Field Trip: Trophy x 2!
NC Beer Explorer visits - not one, but two - locations of Trophy Brewing Co. in Raleigh and talks with Co-Owner/Head Brewer Les Stewart.
FIELD TRIP
Ben and Rebecca Marmaduke
8/29/20255 min read
Good day for a beer!
We caught up with Les on a Wednesday afternoon as small groups of people gathered on the Maywood patio for a nice midweek break. Like us, they were enjoying the kind of idyllic late-August day where the temperatures hover around a comfortable 73 degrees and fleecy clouds danced across an azure sky. In other words, it was an absolutely perfect day to visit Trophy Brewing!
As is often the case with a busy brewer and owner, Les had to attend to a few minutes’ opening business, but he soon came out to walk us around and select a place for a sitdown. We made ourselves at home in a cozy nook and learned more about his journey from home brewer to CBO.
The Basics
Locations visited:
Brewery & Taproom: 656 Maywood Ave, Raleigh, NC 27603
Flagship, Brewery & Pizza: 827 West Morgan street, Raleigh, NC 27603
Website: trophybrewing.com
Social media: @trophybrewing, facebook.com/TrophyBrewing
Vibe/Atmosphere:
Maywood: laidback, relaxed, cozy, welcoming, casual, unpretentious
Morgan Street: polished, trendy, atmospheric, vibey, pleasant
Beers We Tried: Petite Saison, Whoa, Bear! Brezel Bier, Earthly Remains, Mort's Trophy Lager, Trophy Wife, Trophy Husband, Cloud Surfer, Oktrophyfest
Parking:
Maywood: lot, ample
Morgan Street: street, nearby paid lots and decks
Important NC Beer Explorer Tip: When consuming alcohol, always have a designated driver. Be safe out there, friends!
A Raleigh Brewing Cornerstone
Raleigh's craft brewing scene includes a diverse collection of breweries and an active beer-drinking community that hosts Brewgaloo and runs The Raleigh Beer Trail. The area's brewing history goes back decades before the modern boom, and the scene has earned national attention and recognition as one of the country's top beer destinations.
Among Raleigh’s most respected breweries, Trophy Brewing holds a special place. It started in 2012, and it’s known for creative, high-quality beers and popular pizzas. Beyond its products, Trophy is important for its expansion into multiple neighborhood concepts and its strong community involvement.
We were eager to get on the calendar with Les Stewart, the Co-Owner and Chief Brewing Officer at Trophy Brewing Co. and Young Hearts Distilling. Les oversees the 3 brewing/distilling divisions within Trophy. He has been with the operation since he joined as the lone brewing staff in 2012 when the company operated as a brewpub with a 3-barrel system brewing and has overseen the growth to its current incarnation as a distributing microbrewery that covers the whole Triangle.
Trophy Brewing Maywood location
Barrel Room and private space at Morgan St. location
NCCBC is coming!
We asked Les about the sense of connection and collaboration we’ve seen among the state’s breweries, and he said that it’s definitely more like “sharing a piece of pie,” rather than keeping the pie all to yourself. The benefit of this approach is that it gives all the breweries access to new potential customers who might not have discovered their brand otherwise, and it also fosters creativity and innovation. We should mention here that Les is also the President of the NC Craft Brewers Guild, which has its big conference this year in Durham in mid-November. We’re going – how about you?
We loved talking with Les, who is truly an NC brewing icon, but we were eager to get to the main business of the day: tasting the beers.
Beer mindfulness?
The process of mindfully tasting beers never gets old, especially when experiencing refined, balanced, expressive pours like the ones we enjoyed at Trophy. We kept coming back to the two Saisons we first sampled, trying to find the perfect words to describe the flavor arc that started with sour-fruit tangs and finished with exotic herbal notes. We kept closing our eyes and searching for those just-right descriptors – read our tasting notes below to see what we came up with.
