Gizmo Brew Works

If you want to drink delicious beer, Gizmo Brew Works is definitely one of the best places in the Triangle. The outside appearance may lead you to believe that you’re in the wrong place, but just go inside, and you won’t be disappointed. The bartenders and environment are warm and welcoming, but honestly, the reason we keep going back is plain and simple — the beer is excellent. I have sampled almost every beer on tap, and I haven’t had one that I didn’t like. On the contrary, several of them are the best beers I’ve ever sampled. Personal favorite is the Coffee Stiletto Stout. If it is your first time there, I would definitely encourage trying a flight or two. They typically have eight beers on tap, so you can get two flights and try all of them. Trust me on this — you’ll want to try them all.

Gizmo Brew Works is such a unique and fun place to go to. The beer is my favorite local brew around. In fact, when I’m out at a restaurant, I automatically order their beer on draft. Gizmo’s beer pairs well with so many types of foods. The beekeeper honey wheat beer is so palatable and easy to drink and their PEANUT BUTTER beer is a brown ale that is irresistible. I stop by gizmo whenever I get a chance and I’m never disappointed. The staff is friendly and the food trucks that are scheduled are always on point. The building is tucked away in an industrial park, but it is such a relaxing/​low key place to have a good beer. I can wait for the nicer weather to hang out in their outdoor beer garden! That’ll also mean it’s almost time for their blueberry saison beer, called Deep Blue. This beer deserves every award possible. If you get their chance to stop by Gizmo, get to know them and you will not be disappointed!

Very disappointed. Many of my clients are in to craft beer and enjoy visiting small breweries when they are in town. So I stopped in with two clients recently. The place was busy and the bartender was hustling. However, a guy walks right past the line, pours himself and his inebriated buddies several beers, gets in the way of the bartender (who’s trying to serve customers), and never acknowledges the 12 people in line trying to buy beer. Who was this rude boor? One of the owners! Although this did lead to a long and interesting discussion about customer service, my out-​of-​town guests suggested we go elsewhere. I doubt I’ll be back.

The last time I was at this location, it was Roth Brewing. Why have I waited so long to check Gizmo out?! The world will never know. I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised with their beers today.
Today there was a HALF PRICE HOLIDAY special! Say what?! A delicious draft beer for $ 2.50. Started off with a Beekeeper so you say you do not like wheat beers? I think that you would definitely enjoy this honey wheat, it was delicious and easy to drink. But, hands down our favorite was the Coffee Stiletto Stout! Boyfriend and I both thought that this was comparable and better than the Highland Thunderstruck Coffee Porter. We were sad to hear that they do not offer growler fills of this beer though.
Looking for a food option, check out their website to see what food truck will be there on that day. Or, eat a few bags of the free chips that they have on the bar/​tables. Looking for fun games? Play one of the many games that they have to offer such as giant Jenga, darts, cornhole and giant Connect Four.
On your way out the door pick up a bottle, or growler, of your favorite beer before you depart. This time I left with a Gizmo Aztec Gold which is brewed with Videri Chocolate and vanilla beans, I hope that it is delicious!
We will definitely be back next time we are out and about in that area.

Bee Keeper is my favorite. This place doesn’t look like much but it will quickly become your favorite place for a cold beer and a warm smile. Live music and food trucks always make for a fun low key evening out.

First, don’t be dismayed when you pull up. Tucked away in an industrial park in a metal building behind another business is this gem. We had a groupon for a two people, and went inside to take advantage. The bartender knew her stuff and was very friendly. The taproom was comfortable, and while sitting at the bar, you could look in and see the fermenters busy working. We took the tour, and while it wasn’t very far to go, our guide gave a good tour, explaining not only the beer making process, but a little history (albeit short) of Gizmo. I tried all 8 beers that were on tap, and really enjoyed them all. Honestly, it was some of the best beer I had out of four breweries in Raleigh.
Definitely a micro brewery, but they are really pumping out the beer, and offering a good variety of solid beers.

I’m not a beer fan, but this place was cool. They have seasonal beer so call before you go of you’re looking forward to anything specific.

