"The Young Guns" at Roth Brewing Co.

Not gonna lie.  I wasn't super-stoked to venture out to Roth Brewing Co. last night.
Mainly because I had not heard too much about them and knew they were really green.
Let's just say,  I was not expecting too much.

But then, bartender and Assistant Brewer Dallas M., called me by name.  Before we had decent taste in beer, we used to chug Busch light from Solo cups together.  Good times.

Dallas has been homebrewing with his dad for six years.  He also studied abroad for three months in Germany.  "I basically went to every brewery I could learning as much about beer as I could," he said.  Last week, he finished his internship with Roth Brewing Co. and was officially put on the payroll this week.

"16-hour-days are not unusual," he said. "Everyone here is under 28-years-old, we're the 'young guns' and we do it all ourselves."  They even distribute their beer themselves.  Dallas' SUV doubles as the delivery truck.          

I was pleasantly surprised to find that, like LoneRider, these guys give you a free tasting of the beers.

Viking hat available for $15

Robert Mays, the head bartender, poured me a pint of Raleigh Red while Dallas snagged me the chance to sit down with Ryan Roth, CEO.

I really liked the Raleigh Red American Amber Ale. It's just the right hoppy and just the right sweet. Plus, it's really drinkable.  Raleigh Red is their flagship beer and can now be found in 26 places in and around the triangle.  The newest to put them on tap is The Angus Barn. "If our beer is good enough for The Angus Barn, that is good enough for me," said Roth.

Roth is 23-years-old. He started homebrewing with his brother in Spring 2008.  "I was cooking beer on my stove as a hobby.  It was just a cheap and totally legal way to get beer.  I just caught the bug," he said.

December of 2008 Roth and his brother Eric made Roth Brewing Co. an LLC.  The Roth brothers did not have a huge grand opening.  They didn't do a large ad campaign or even tell too many people where they were.  "We decided to open up and work on word of mouth," said Ryan.

The only "real" ad Roth Brewing Co. made was one in NCSU's Technician last summer inviting State students to come out for a Welcome Back to School Party.  "If you wore a State shirt you got a free pint glass," said Roth.  "We don't have to sell sex to sell beer--the triangle wants craft beer," Roth said of their lack of advertising.

"We're not in competition with the other small breweries in the area. They're small businesses just like us," he said. "What we're trying to do is sway the Bud-Miller-Coors crowd to drink our beers instead."

Other events coming up are the Chili Cook-off in March and sometime in late spring is the Wing Fest.

Anyone can tour the brewery at anytime.  And, if you need to use the bathroom you will get the chance.

When I inquired of the whereabouts of this bathroom, Dallas told me to "walk past the Kraken and keep straight."  'The Kraken' is the newest addition of brewing equipment in the Roth Brewery and it's huge.  It also has a/the Kraken drawn out on it.

Speaking of drawings. . . The uni-sex bathroom has some colorful artwork. Don't worry, there is a place to put your beer so you can spend plenty of time checking it all out.