Aviator Brewing Company

Loved it– It was a beautiful Sunday– We got a 2 for 1 coupon out of the paper — But I think Unilocal also has a special.
They have lots of games to play at the brewery.
The tour was two cute dudes who were very passionate about the business.

Came here on a groupon deal for a brewery tour with a couple friends. First of all, for 20 dollars we got two brewery tours (with beer tasting included), two pint glasses, two six packs of beer, and two beer koozies. Now that is what I consider a deal.
With that said, the tour was fantastic! Very informative experience, our guide was super friendly, and was more than happy to answer questions along the way. The beer was good — they obviously have a variety of options depending on your preference and all of them rock. The «bar» area of the brewery is very open and airy — the patio is nice for warm days. They have some cute merchandise for sale as well, featuring their signature catchphrase «beer is my friend». Definitely good for a gift!
My friends and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves — this brewery is worth the drive out to Fuquay Varina!

Like most of the patrons visiting during my recent Saturday visit, I purchased a Groupon deal to visit the brewery, which when you broke it down, was a great deal. For $ 27 (after an extra 20% off from Groupon) we got two brewery tours, regularly $ 5/​each (although it states on the website that it’s $ 4/​each, but our friend that joined was charged $ 5) and you receive 8oz of beer each, beer of choice on the tour, one growler fill, although you cannot pick the beer! We received a growler full of their saison, that was pretty disappointing. We also received two pint glasses, two six packs of our choice and an Aviator «Beer is my Friend» t-​shirt.
The brewery itself is located a bit off the beaten path. You’ll enter the brewery towards the back, so pull in past the chainlink fence to park. We arrived shortly around 4:45p and were told that a tour would start shortly (although they didn’t call another tour until an hour later – this did not seem very well organized). Tour patrons are encouraged to drink while you’re waiting for tours to begin. The tour itself was okay, it was a dumbed down beer tour, basic but did give a history of Aviators journey. Aviators beers are really starting to progress, they’ve developed a «Hanger Series» of beer that goes far beyond their typical 5 – 6 year-​round styles. I recommend the Chop Shop IPA, claimed by one of the bartenders to be a «watered down» version of the Horsepower Double IPA. The brewery has both indoor and outdoor seating as well as a couple arcade games, board games and cigars for sale. This is a fun brewery activity, but it’s not a tour I’d ever want to take twice. You should note, Aviator is planning on moving their brewery downtown along the same street as their smokehouse, bar and bottle shop. I would say I prefer the brewery atmosphere and service to the bar, hands down.

I feel a five star rating does not just count towards the food/​product, but the entire experience, and that’s why Aviator is getting the top rating from me. This brewery is located on a side street in an industrial park setting, so I was abit wary. The bar connected to the brewery is on the back side of the building, and abit confusing to find on first arrival.
Once in the bar area we were greeted by both the bartenders and management, who were very friendly and seemed to genuinely enjoy their trade. We were given various samples of their numerous drafts on tap. I tried the jalapeño pilsner, ghost pepper beer, Saison de Aviator, and numerous others.
We had a Groupon deal and we’re given way more then we were expecting. The staff here knows their stuff and is outstanding. The bar it’s was clean, decorated well and inviting. This would be a weekly stop for me if I didn’t live so far away.
If your looking for a cool new bar/​brewery and you haven’t been here, give it a shot. You will be happy you did.

This place truly has a great atmosphere! I bought a killer Groupon deal for Aviator. I was very happy with the purchase. The Groupon was suppose to come with a brewery tour but they weren’t doing tours the day we visited sadly. The manager offered us our own private tour or an extra six pack of beer! They were super flexible and willing to help. All the beers we tried were excellent. Black Mamba, Saison de Aviator, and Pumpkinbeast were my favorites.
The bartenders were exceedingly friendly and helpful. We were planning on just picking up the beer we bought and peacing out but ended up hanging out for several hours. I left happy after having some great beer, and brought home plenty of cans and a growler to stock the fridge with!
Thank you for existing, Aviator!!!

The bartenders have a severe attitude problem at this location. Go to the smokehouse or taproom to actually enjoy your experience.

Awesome brewery that is an airport hanger style! Beers are flavorful and smooth. They have quite the variety of brews & tours are informative & laid back. They let you fill up a whole glass for a sample during tour! Must see!

Amazing! Probably the best brew tour we have been on, and they have delicious beers. Cheers!!!

Great beer. Great staff. Great groupon deals when we’ve been for that beforehand. I love the back bar– huge selection, nice environment, great jazz band and they’re serving hamburgers for Memorial Day!!!

Always a great Time here! Get my Growler filled Every Friday! LOVE IT!!!