Tiny little brewery in the back of a business park. However, their beers are really great! I don’t even like fruity beers, but had tried their Blue Saisson (blueberry) over the summer and thought it was the best beer I had ever had. Also enjoy their Honey Wheat. I was there when the food truck Arepa Culture was there and their food went very well with the beer, They have tables and outside sitting as well if it is a good weather day, otherwise, there is not much seating inside on a rainy day. I would definitely recommend you go try their beers. They also have free Saturday afternoon tours weekly at 2 and 4 pm (go online and sign up ahead of time so they know who is showing up that day).
The bartenders and staff there were very friendly and all seemed happy to be there! Go support a locally owned business!

Small batch microbrewery…
super fun, courageous, great tasting beers!
Tucked away but worth the trip!
Enjoy!!!

this place is a great hangout, if you like to unwind have random conversation with new friends, this place is like my garage only with excellent craft beer being made. Mismatched couches picnic tables firepit and stage for live music makes this perfect place to lay back and unwind. If your judgemental, dont appreciate great craft beer, or wound up too tight. You wont like it here. And likely not come back Which is why this place is so great. Dont miss the OMG Chicken food truck. Excellent wings. Music on friday night is lot of fun.

Good, high-​quality craft beer. Their standards are well done expressions of the style. Their non-​standards are unique without being gimmicky (ex: the Coffee Pale Ale has a hint of coffee rather than tasting like eating a fresh-​roasted bean).
The tasing area is small and I could see how it might be unpleasant on a busy night, but it is nice on a night without a big crowd. The people are friendly and talkative and the service is pleasant even close to closing time.

Tucked away in an industrial part of Northwest Raleigh, this place is definitely worth checking out. It’s quite tiny, but they have 6 – 7 beers on tap. Standouts were the Peanut Butter Brown and Honey Wheat. I usually love Barleywine, but I would highly suggest getting a taste before ordering it here. You can join a free tour every Saturday at 2 pm and 4 pm. Our tour was given by the Marketing Manager/​Co-​owner and he was so sloshed we could barely understand him. He held a beer in his hand the entire time and went off on crazy tangents. We thought is was quite hilarious, but a couple people left mid-​tour. The place seems to attract a nice group of people. Many were playing Jenga and darts together and the place just seemed like a casual neighborhood hangout. On the Saturday we came, there was an Arepa food truck parked outside. Other than that, all they have for food are free chips and pretzels. You can walk over to their beer cooler and get a free bottle of water, as well.
If you get the Groupon deal, you can have your choice of two tasting flights or two full pints. We chose the pints, because the bartender was happy to let us taste the beers anyway. They will also give you two Gizmo pint glasses and two stickers (which are free anyway) to take home. For $ 10, this essentially works out to getting two pint glasses for free. I would definitely come back when they have live music and to try some of their new beers.

Very cool taproom in a smaller operation. The service was very nice and helped us pick a beer we would like. We havent been here during peak hours with a band and food truck but its a great concept and I will definitely be going back to check out more of their seasonal beers.
Don’t go here expecting anything besides a cool place to drink beers and a few tables to plop down at which there is certainly nothing wrong with.

This wasn’t our first time at Gizmo… but it’s likely our last. Arrived at about 3:45 on a Saturday afternoon. We were excited to grab a beer and grab a bite to eat at the food truck as a late lunch. We both walked inside and the place was packed, we overheard chatter about a brew tour starting at 4 so we figured the place would open up in a few minutes. There was one bartender and one drunk male employee with a shaved head (brewmaster? owner?) that was walking around with beer randomly talking to guests/​friends. The line to grab a beer was about 7ish people, I told my husband to get the beer and I would go order the food. I ordered the food and waited outside for him to join… after 10 minutes… I texted him what was going on? I guess the girl had trouble with the taps, stumbled to answer the phones, stared off at a dog inside for a few minutes… just not well trained or on her ‘A game’ at all! Fast forward another 10 minutes and I texted my husband again, he tells me he is next, I tell him to close the tab because we would NOT be waiting in line 20+ minutes to close a tab. After he walked outside almost 30 minutes later, our food was cold, the sun was setting. We walk back inside to find the bald guy asking if people wanted to go on the tour. Wait, what? Wasn’t that supposed to start at 4? I guess being drunk makes you forget about your job. It was time to go.
Its ashamed because their beer is much better than the previous brewery (Roth) but with this kind of service and countless breweries in the area… good luck Gizmo.

