Fullsteam Brewery To Begin Operations in Durham’s Central Park District in Late 2009
Posted: 06-19-2009 : DURHAM, N.C.

Durham, N.C. – Excitement is brewing at Fullsteam Brewery, the newest addition to the Durham and North Carolina craft beer scene. Fullsteam’s new home is an 8,100-square-foot warehouse at 726 Rigsbee Avenue where test batches of its signature “Southern agricultural” beers currently ferment in a humble backyard homebrewing system.

The new operations site has a history of beverage production; it’s a former 7UP® bottling plant. Build-out on the space and the 15-hectoliter brewing system has already begun, with Durham’s Ellen Cassilly Architect (www.ellencassillyarchitect.com) as the lead designer. Fullsteam expects canning and kegging operations to be fully operational by the end of the year. The brewery expects to package several of its beers in cans; in time, they’ll bottle complex ales in large, champagne-like “corked-and-caged” bottles.

“Central Park is home to a quirky mix of businesses: the Durham Farmer’s Market, creative and industrial arts and manufacturing.” said Fullsteam founder Sean Lilly Wilson. “Basically, we’ve discovered the perfect site for our brewery.”

Also slated for late 2009, the brewery’s on-premise tavern, “Fullsteam R&D,” will invite the public to join Fullsteam’s team at the table. The tavern will serve the company’s core beers, seasonal releases and guest taps from other North Carolina breweries. Hand-held savory pies called “bullies” will be paired with the brewery’s ales and lagers.

Fullsteam Founder Is Rooted in NC Beer Tradition
Beer fans may know Sean Wilson as the craft beer enthusiast who helped lead breweries and beer lovers to pass the “Pop the Cap” initiative in the North Carolina Legislature. The grassroots effort made higher-alcohol beers legal to brew and sell in North Carolina in 2005. Wilson continued to run Pop The Cap, shifting its focus from changing the law to promoting craft beer in North Carolina. Since the 2005 law change, the state’s beer scene has fermented admirably. Asheville recently tied with Portland in an online poll for “Beer City USA.” North Carolina now has 20 brewpubs and 20 breweries—more than any other Southern state.

Wilson soon realized it was time to build his own beer brand. Julie Johnson, editor of All About Beer Magazine, concurs. “I worked with Sean on the Pop The Cap campaign, which succeeded in large part due to his passion and originality,” Johnson said. “It quickly became clear that he belongs in the beer world, brewing great beer, not just supporting it. With Fullsteam, he may finally have a project big enough to engage all his creativity!”

Over the past year, Wilson and brewer Chris Davis, have been experimenting with local Southern ingredients, brewing with farmed products like sweet potatoes from the Durham Farmers Market and scuppernong grapes purchased at a South Carolina roadside stand. Their “plow-to-pint” test batches premiered last September at the Southern Foodways Alliance annual conference in Oxford, M.S. More recently, Fullsteam’s hickory-smoked porter, Hogwash!, was featured at a Wilson, N.C. pig-pickin’ led by famed North Carolina pitmaster Ed Mitchell.

Just last week, Fullsteam’s sour rhubarb ale was the toast of the 2009 Slow Food Triangle Farm to Fork Picnic in Hurdle Mills, N.C. Fullsteam purchased 40 pounds of rhubarb from Four Leaf Farms in Rougemont, N.C. to craft the ale; enthusiastic tasters described the beer as “the perfect thirst quencher for a hot day” and “finally a good use for rhubarb.”

“We’re excited to brew with local farmed goods,” said Wilson. “By brewing with seasonal ingredients and heirloom grains, we’re creating a distinctly Southern beer style…and supporting local farmers as we grow.”

Fullsteam’s focus on Southern farmed ingredients has already resulted in national attention. In April of this year, Wilson was the only brewer-in-planning featured in “I Am a Craft Brewer,” the keynote video premiered at the Brewers Association’s annual conference (www.vimeo.com/4298464).

About Fullsteam Brewery
Fullsteam Brewery seeks to define Southern beer. The brewery’s “plow-to-pint” mantra (a pint of beer crafted with farmed goods) aims to support local farms and encourage consumers to think of beer as a value-added agricultural product. Fans can follow the brewery’s progress and learn about upcoming sneak previews at fullsteam.ag. Social networkers can keep up with Fullsteam on Facebook at fan.fullsteam.ag or @fullsteam on Twitter.