Love the atmosphere and the beer is definitely one of a kind. Both our tour guide and bartender were super friendly and knowledgeable. No complaints here! Would definitely recommend checking this place out.

We had a fantastic time on the tour! Our guide was hilarious — really made it a fun experience. We had a Groupon and received a growler, two six packs, two pint glasses and a hat! Keep up the good work!

I agree with Deb C. The brewery tour was just okay, left a lot to be desired. I thought we’d be getting tons of samples on the tour, but they only offer one beer to fill your glass with and it was a winter beer that was too dark in color for my usual preference. It was very hot that day, so going into the walk in cooler was the best part of the tour! They have nice t shirts and koozies, so I got one for the hubby. I had a few samples of beer at the end of the tour in the bar (you have to ask for each sample), but nothing really stood out as fantastic. Maybe I am just partial to Great Lakes in Cleveland! Also I wanted to try the pumpkin beer that was advertised in the bar at the end of the tour bit it was not available. A little disappointing.

The tour was a standard brewery tour, but Aviator has a pretty fun history starting with an airplane. Hopefully the flying started before the drinking… Our tour group was a little too big, but our guide clearly knew his stuff and really loved the place so no problem with that. We did the tasting flights with all 8 of their beers on tap. And all 8 are actually really good. Unexpected quality for a little warehouse-​hangar in the middle-​of-​nowhere Fuquay. I didn’t taste a single thing I didn’t like and I usually don’t love IPAs. I would have been happy to take any of them home, but I’m reallyreallyreally happy with the Oktoberfest. The stout gave a strong showing, and the pumpkin ale is some sort of smooth,
We went this Saturday. It was understandably a madhouse because we wanted to redeem our groupon… and so did the rest of the county. But a little crowding with sweet southerners is totally fine by me. Plus $ 20 for two six-​packs of awesome Aviator plus a couple of souvenir glasses is totally worth it, and when I tell you there was a live band an sausage on a grill outside, you really can’t do anything but go!

Went on the free tour and showed up a little early to have some pints. I like that the tour is free and you’re allowed to drink during it, plus the guide answers any and all questions… any questions. LOL
Here’s some things I learned by trial:
1) Don’t go through Groupon or LivingSocial. The Aviator site has a $ 25 deal that consist of 2 glasses, 3 22oz beers (they choose them) and a filled growler. They say there’s 2 spots on the tour too, but that’s just a free extra.
2) Come 30+ mins before the tour starts. Not only to get a couple of drinks but also because parking is limited. The brewery is in an industrial park and has maybe 12 spots. Otherwise, you’ll be parking along/​down the street.
3) Even if the Bourbon Stout isn’t on draft, GET SOME BOTTLES!!! The Winter brew is also really good, but the Bourbon Stout has gold medals for a reason.

«Beer is my friend» and that is an awesome slogan at the Aviator Brewing Company. It is a decent size warehouse brewery off Hwy 55 in-​between Fuguay-​Varina and Holly Spring. When I lived in Apex, friends and I used to come down here, and Carolina Brewing Company facility, which is conveniently up the road not too far from here.
We will come here on the weekend for a «tour» of the facility. The tour is just a farce; not because it’s not legit, I’m just saying it was our excuses to come here, because the tour is free, and all you needed was buying a pint from any of their eight available taps.
This past weekend (Mar-​10) a couple Groupon brought some new friends and I back here again, for a tour, a couple of pint glasses and a filled growler of its delicious Hot Rod Red.
The good thing about this place, because it took over what used to be a truck loading warehouse from the look of it, is that with many doors and opening, this brewery is not as warm and humid and «brewery-​smelling» as others I have toured. Too bad I now live a drive from here. I would love to visit more.