What a cool, little quirky brewery tucked away in an industrial park not far from Raleigh-​Durham Airport. I was flying out of RDU in the early evening on a Saturday so I decided to see what this place was all about. This brewery is easy to find if you use a GPS, which, let’s be honest, everyone does nowadays so its location should not be an issue.
Their beers vary in style, which is always good. I especially enjoyed their Forgeworks Smoked Porter, which was not too overpowering with smoke but at the same time was not underwhelming on the smoke. Really, the smoke was perfect.
Now their Beekeeper Honey Wheat was excellent and I am not normally a honey beer type of drinker but this honey wheat was great. It drank easily and could easily please any beer drinkers palate.
I am not in Raleigh all that often but whenever I fly out of RDU I will definitely have to stop by Gizmo to check out their seasonal selections!

This backyard garage shop type of brewery may look slightly odd, but it’s another one of those «books» that you shouldn’t judge by the cover. I spent a couple hours there on a Wednesday afternoon with some buddies, and enjoyed the beer!
I tried the Golden Ale-​ement and the Beekeeper Honey Wheat. Both were great! I’m a light brew fan so seeing these on their year round menu was music to my ears.
Something I do think they can work on is customer service. Although we were there for nearly 2 hours, the staff didn’t exactly brighten my day. I believe there were only about 7 customers during that time, but very little communication from the staff. In fact, I think my brew was empty on multiple occasions and no one was behind the bar to serve. Improvement in this area would be icing on the cake… but I’ll be back for just the cake :)

For as young as this little brewery is, Gizmo deserves average 4-​stars in my book. The brewery is only about two years old, but has managed to sell it’s beer in several local bottle shops, while running their business out of what looks like a garage.
The place is little tricky to find, basically a shack building in an industrial compound. My husband and I met up with some friends there for a brew tour and of course to down a few beers. I thought I was in the wrong place at first, but sure enough the brewery is like someone’s garage. I do hope that they get a more permanent location soon, which would attract more beer fans. The actual tour itself was disappointing. Since the place is so new, there is not much to see — basically we stood in the one room with the big beer tanks, and listened to the founder talk about their types of beer. I had gone on much better beer tours, so it’s hard not to be biased.
The beer itself was pretty good! I liked the special IPA and pale ale they have available, the staff was also friendly. Again, I hope that they grow soon so they can get a proper establishment and an actual bar. I do still recommend it for those who like to try new breweries, and support the little people.

I’ve been to Gizmo twice now. The first time last August and then again this August. Didn’t plan it that way, that’s just how it worked out. They are in north Raleigh not far from the airport and Brier Creek so I don’t get up that way as often. Glad to see Raleigh proper’s beer scene expanding more outside of downtown, though.
It was nice to see the progress they’d made in a year. The taproom felt a little more inviting to hang out in, and the tap selection had more than doubled. On our «tour» they also mentioned they are in the process of upgrading their equipment.
I had the Wild Wasp on this visit and enjoyed it. I also sampled a couple of others. Their beer is good. Nothing that blew me away, but all solid choices. Given that they’re one of the newer breweries on the block, I don’t consider that a bad place to be especially since they’re growing. Looking forward to seeing them in more bars around town.
If you want to try their stuff now, the brewery is probably your best bet. Don’t let the «Did I go to far or make a wrong turn?» nature of their location deter you from checking them out. If it’s in August I might see you there.

Bought a groupon and went by for a few beers. The lady serving let us do the sampler for the groupon so I was able to try 4 different beers they have. The only one really remarkable was the coffee porter. The others I tried were just very average at best. That being said, I found the inside of the brewery is perfectly comfortable. It’s almost like you are having some beers at a buddy’s garage with all of the mismatched furniture they have and random items laying around. They have some dart boards along one wall and with the front door and side garage door to the «loading area» open it really has a outdoor feel to it which is awesome on a summer day. Also, they have loads of free potato chips on the tables which are both delicious and salty as hell. Probably a good idea to have those laying around when selling beers.
The bottom line is I will most certainly go back here. I just wish I liked their beer more.

I thought the beer was just okay. My favorite beer was the Golden Ale-​ement. We used our Groupon and were able to get the 4 beer sampler each instead of 2 pints that came with our Groupon. I really liked the brewery itself. Very chill and relaxing. Also they have darts, free snacks, and a hook swing game. Good Saturday afternoon hangout spot.