After 15 years, Raleigh brewery will sell the beloved spot that launched everything
After a decade and a half, the owners of Trophy Brewing are selling the downtown spot that started it all.
At the end of the year, Trophy owners David Meeker, Chris Powers, Woody Lockwood, Les Stewart and Rebecca Couch will close Young Hearts Distilling on Wilmington Street in downtown Raleigh, ending a run of varied and popular restaurant and bar projects.
Before there was Trophy beer, there was Busy Bee Cafe at 225 S. Wilmington St., an all-day spot that served coffee in the morning, a casual lunch and dinner and stayed open late. Busy Bee later became Trophy Tap & Table, which then became Young Hearts, downtown Raleigh’s first distillery.
“Downtown is so different for us now; our focus has been pulled to Morgan Street and Maywood,” Powers said in a phone interview. “With downtown changing and evolving we were ready to close a chapter and focus on other areas of town.”
Trophy’s flagship remains its Morgan Street pizzeria and brewery. It also has a larger production space on Maywood Avenue and is in the process of relocating its bottle shop cafe State of Beer and opening The Bend Bar.
“That building is very important to us,” Powers said. “That’s where we started, that was the beginning of everything. This is a bittersweet moment. We loved it and we love downtown, but it’s our time to close that chapter.”
Busy Bee opened in 2009 and remains one of those lost cult restaurants. It is probably best remembered for its plate of loaded tater tots, dressed with a cheese sauce, bacon bits and a sprinkle of chopped green onions. Busy Bee helped nurture Raleigh’s embrace of craft beer, which was at the time just starting its boom, by stocking its taplines with small American and international breweries, plus Miller High Life. In fact, Busy Bee sold so much Miller High Life the company sent them a branded bicycle.
While Young Hearts Distilling will close as a restaurant, Powers said the brand remains alive and well and will continue producing spirits at another Trophy property.
In bidding farewell to Wilmington Street, the Trophy owners are throwing a New Year’s Eve bash. The ticketed event includes all food and drinks and will feature the return of old Busy Bee menu items like the burger, roast chicken sandwich, popular desserts and of course, the tots.
“We’ll have thousands and thousands of tots,” Powers said.
The $200 party will also include DJs and a champagne toast.
Beer of the Year
Also this week, Trophy is the only Triangle brewery to land on Wine Enthusiast’s Best Beers of 2024 list.
Compiled by beer writing authority John Holl, the list of 2024’s best 50 beers includes Trophy’s Petite Saison, a crisp session version of the iconic Belgian style.
“Sometimes you want a saison but also want a proper drinking session,” Holl blurbed in the list. “The Trophy team delivers with an everyday drinking saison that scratches the itch.”
At 3.8 percent ABV, the saison aimed to offer a flavorful experience without the usual booze from the style, Powers said.
“It’s easy to drink and delivers the flavors people want in a saison, the flavors we like, which for us comes from local grain and the beer living in our foeders,” Powers said. “We wanted something with a lower ABV that doesn’t wear out your palette....To see that list of beers, it means a lot to us that (John Holl) was able to taste our beer and it was something he remembered. It’s something we’re proud of.”
This story was originally published December 12, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
