — that is, the controversy that led to 16 breweries pulling out and/or choosing to participate instead in a different festival called, “Ya’ll Means All.” If you want to learn more about the uproar and the alternative event, you can easily do so through a quick web search that will turn up several articles.

We’re not going to go into all the details here, or belabor the reasons we attended Brewgaloo as per our usual practice. There wasn’t anything political or liturgical about our choice, other than we already had tickets to Brewgaloo, and two beer festivals in one weekend would be too much, even for us.

But, to summarize our “official” position, we exist to promote and support all NC craft breweries, and our stance is, “Beer first, everything else second.” And that’s all we have to say about that. On with the story!

The Basics

What: Brewgaloo NC Craft Beer Festival 2026

Where: Downtown Raleigh

Parking: Street and paid lots

Website: shoplocalraleigh.org/brewgaloo

Social media: facebook.com/brewgaloo, instagram.com/brewgalooraleigh

Vibe/Atmosphere: festive, vibrant, bustling, high-energy

Beers We Tried: Flying Bull Beer Company - Somebody’s in Love Imperial Cocoa Raspberry Porter; Ginger’s Revenge - Hibiscus Lavender Hard Ginger Beer; Primal Brewing - Mexican Lager; Lost Worlds Brewing - Halls of Montezuma Imperial Stout; Sneaky Penguin - Holly Waddle Belgian Quad and Gletscher Helles Lager; Armored Cow - Raspberry Rush Fruited Wheat Ale and El Scorcho Mexican Chocolate Imperial Stout; Uwharrie Brewing - Darkwoods Dunkle; Dirtbag Ales - Cerveza Buena Mexican Lager and Jalapeno Business Wheat Ale w/ Jalapeno and Pineapple

Important NC Beer Explorer Tip: When consuming alcohol, always have a designated driver. Be safe out there, friends! Follow these simple tips for safer consumption.

Plenty of Beer Fans on Hand

Because we had already bought our tickets online, we didn’t anticipate much of a line to get our festival tasting glass and arm band. However, when we arrived promptly at 6:00 pm on Friday April 24th as the festival just opened, we found a sizable crowd already gathered at the entrance. We were obliged to wait our turn in the warm sunshine with the other festival goers. Once we were checked in and appropriately equipped, we waited a few more minutes for our “Beer Bros” Clyde and Ellen to arrive by rideshare (a beer festival practice we heartily endorse).

Sampling Strategy

At Brewgaloo, where there are dozens of breweries and a hundred-odd beers to sample, it’s important to show some restraint and drink responsibly. Because of this, you need to have a strategy for choosing which breweries and beers to taste, since there’s only so much you can sip (and then comes the question, “To swallow or not to swallow?”)

Ellen and Clyde developed a strategy for our gang: we would prioritize the breweries that we hadn’t tried before, and, if we liked our first sample, we would get back in line and try more of what they were serving. It sounded like a perfect plan!

Our first stop slightly stretched the plan because we went over to Flying Bull Restaurant and Brewery, a Durham brewery that Ben and I had visited and wanted to showcase for some time; but it was new to Clyde and Ellen. When I made it to the front of the line, who should I encounter other than Joel Miles, the co-founder and Head Brewer. It’s rare to run into a head brewer at a beer festival, so my eyes went wide, and I was pressing one of our cards into his hand as fast as you can say, “Pour me a cold one.”

Rebecca's Beer Crush

My first pour of the day was “Somebody’s in Love” Imperial Cocoa Raspberry Porter by Flying Bull. I found it to be rich and decadent but drinkable, with chocolate and bright berry notes. Smooth, slightly sweet, and balanced by a touch of roasted bitterness, it tasted like a dark chocolate truffle with a fruity twist—an indulgent, dessert-like beer perfect for slow sipping. It goes without saying, based on my experience and that of the whole gang, we headed to the back of the line so we could return for more samples of what Flying Bull was serving.

And this is how the rest of the evening went. We sampled beers from Lost Worlds Brewing, Sneaky Penguin Brewing, Armored Cow Brewing, Primal Brewery, Forgotten Road Ales, Uwharrie Brewing, Ginger’s Revenge … honestly, at some point, I quit tracking what I was tasting, and then I stopped drinking all together. I was definitely in “swish-and-spit” mode after the first seven breweries or so, which sounds gross, but it’s an essential lifesaver if you want to try a lot of beers over the course of a couple of hours.

But the Food!

