
{"id":25088,"date":"2012-04-12T10:32:25","date_gmt":"2012-04-12T14:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=25088"},"modified":"2012-04-11T17:16:07","modified_gmt":"2012-04-11T21:16:07","slug":"craft-brewery-comes-to-carrboro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2012\/04\/12\/craft-brewery-comes-to-carrboro\/","title":{"rendered":"Craft brewery comes to Carrboro"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Lucie Shelly<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Courtesy of the Carrboro Commons<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Increasingly in Carrboro, you will find a culture of artisan foods and gourmet gurus. Some of it is imported and some of it comes from the old mill town itself. But among the French wines, Columbian coffees and produce from the Piedmont, there is something inauspiciously missing: a true Carrboro brew.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_25089\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25089\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2012\/04\/12\/craft-brewery-comes-to-carrboro\/brewery041212_web\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-25089\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/brewery041212_web.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"brewery041212_web\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25089\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/brewery041212_web.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/brewery041212_web-113x84.jpg 113w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/brewery041212_web-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/brewery041212_web-100x75.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/brewery041212_web-360x270.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25089\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"> Willis Isley, Cody Maltais and Andrew Scharfenberg of Steel String Brewery, which will be Carrboro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first local craft brewery, sit out at Weaver Street on a beautiful spring day with some fresh beer samples. They say that a scene like this one is exactly the kind to which they wish to offer a locally made, quality craft beer.  <\/p>\n<p>Photo by Lucie Shelly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Arguably, one of the things many Carrborites love about the downtown scene is sitting out on a fine day, chilled bottle in hand, spectating on the hippies and young families alike. Considering how much people like to feel part of the town, shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t their bottle come from the town too? Three men who have known each other and Carrboro since their days at Guy B. Philips Middle School certainly think so.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It just makes sense to have a brewery,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Cody Maltais, 26, one of the three founding members and the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Financial Czar\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of what will be Carrboro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first brewing endeavor, the Steel String Brewery. <\/p>\n<p>Maltais, along with Brewing Czar Willis Isley, 26, and Logistics Czar Andrew Scharfenberg, 25, (yes, they put those titles in their official state paperwork), say that they know and love the Carrboro community. They also say that they understand how the community loves to support its own.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Carrboro is a place that has always supported local products, supported local businesses,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Maltais.<\/p>\n<p>Scharfenberg agrees, and in light of this dynamic, says it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s odd that there isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t already a local brewery.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been saying all along. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s weird and it will fill a niche,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Scharfenberg.<\/p>\n<p>The trio is in the process of confirming the final location for the brewery, which they hope to announce on Monday. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Try this at home<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Getting this idea off the ground has required some lateral thinking and determination. It helps that the men are unwaveringly enthusiastic about their brewing, and that they have found like minds in the regional craft-beer industry. They got their start the same way as most curious minds \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they ignored the classic cautionary warning, and tried it at home.<\/p>\n<p>Isley graduated from UNC with an English degree in 2007, and after some stints doing string reporting is now pursuing his master\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in teaching.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I came back to here and at that time we started home brewing and we actually made some pretty decent stuff, and I started talking with Cody about starting a business,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Isley recalls. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We bought one of those $150 kits, started with extract and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just really fun.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Despite his literary background, it was a latent interest that stirred the brewing idea.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I like cooking, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also like some science. I started as a science major. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just kind of a nice mix. Creativity plus science equals beer,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Isley says.<\/p>\n<p>This is not the trio\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first venture together. They were once three parts of a bluegrass band called The Blackswamp Bootleggers. They had some success, but they have since channeled their energies into the brewing, hence the name Steel String.<\/p>\n<p>Scharfenberg, who works in a law firm, is largely responsible for the mechanics of the brewing process, while Maltais has played the primary financial role after his time in the military during the past few years.<\/p>\n<p>While the roots for Steel String were in place before Maltais went away, it was a concept that evolved.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Whenever I came home to visit, Will and Andrew would have some new homebrew to check out, and it became one of the things of coming home, always seeing how their brew was going,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Maltais. He was in Iraq for a year, during which time he worked on the business plan with Isley and Scharfenberg via email.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Collaborating<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Despite Steel String\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eventual proximity to local Chapel Hill breweries like Top of the Hill, the founders do not believe there will be a hostile or overly competitive environment.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been working very closely with the Top of the Hill guys. They just do so well in their own location,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Isley.<\/p>\n<p>Collaboration, Isley and the others explain, is essential to the survival of all craft beer.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The big three still have 90 percent share of all beer sold,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Isley. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Craft beer is only at 10 percent. So really, us doing well and them doing well is chipping away at the big guys; we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not really cannibalizing them at all.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Scharfenberg adds that success for one independent group can mean success for the others.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We want to pull people in to the craft-beer fold and say, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcHey, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something out here that tastes better,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Creech of Fortnight Brewing, a craft-beer company based in the Raleigh-Durham area, was offering tastings of his brews alongside the Steel String czars at the National Session Beer Day event on April 7 at Carrboro Beverage Co. This was not the first time the two companies had crossed paths.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve brewed a time or two together,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Creech. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fun to keep up and go to festivals together.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Such events and joint work provide a good platform for exploring and contrasting what a craft beer offers the more pensive drinker.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the English take on the session beer; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s malty, caramel and full-bodied,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Creech explains. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Steel String is more the American, West Coast style, meaning it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more of a citrus.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Isley says that Steel String will offer four signature brews, all of which have been tried and tested for complexity, quality and sophistication compared to your average brand beer.<\/p>\n<p>The four beers are the Black IPA Manzonita; Big Mon, the West Coast-style IPA; a porter called Eponymous; and the Rubber Room Session Ale, which has an especially low alcohol content at just 3.7 percent. For the pale ales, the brewers used four hops and four malts.<br \/>\nIn round one, the brews seem to have passed the test, as local taster Colin Sheffield of Carrboro gave his glass the thumbs up.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m on a major IPA cycle right now,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Sheffield. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was refreshing, light; I enjoyed drinking it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Going from hobbyists to businessmen is something the guys think Carrboro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s culture will welcome.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I mean, the thing is, every home-brewer talks about it, right?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Scharfenberg.<br \/>\nWell, now it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time to serve it up.<br \/>\n<em><\/p>\n<p>Lucie Shelly is a UNC student writing for the Carrboro Commons, a bi-weekly online lab newspaper for Jock Lauterer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Community Journalism class at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Increasingly in Carrboro, you will find a culture of artisan foods and gourmet gurus. Some of it is imported and some of it comes from the old mill town itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":25089,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25088"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25099,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25088\/revisions\/25099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}