Raleigh’s very own Tasty Beverage Co. is mentioned in Erik Lars Meyers’ recent book North Carolina Craft Beer and Breweries as one of Meyers’ “must-visit places for any fan of beer.”
Located in the Historic Warehouse district downtown, in the Raleigh Depot building, Tasty Beverage opened its doors for the first time late last summer — to a line of thirsty revelers that stretched down the building and around the block.
Owners Sean Pratt and John Bellflower said they knew the store would be well-received, but that they were pleasantly shocked at the sheer number of people that turned out for the big day.
Then John smirked.
“I wasn’t, actually. I was hoping for riot police.”
“He didn’t say that,” Sean said.
“I didn’t say that,” John echoed.
That same sense of humor and playfulness is how these two approach everything, from their interactions with customers and one another to their well-earned business success.
John and Sean have both been into the craft beer scene for a while. John got into it when he was living in Boone, back before Pop the Cap went through, and Sean credits a good friend with introducing him to the glory of craft brews. Since then, they’ve both gotten to watch the growth of brewing in North Carolina, which they dubbed as “pretty awesome.”
But three and a half years ago, there wasn’t a place like Tasty in Raleigh. According to John and Sean, it just needed to happen, and Raleigh needed it to happen. So the two friends took up the cause and began to make their craft beer bottle shop dream a reality. All told, it was about two and a half years worth of work to get to that line of beer lovers stretched down to Davie Street. And it was worth the work, indeed.
Tasty offers more than 1100 bottles of craft beer and gives you 6 taps to choose from for your sipping pleasure while shopping. These drafts are always changing, but the crew at Tasty is great about making sure their website stays up-to-date, so you can always see what they have to offer before you even head down there.
“The idea of being able to have a beer and shop for beer isn’t exactly new,” John said. “It’s new to Raleigh I suppose. We saw it elsewhere and we liked it.”
“We like to drink while we shop,” Sean said.
So the next time you find yourself downtown, stop in and join them while you stock up. Or, better yet, make a trip downtown just to do so. You’re sure to find something you haven’t had yet, and they’ll make it the most fun you’ve had all day, to be sure.
