Fullsteam Celebrates Pop the Cap at 21

Fullsteam Brewing's celebration of Pop the Cap offered a look at their new space and so much more.

FESTIVE FUN

Ben Marmaduke

8/17/20265 min read

New Home for an Old Durham Brewery

Fullsteam's new flagship occupies a remarkable piece of Durham history: the former boiler room of the American Tobacco Campus power plant. Owner Sean Wilson has spent nearly two years transforming the historic space into what he envisions as Fullsteam's "forever home," with a 9,000-square-foot brewery, taproom and restaurant, a 100-seat theater, and outdoor seating.

When I arrived for the weekday evening event, the kitchen and restaurant were still very much under construction, so the building isn't quite ready for its grand opening yet. Even so, there was enough to see that it wasn't difficult to imagine what Fullsteam's new home will become. The sheer scale of the space is impressive, and its location gives it the potential to become a major gathering place within the American Tobacco Campus.

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Past, Present, Future

I went to Fullsteam Brewing's 21st anniversary celebration of Pop the Cap with one primary objective: to get a sneak peek at Fullsteam's new home in Durham's American Tobacco Campus. Mission accomplished — although, as it turned out, the evening gave me considerably more than a preview of a new brewery.

Instead, I found myself getting a history lesson in how North Carolina's modern craft beer industry came to be, delivered by some of the people who helped create it. As the evening unfolded, I began to appreciate that this wasn't simply an anniversary celebration for an important piece of legislation. It was a gathering of people who had fought for the future of North Carolina beer 21 years ago and were now able to look around the room and see just how far that fight had taken us.

For a beer nerd like me, it was a pretty remarkable place to find myself.

The setting also seems particularly appropriate for a brewery that has been such a part of Durham's own transformation. American Tobacco is a remarkable example of the city repurposing its industrial past into something entirely different: restaurants, entertainment, offices, public spaces and places where people come together. Fullsteam's move into the former power plant adds another piece to that evolution, bringing a brewery, restaurant and performance space into a complex that once powered Durham's tobacco industry.

Standing there surrounded by brewers, beer lovers and industry veterans, I couldn't help thinking about how different Durham — and North Carolina's beer culture — looks today compared with just a couple of decades ago.

That made the timing of the celebration especially fitting.

Before There Were 400 Breweries

The evening began with a panel discussion moderated by Lisa Parker, Executive Director of the North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild. On the panel were several of the people who helped lead the effort that became known as Pop the Cap, including Fullsteam founder Sean Wilson, Tryon Distributing owner Brad Johnston and lobbyist Theresa Kostrzewa.

(Left to Right) Brad Johnson, Theresa Kostrzewa, Sean Wilson, and Lisa Parker rounded out the panel discussion.

Their story is a reminder of just how different North Carolina's beer laws were in 2005.

At the time, North Carolina was one of only a handful of states with a 6% alcohol-by-volume limit on beer produced or sold in the state. That meant North Carolina brewers couldn't make higher-gravity beers, while beer lovers couldn't legally buy many of the world's most celebrated styles here. Belgian dubbels, imperial stouts and the increasingly popular higher-alcohol American IPAs were largely off the table.

Today, that sounds almost absurd. But changing the law required convincing state legislators that craft beer was something considerably more sophisticated than simply a stronger version of the beer many Americans were already drinking.

Kostrzewa described one of the ways she and her husband approached that challenge. Rather than simply arguing about alcohol limits, they invited state representatives into their home and introduced them to craft beer through food pairings featuring chocolate, cheeses and carefully selected beers. They wanted legislators to experience beer as a crafted beverage — something that could be appreciated for its flavors, complexity and relationship to food in much the same way wine could.

The approach gradually began to change perceptions, and the effort eventually succeeded. In April 2005, the bill passed the North Carolina House by a remarkably narrow 61–59 vote, paving the way for higher-gravity beers and, ultimately, an enormous expansion of the state's craft brewing industry.

It is difficult to overstate how consequential that vote turned out to be.

The North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild now represents more than 410 breweries and brewpubs across the state. The industry has become an important contributor to North Carolina's economy, tourism and communities, helping create the beer culture that we now take for granted.

But statistics only tell part of the story. The people in that room made the scale of the transformation much more tangible.

The People Who Built the Beer We Have Today

Throughout the panel, applause and shout-outs repeatedly went to other people in the audience who had played important roles in the early days of North Carolina craft brewing. The discussion wasn't simply a presentation about something that happened 21 years ago; it felt more like a reunion of people who had been through it together.

That was probably my favorite part of the evening.

As someone who spends a considerable amount of time exploring North Carolina breweries, I have become familiar with many of the names associated with the state's beer scene. But there is something different about meeting the people whose work helped create the landscape you're now exploring. I have to admit that I was a little starstruck.

There I was, standing in a room with people who had actually been involved in changing North Carolina's beer laws, while brewers and industry veterans swapped stories about the early days of an industry that has since grown to hundreds of breweries. The people telling those stories weren't talking about some distant chapter in North Carolina history. They were the people who had lived it.

That sense of continuity was particularly gratifying for us at NC Beer Explorer. At one point, Lisa Parker recognized our publication and mentioned being familiar with our work. For a small, independent beer publication that exists simply because we love exploring and sharing North Carolina's beer scene, hearing our name recognized by the Executive Director of the state's craft brewers' organization was a genuinely wonderful surprise.

In a room filled with people who helped build North Carolina's beer industry, it was pretty satisfying to realize that our own little contribution to documenting and celebrating that industry had found its way onto their radar.

Fullsteam's new flagship location is located in the former boiler room of the American Tobacco Campus power plant.