If I could, I would give these guys 2.5 stars. Allow me to explain:
I’ve only been on one craft brewery tour prior to this one — at the Atlantic Brewing Co. in Bar Harbor, ME, and so that’s the only yardstick I have to measure these guys against.
We went with Groupon in hand, good for the tour, a couple of pint glasses and a growler of beer. Oh, and a couple of bumper stickers. We got there a half hour before our tour, and the place was already filling up (apparently ALL tours are at 4pm on Saturday). They have a nice bar with a friendly wait staff… I enjoyed a tasty IPA whilst we waited.
I enjoyed the wait time, distracted by the aviator paraphernalia — I’ve been an airplane buff all my life — so the various magazines, sectional charts and wall art were pleasing to me. By the time 4 o’clock rolled around, though, the place had gotten really full. They said they were going to divide us into two groups, and the second group would ‘just have to wait.’ That seemed unreasonable to me — as we had other plans for that evening, and having to wait another 45 minutes on top of an hour drive back to our plans would have made it untenable. (The place in Bar Harbor had a strict limit on the number of people that could sign up for a particular tour date/​time.)
Aviator is a small craft brewer, with ambitious plans to grow quickly this year — and I wish them all the best! Since their facility is small, the tour was reasonably quick and informative — our Aussie guide was knowledgeable and entertaining –kudos to him for that. With the number of folks there on our tour, and those queued up for the next, however, I found the one unisex bathroom woefully inadequate to the task (are ya listening, management?)
As our tour ended, I realized that that was it. No more. Buy or g’bye. There was no sampling of their craft. No way to tell whether or not the rest of their stuff was as good (or as plain) as what you’d already paid for. (At Atlantic, they lined everyone up, gave ‘em a 3 oz. plastic cup, and filled it with 2 oz. samples of 14 different beers… AND two soft drinks (blueberry and root beer) if you were so inclined… for FREE. I got to decide which of their wares I really liked, and which I just couldn’t live without. There was a significant line at each of the two registers, for folks purchasing multiple cases of their favorites from ABC. I happily ran my plastic up to three digits, and pretty much filled up what free space we had in the car. (Are ya listening, Aviator?)
Perhaps Aviator’s model works for the Triangle area. It didn’t sit well with me, though, having invested the time to travel that distance, in order to receive, what? A couple of pint glasses and a growler of beer, for a Groupon equivalent to their retail price? What was the DEAL? The tour? Shouldn’t a craft brewery offer those gratis, just to get people in the door? I dunno… it just didn’t seem a good value for the time and money. I guess I’ll have to try that brewery in Durham, and the brand new one in Hillsborough, and then decide who’s gonna get my business.

Equipped with a Twongo, we made the trip down to Fuquay-​Varina. Honestly, I was a little worried this place would be completely empty. But after I made the turn onto Technology Park Ln, I was relieved to see cars parked on the side of the road.
THIS is apparently one of the hang outs in the FV. On a Saturday around 6pm, they already had a band playing. Unfortunately, since it’s a warehouse, it’s not really the best place for a band to play. The sound overwhelms the place (and not in a good way).
So, anyway, I walked up to the bar and presented by Twongo. We picked four beers and the bartender gave us samples in four pint glasses. All of their beers were ok, but their Devil’s Trampling Ground Tripel is by far their flagship. They put real sugar in it and it has the highest alcohol content. For realz.
Considering I didn’t like the band and all of their foosball balls were stolen, we didn’t spend a lot of time here. We decided to skip the brewery tour because of the band playing, but they gave us an extra pint glass. My Twongo also included a growler, which I decided to fill with the Tripel ($ 12).
If you’re really interested in the brewery tour, then go early before a band starts. If you’re just in it for the beer, then just go to the Tap House or the Smokehouse. You can probably have them fill a growler at anywhere, but I think the Tripel tap always goes dry first. They actually were out of it at the Smokehouse.

On the whole, a little disappointing. Sorry Aviator. Let’s break it down though:
Groupon — REALLY confused as to why this place needed a Groupon. We would have come for beer and a tour as out of town beer snobs anyways but of course a Groupon went up a week before our trip. I dreaded a huge rush, lines, crowds, etc. because Aviator only offers a tour at 4PM on Saturdays. Kind of stupid if you’re offering a Groupon, you really need to have more availability than once a week.
Building — Was cool, open, airy, laid back vibe. There’s a huge bar which is very nice and a big outdoor backyard area where folks were playing cornhole. Only one unisex bathroom which was completely grody and had a huge line at all times.
Tour itself — There is only one little corner of brew and fermentation tanks which made for a pretty lackluster tour. Also, for some ridiculous reason, they had a band playing inside which made everything our tour guide said inaudible. Really? A band during the one time you have tours all week? Ugh. Also, the guy giving the door seemed like a half in the bag intern. Scary because I think he may have been one of the owners. He barely explained anything they do, didn’t seem to have any passion about brewing, and basically seemed tired of shouting over the band and just wanted to end the whole thing. A let down, for sure.
Beer itself — It tasted like any regular run of the mill beer. Nothing to write home about.
I’ve been on so many good brewery tours and enjoyed so much tasty beer and this was just not one of them.

Probably the shortest brewery tour I’ve ever taken, maybe all of about 15 minutes. But I must say the dude gave us a great 15 minutes. I learned a few things about their beers and even got to ask a few questions. There were maybe 25 people there, which is a really nice break from the 1−300+ showings the folks down at CBC have in Holly Springs.
I’d give this 5 stars, but had to pay for the beer :)