Peers honor Weeping Radish founder with craft beer

By Russ Lay | Outer Banks Voice on February 4, 2017

Members of the North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild have brewed a special beer to be released on Valentine’s Day dubbed Yours Truli, in honor of the trailblazing work of Uli Bennewitz who started the state’s first craft brewery three-decades ago on the Outer Banks.

Yours Truli was brewed by the guild’s board of directors and staff in July while they attended Beer Camp at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in Mills River to mark the 30th anniversary of craft brewing in North Carolina.

Founded on Roanoke Island in July 1986 and now located in lower Currituck County, The Weeping Radish remains the state’s oldest operating brewery.

“It seemed like the perfect time to pay homage to Uli. He laid the groundwork for the incredible industry we now share,” said Erik Lars Myers, President of the N.C. Craft Brewers Guild and Founder and CEO of Mystery Brewing Co. in Hillsborough.

In order to keep the project secret from Bennewitz, guild board members did some sleuthing to find out the very first beer that Bennewitz brewed at Weeping Radish and then brewed a variation of that with a local twist.

The Bavarian wheat ale brewed with triticale grain is from Epiphany Craft Malt in Durham. Triticale is a hybrid of wheat and rye.

The board deliberated and settled on the name “Yours Truli” as a tribute to the man who emigrated from Bavaria, Germany and tried to start a brewery only to find out they were not actually legal in North Carolina at the time.

Bennewitz worked to have the law changed, and now 187 breweries operate in the state.

Guild staff kept the secret and waited to tell Bennewitz about the project until January 31.

“When I started Weeping Radish Brewery over 30 years ago we were alone out on a limb…the only brewery in North Carolina for five years,” said Bennewitz. “I couldn’t have imagined what a incredible micro-brewing community would develop over the years, let alone that they would honor us in such a thoughtful way.”

Yours Truli will be available beginning February 14 at a limited number of breweries across the state who participated in the project, including Bull Durham Beer Co. and Fullsteam Brewery in Durham, Front Street Brewery in Wilmington, Highland Brewing Co. in Asheville, Lonerider Brewing Co. in Raleigh, Mystery Brewing Public House in Hillsborough, NoDa Brewing Co. in Charlotte, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in Mills River and Weeping Radish Farm Brewery in Grandy.