Breweries and bottle shops open downtown

WILMINGTON, NC– Craft beer is making itself known downtown.

New breweries and bottle shops opened this week despite a few permitting issues. The owner of Flytrap Brewery Mike Barlas ran into some issues with the city. Technically Flytrap had to be considered a night club in order to open, but that didn’t stop Barlas or the owners of Bomber’s Beverage Company. Now both are open for business.

Bomber’s is not a brewery, but they do sell more than 500 different bottles and cans of craft beer. They had their grand opening Friday and Flytrap Brewery opened last week.

Barlas says the city has since passed the zoning requirements for breweries. He says now breweries do not have to be considered night clubs.

Both of these new owners say craft beer is a growing culture for Wilmington.

“Wilmington is a fantastic spot for craft beer,” the president of Bomber’s Jacob Wright said. “It’s a growing industry, but not only growing I think it’s about to be booming.”

“I hope this is just the beginning and the people of Wilmington are able to find a lot of different beer that are produced here locally,” Barlas said.

Barlas says oat their grand opening last Wednesday they sold more beer in that one day then he was hoping to sell in two weeks.

Both of these spots are within blocks of each other. You can find Flytrap on the corner of Walnut and 4th streets.
Bomber’s Berverage Company is at 108 Grace Street.