Aviator took flight in a small airplane hangar with one employee and two old 300-gallon dairy tanks.
Our story / Fuquay-Varina, NC
One small hangar. A lot of runway.
Aviator started with two dairy tanks, one person, and a little room inside an airplane hangar. It grew one determined pour, one gathering place, and one ambitious build at a time.
The Aviator story
Built by keeping pace.
In November 2008, Aviator Brewing Company began in a small airplane hangar. The brewery had exactly one employee and brewed into two old 300-gallon dairy tanks. Demand arrived quickly, so two used 30-barrel fermenters came next; by January 2009, Aviator was distributing beer across the Triangle.
The footprint kept growing with the community: the TapHouse opened in the historic Varina Station train depot in 2009, followed by the SmokeHouse in the old Varina Hotel in 2011. More tanks, a new brewhouse, canning, the Beer Shop, event space, distilling, and wider distribution each added a new reason to come together.
In 2018 Aviator began planning its biggest project: a five-acre brewery campus with a fully automated 60-barrel, four-vessel brewhouse. After years of planning and construction, the new campus at 688 Brewing Drive opened in April 2025. The next chapter is still being written over a fresh pour, a great meal, and a full room.
Aviator's next chapter is rooted in the same momentum: the 688 Brewing Drive campus brings a fully automated 60-barrel, four-vessel brewhouse together with the Hangar Bar, Ready Room, Amphitheater and more to come. The goal is still simple - brew boldly, welcome people well, and keep creating a place worth coming back to.
That runway continues to extend with new food and entertainment experiences, including the future HardDeck SteakHouse and C-54 Airplane Bar, alongside a renewed focus on bringing Aviator beer to more people in North Carolina and beyond.
Flight log
Seventeen years of forward motion.
From the first modest brew day to a destination-sized campus, every milestone added capacity, character, or another place for people to meet.
Two used 30-barrel fermenters helped Aviator reach the Triangle. That September, the Aviator TapHouse opened inside Fuquay-Varina's 1910 Varina Station train depot.
The original hangar was outgrown. Aviator moved six miles to a larger home, added tanks and cooler space, and grew to a four-person team.
The SmokeHouse opened in the historic Varina Hotel. Three 60-barrel fermenters and an eight-head bottling line expanded both capacity and Aviator's reach.
A new 30-barrel brewhouse, 100-barrel fermenters and brite tanks arrived. Aviator began canning HotRod Red, HogWild IPA, Devil's Tramping Ground Tripel and seasonal releases.
A 12,000-square-foot expansion doubled the production footprint. Aviator moved fully into cans, added a centrifuge, passed 1.2 million cans, and opened the Aviator Beer Shop.
Aviator reached 3.5 million cans, began exports to Korea, Taiwan and Brazil, acquired the Gold Leaf Tobacco Building property, and took its first steps into distilling.
A high-speed canning line lifted output to 300 cans per minute. Aviator also entered the United Kingdom, with beer placed in 1,800 locations.
The Aviator Kitchen opened at the TapHouse, downtown footprint continued to grow, and planning began for a five-acre brewery campus with a fully automated 60-barrel, four-vessel brewhouse.
Site work, permitting and construction pushed the new 688 Brewing Drive campus from plan to reality: event restaurant, outdoor stage, brewhouse and main brewery all taking shape.
The new Aviator campus opened in Fuquay-Varina - a destination for fresh beer, food, music, private events and the next generation of the brand.
With the 60-barrel brewhouse online, Aviator is building toward the HardDeck SteakHouse, C-54 Airplane Bar, expanded entertainment and renewed distribution beyond North Carolina.
Brewery tours / $20.00 per guest
Join the crew behind the scenes.
Tour the brewhouse, hear the campus story, and see where the next pours begin. Individual signups are placed on the next available Saturday 4:00 PM flight. That flight is tentatively set until it reaches 6 guests; once 6 people are signed up, the tour is officially on and everyone on the list receives the confirmed date and time by email. If it has not reached 6 guests yet, we will keep you updated as the list grows.
Meet us at 688 Brewing Dr., Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526. Please gather at the double doors into the brewery at 3:55 PM for check-in before the 4:00 PM tour begins. The tour is approximately 30 minutes. Every $20.00 ticket includes an Aviator pint glass, one beer pour, and one flight of four pours.
- Launch threshold
- 6 registered guests per flight
- Primary flight
- Saturdays at 4:00 PM
- Overflow flight
- 6:00 PM when 4:00 PM is full
- Signup cutoff
- At least 24 hours before Saturday
Current 4:00 PM list0 / 25
Current 6:00 PM list0 / 25
The confirmed Saturday and time will publish here as soon as a flight reaches 6 guests. If a Saturday is fewer than 24 hours away, new guests roll to the following Saturday.
Individual signup