Our Story
Beaufort Olive Oil Company is a specialty retail shop with our flagship original store located in the historic waterfront downtown of Beaufort along North Carolina’s Crystal Coast. Owned and operated by Clarke Merrell, Executive Chef & Owner at Circa 81 Tapas & Cocktaileria, Beaufort Olive Oil Company specializes in premium extra virgin olive oils, aged balsamic vinegars, gourmet & flavored salts, in addition to numerous artisanal and local culinary provisions. Beaufort Olive Oil Co. now has four locations - Beaufort, Morehead City, Swansboro and Emerald Isle.
Beaufort Olive Oil Company is committed to providing our customers with the freshest extra virgin olive oils. To do this, we work with a skilled and experienced importer who works directly with growers in both the northern and southern hemispheres. This means that twice a year we switch out our extra virgin olive oils to reflect the seasonality of the olive harvest in each hemisphere. We do this because olives are fruits and their fruit “juice” is most flavorful and healthful as close to the crush date as possible; a metric that we proudly display on each of our single varietal extra virgin olive oils. At any one time, expect to see olive oils from places as varied as Italy, Spain, Greece, Tunisia, Portugal, California, Australia, Argentina, Chile, Peru, South Africa, among others.
In addition to our extra virgin olive oils we also carry aged balsamic vinegars imported from Modena, Italy. All of these balsamic vinegars are naturally barrel aged a minimum of 12 years in the traditional Solera method, resulting in rich, sweet, tart, and balanced flavor. If you have only ever tasted grocery store “balsamic vinegar,” commonly made from a blend of red wine vinegar, thickeners, sweeteners, & artificial colors, you will be blown away by the flavor and complexity of our REAL balsamic vinegars.
Every day at our shops, visitors are welcome to sample every single extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar we offer, in addition to various goodies we have selected for sampling. Our knowledgeable and helpful foodie staff are eager to assist with guiding guests through the plethora of offerings by answering questions and offering suggestions based on your culinary needs. Our goal is to help everyone find what they are looking for, whether that be ideas for elevating your cooking experience, gift ideas, an educational experience, or all of these!
We fill bottles to order in our shop every day, and we are happy to ship our products directly to you as well. Our shipping comes in particularly handy when you need to send the perfect gift to foodie friends or family, or to those people you know who have everything – EVERYONE enjoys delicious food and that is exactly what we offer!
300 Front Street, Beaufort NC **contact this location for shipping needs including overseas military base shipping**
8700 Emerald Drive, Emerald Isle NC
412 Evans Street, Morehead City NC