After our initial talk and tasting, we thanked Les profusely for our wonderful experience and then headed over to the Morgan Street location for Trophy’s celebrated stone-baked pizza (and more beer, of course). The vibe on Morgan Street was a little different than the Maywood location; by then, people were coming off of their work day and gathering with colleagues and classmates (from nearby NC State and Meredith). An enthusiastic group one table away was noisily celebrating some achievement, while others in the crowd had a slightly serious business-y look. But just like folks everywhere in Raleigh, everyone was soaking up the gorgeous weather (and relishing the amazing pizza).
Best leftovers ever!
We know pizza happens all the time at breweries, but just like good beer never gets old, neither does artisanal pizza with gourmet toppings on a crispy crust! We ordered a large pizza called “Best Dressed” which definitely lived up to its name. As we munched away, we appreciated each bit of crisped pepperoni, thick chewy bacon, fresh spinach, and red onion. We were happy to cart home leftovers for the next day, mm-mm!
To sum things up, we here in the Triangle are fortunate to have a brewery like Trophy that is committed to excellence and that gives back to its community. Trophy has certainly earned its accolades, and we hope it continues to be a cornerstone in the NC craft brewing scene for years to come.
NCBE's Beer Notes - Trophy Brewing Co.
Petite Saison*
Style: Foeder Aged Sour Saison
ABV: 3.8%
Color: pale straw, clear
Aroma: floral
Taste: baked pear, dried fruit, vanilla, sour lemon (Les mentioned this comes from the Brettanomyces [yeast] used in the fermentation)
Mouthfeel: dry but not astringent; light
Aftertaste: lightly bittery/sour; we loved all of it!
Earthly Remains
Style: Tart Saison w/ Rosemary and Lemon Verbena
ABV: 5%
Color: light gold
Aroma: lemon verbena, rosemary, hint of skunk, perfume
Taste: layered: sourdough bread, dill, rosemary-roasted chicken, citrus explosion; secondary notes of clove
Mouthfeel: light
Aftertaste: sour, faintly bitter, short
Trophy Wife (Top Selling)
Style: Amber Lager
ABV: 5.4%
Color: light amber
Aroma: malt, roasted carrots, baked sweet potato, polenta
Taste: birchwood, maple, furniture oil (in a good, nuanced way!)
Mouthfeel: creamy, almost like a rootbeer float
Aftertaste: malty
Mort's Trophy Lager
Style: Slow Pour Pilsner
ABV: 4.8%
Color: yellow, light head
Aroma: faint, cracker, malt
Taste: cracker, mild sweetness, vanilla, nectarine, peach, grassy, green onion
Mouthfeel: light carbonation, easy drinking
Aftertaste: fast, bittery
Brezel Bier
Style: Pretzel Wheat beer
ABV: 5.2%
Color: dark gold, clear
Aroma: warm pretzel, malt, hint of overripe fruit
Taste: whole grain bread, banana, overripe fruit, apple butter
Mouthfeel: medium
Aftertaste: balanced sweet/bitte
Oktrophyfest
Style: Marzen
ABV: 5.5%
Color: light amber
Aroma: pumpkin, hint of gym socks
Taste: roasted pumpkin, acorn squash, white pepper, nutmeg
Mouthfeel: medium
Aftertaste: malty/bitter
Cloud Surfer*
Style: Modern IPA (Dry-hopped NEIPA)
ABV: 6.1%
Color: hazy yellow
Aroma: pineapple, mango, grapefruit
Taste: roasted pumpkin, acorn squash, white pepper, nutmeg, malty backbone
Mouthfeel: viscous, lightly creamy
Aftertaste: sour
Woah, Beer! (Collab with Fonta Flora)
Style: Dry-hopped West Coast IPA
ABV: 7%
Color: hazy gold
Aroma: pine, juniper berry
Taste: charred wood, grilled pineapple, outdoor cookout
Mouthfeel: lightly oily
Aftertaste: bittery/piney
