By Dathan Kazsuk
A lot of Triangle residents already know Crooked Hammock Brewery, even if they’ve never said the name out loud while sitting in Raleigh traffic.
They know it because Myrtle Beach is a familiar escape route. Long weekends, family trips, last-minute coastal runs … a little sunburn, a cold drink, and the annual promise that this time everybody is going to relax. Somewhere along the way, plenty of North Carolinians found Crooked Hammock at the beach and came back talking about it like they had discovered a place that understood exactly what a brewery hangout should be: laid-back, a little playful, and built for lingering.
Now that same concept is headed to Raleigh.
The Delaware-born brewery and restaurant group is opening its first North Carolina location at GlenLake this spring, bringing with it the same backyard-party energy that helped make the brand a hit in North Myrtle Beach and its two Delaware locations, Lewes and Middletown. The Raleigh location will be the company’s fourth overall, but for co-owner Rich Garrahan it is less about copying what worked somewhere else and more about letting the next community shape what comes next.
Crooked Hammock’s story began in 2015 in Lewes, Delaware, when Garrahan and his partner saw a gap in their community. They loved beer. They loved hospitality. They also had young kids and realized there weren’t many places they actually wanted to spend time as a family. “We recognized that there weren’t really a lot of places that we wanted to hang out with our kids in our community,” Garrahan told me. “Let’s try to build a place where we want to hang out and our friends would want to hang out with us.”
That idea became the backbone of Crooked Hammock, but not in some stiff, corporate-branding sort of way. What Garrahan described was more personal than that. He kept coming back to childhood memories of backyard cookouts—neighbors drifting over, relatives showing up, food coming off the grill, a beer pulled from a cooler, and the kind of easy chaos that somehow turns strangers into friends by the end of the night.
“There was this really special comforting energy about those days where people who didn’t really know each other ended up becoming friends,” Garrahan says. “That became kind of the core of what the concept was all about.”
That feeling, more than any beachy branding, is what Crooked Hammock is really selling. Yes, the name suggests vacation mode. Yes, the Myrtle Beach location probably helped plenty of North Carolinians discover the brand while on coastal downtime. But Garrahan is quick to point out that the concept is not really about the beach. It’s about the backyard. “The backyard is really where that happens,” Garrahan says. “It doesn’t have to happen at the beach.”
That matters in Raleigh, where Crooked Hammock is stepping into a city that already takes its beer seriously. Nobody here is waiting around for someone to explain craft beer to them. This is a market with smart drinkers, loyal brewery regulars, and no shortage of local favorites. Garrahan knows that. Instead of pretending Raleigh needs a lesson, he seems to view the city as a place that can push the brand creatively.
Part of that starts with the brewery itself. Raleigh’s location will brew on-site, and Garrahan said the system will allow for both Crooked Hammock staples and smaller, experimental batches unique to this market. Leading that effort will be brewer Kyle, who previously worked at the North Myrtle Beach location and has relocated with his family to Raleigh.
“Kyle has been the most innovative voice on our brewing team for a long time,” Garrahan says. “We see Raleigh, as a community, as this hub of innovation and creativity.”
That is probably the most interesting piece for local beer drinkers. Raleigh will not just be getting transplanted taps from another state. It will have its own brewing identity, shaped by what people here are actually asking for. Garrahan says the smaller brewhouse will allow for more one-offs and brewpub exclusives, meaning Raleigh regulars can expect a few surprises beyond the core lineup.
And Crooked Hammock isn’t just leaning on beer. Garrahan says the beverage program stretches well beyond the brewhouse, with hard teas, hard seltzers, lemonades, hard sodas, and cocktail crossover drinks that use house-made products in creative ways. In other words, this is not a place that only works if everybody at the table wants an IPA.
That broader approach carries over to the food.
If the brewery side is meant to draw curiosity, the food menu sounds designed to keep people seated. Garrahan describes it as being rooted in the spirit of the backyard cookout, with burgers, sandwiches, shareables, and wings among the anchors. He lit up when talking about one fan favorite in particular: the Pineapple Express Wings, slow-cooked and finished with pineapple jalapeño sauce. He also mentioned sticky lager chicken, salads, and seasonal menu shifts that get heavier on seafood in warmer months.
For Raleigh, though, one of the biggest additions will be pizza. “We’re putting a lot of love into the pizza,” Garrahan says. “I think it’s hard to trick people with pizza.”
That line alone tells you he understands the assignment. Nobody in Raleigh needs another half-baked restaurant opening that assumes vibes can cover for mediocre food. Garrahan says the dough will be proofed for 24 hours, the sauce will be made from scratch with San Marzano tomatoes, and the mozzarella will be shredded in-house. More interestingly, one of the pizzas will be part of a community partnership, with $1 from each sale going back to a local organization.
That community angle came up repeatedly in our conversation, and not in a rehearsed, press-release way. Garrahan spoke about Crooked Hammock as a place that hosts team dinners, neighborhood gatherings, family hangs, and casual drop-ins that turn into three-hour stays. He wants it to feel accessible, not precious.
“I think because we’re a brewery, there might be a misconception about what to expect,” Garrahan says. “But we’re a really inclusive place.”
That may be the part Raleigh responds to most. There are plenty of places to grab a drink in this city. There are fewer that aim to be a true all-ages, all-occasion gathering spot without feeling like they are trying too hard. If Crooked Hammock can deliver on what Garrahan describes—a place where beer fans, families, dog owners, date-night couples, and groups of friends all find their own lane—it could carve out something valuable pretty quickly.
At the very least, it is going to tap into a feeling a lot of us understand. Not the beach, exactly. Not the brewery, exactly. Something a little more familiar than that. The comfort of a backyard, a cold drink, and the sense that maybe you don’t need to rush off just yet.
For a city that is always growing, always building, and always chasing the next thing, that might be the smartest move Crooked Hammock can make.
Crooked Hammock Brewery is located at 4501 Edwards Mill Road in Raleigh.