I haven’t even gotten to the food! There was something for everyone. Ben and I came across Hot Chix Hotcakes and Chicken, which called to us with savory-sweet fried chicken tenderloins wrapped in fluffy pancakes and accompanied with your choice of delicious sauce. I went in for the Hot Chix Tacos with buffalo sauce, but Ben went BIG with “Twisted Tater Tots” covered in mac-n-cheese, fried chicken, bacon bits, and sauce. Neither of us could finish our incredible portions, which was tragic since we had no way to transport the leftovers home for later.

Crucial Fiya put on a great show that had folks dancing in the streets.

We were Jammin'

No festival would be complete without great live music, and we grooved to the reggae sounds of Crucial Fiya on the Main Stage, displaying our best dance moves despite all the food and beer. By 9:00 pm, Ben and I were toast, but Clyde and Ellen stayed behind until things started to wind down around 9:30.

Hot Chix checked all our Southern comfort food boxes.

At the End of the Day

With many of the larger breweries missing from the lineup, it lent visibility to a lot of smaller but very exceptional breweries from small towns around North Carolina. So, for us at least, we made the best of the brouhaha by trying some breweries and beers we might have otherwise missed. In this way, Brewgaloo opened our minds and our palates to all the possibilities out there to explore across the Tar Heel State.

We also are compelled to congratulate the NC breweries who participated for the variety of beer styles they brought this year. It did our souls good to see breweries pouring up to six different styles, including imperial stouts, schwarzbier, fruited wheat beers and even a belgian quad. Two or three years ago, it was rare to see anything that was not an IPA. We were only sorry we could not sample all the beers at every brewer’s tent! We are craft beer troopers, but we met our match at Brewgaloo 2026!

We all had a great time at Brewgaloo - especially me!

Beer fans lined up early Friday at the main entrance.

Flying Bull Restaurant and Brewery was one of about 80 breweries at this year's Brewgaloo.
Co-founder Joel Miles is on the left (sorry, neglected to write down name of his team member.)

Brewgaloo 2026 Tasting Notes

We probably tried about 30 beers total between the four of us. Taking notes was a little challenging under the circumstances but here are some of the ones that stood out the most:

Flying Bull Beer Company - Somebody’s in Love Imperial Cocoa Raspberry Porter: Rich and decadent but drinkable, with chocolate and bright berry notes. Smooth, slightly sweet, and balanced by a touch of roasted bitterness, it tasted like a dark chocolate truffle with a fruity twist—an indulgent, dessert-like beer perfect for slow sipping.

Ginger’s Revenge - Hibiscus Lavender Hard Ginger Beer: Bright and tart with subtle notes of honey, vanilla, and lavender. Crisp with floral notes and fruity perfume aroma. Perfect for summer sipping. Gluten-free and preservative-free.

Primal Brewing - Mexican Lager: Nice and refreshing. I started the festival with this beer and went back for seconds to “get my drink on.”

Lost Worlds Brewing - Halls of Montezuma Imperial Stout: This stout was coffee-forward, sweet and finished with a hot pepper note

Sneaky Penguin - Holly Waddle Belgian Quad and Gletscher Helles Lager: The Belgian Quad was Ben’s pick for best beer at the festival. This was not just unusual to find at a big brewfest - it was an excellent quad that would make the Trappist Monks proud! The Helles was also very tasty and true to style. Sneaky Penguin served up an impressive variety of beers - 6 total - including 3 IPAs, the quad and helles mentioned above and an American Wheat.

Armored Cow - Raspberry Rush Fruited Wheat Ale and El Scorcho Mexican Chocolate Imperial Stout: Armored Cow also impressed with their range of beers - 6 total. Plus, they were serving Raspberry Rush which just won Gold at the World Beer Cup for fruited wheat beer! Our resident Sour experts, Ellen and Clyde, gave it an enthusiastic 2 thumbs up! El Scorcho lived up to its exotic name with a complex range of taste notes including chocolate and cinnamon and finished off with a chili pepper kick.

Uwharrie Brewing - Darkwoods Dunkle: Thank you, Uwharrie, for bringing an excellent Dunkle. Yum, that deep Munich Malt flavor!

Dirtbag Ales - Cerveza Buena Mexican Lager and Jalapeno Business Wheat Ale w/ Jalapeno and Pineapple: Dirtbag brought some Cinco de Mayo celebration a few days early! Excellent crushable Mexican lager and formidable, complex wheat ale.

What are your thoughts on Brewgaloo 2026?

And please: comment respectfully and thoughtfully, or the editor just might hit "Delete."