By Dathan Kazsuk
Fullsteam is returning to downtown Durham with something much more ambitious than a replacement for its former Rigsbee Avenue taproom.
The brewery’s new home inside the historic Power Plant at American Tobacco Campus has been designed as part public house, part neighborhood hangout, and part community arts venue. Fullsteam founder and Chief Executive Optimist Sean Lilly Wilson has called it the brewery’s “forever home” and, more importantly, Durham’s front porch.
Getting there was not guaranteed. Wilson said the search and build-out unfolded over roughly two years, with American Tobacco and Capitol Broadcasting supporting Fullsteam’s desire to remain in the city it has called home since 2010.
“There was always that focus and desire,” Wilson said. “I’m very happy and blessed that it worked out.”
The location places Fullsteam between American Tobacco’s Lucky Strike water tower and smokestack, within an easy walk of Durham Bulls Athletic Park and the Durham Performing Arts Center. But the plan goes far beyond capturing crowds before and after games or shows.
Here are five reasons the new Fullsteam could become part of Durham’s regular routine.
The vintage baseball gloves lining one wall are not simply retro decoration. They are an obvious nod to the Durham Bulls playing just steps away and another example of Fullsteam’s focus on creating a sense of place.
The initial collection did have one problem.
After seeing the display, someone reminded Wilson that roughly one in five baseball players is left-handed.
“So we have to get some left-handed gloves in there,” Wilson said.
It is a small and amusing detail, but it reveals the thinking behind the larger space. The objects and design choices are meant to connect Fullsteam to its surroundings rather than create a generic taproom that could have opened in any city.
“Our hope is that it just becomes a place for Durham to make part of their daily downtown routine,” he said.
The main Fullsteam Public House will offer the familiar bar-and-table experience, but the new location is divided into several smaller spaces, each with its own personality.
Lucky’s Den has the comfortable, nostalgic atmosphere of someone’s well-loved basement rec room—only with a much better beer selection. The space opens onto its own tucked-away patio near the base of the Lucky Strike smokestack, creating a semi-private retreat accessible from inside the den.
The Stoker Club, named for the workers who once tended the boilers that powered American Tobacco, provides a larger setting for dinners, receptions and private gatherings. The building also contains a 100-seat theater.
That flexibility is a major departure from Fullsteam’s former home.
“The original Fullsteam was all or nothing,” Wilson said. “It was one big room.”
At American Tobacco, a film screening, private dinner, and casual bar visit can all happen at the same time without one experience overtaking the others.
Fullsteam’s food program will put an unexpected spin on one of the South’s most familiar restaurant formats.
“We’re going to flip the meat-and-three, calling it the three-and-meat,” Wilson said.
Instead of treating vegetables and side dishes as supporting players, the menu will make seasonal Southern sides the center of the meal, with proteins available as additions. The approach should also make the menu more welcoming to vegetarian diners without limiting it to strictly meat-free choices.
The menu will combine American pub food with Southern ingredients while incorporating more fermentation and pickling. Wilson said the kitchen may begin with a smaller selection as the team settles into the new space.
Like Fullsteam’s beer, the goal is food that feels familiar while remaining connected to local farms, seasons, and flavors.
A 100-seat theater hidden inside a brewery immediately expands the possibilities.
The former Full Frame theater includes a large screen and professional sound system, allowing Fullsteam to host independent movies, filmmaker conversations, performances, community forums and the occasional sporting event.
The programming has already ranged from Astronomy on Tap and a Mallarmé Music chamber concert to forums presented by The Assembly and appearances by former Simpsons writer Bill Oakley. Wilson also described plans for independent-film screenings accompanied by their directors.
Some events will be carefully curated. Others may simply be fun.
Fullsteam screened Sharknado in 2010, long before breweries were expected to maintain full programming calendars. Wilson said the company has always wanted to combine beer with experiences—it just didn’t have enough separate spaces to do everything at once.
The theater now gives Fullsteam room for what Wilson calls “only at Fullsteam” programming without disrupting someone who only wants dinner and a pint.
There will not be a working brewhouse at American Tobacco. Wilson and his team considered several possible locations for brewing equipment, but moving grain into the building and spent grain back out proved too difficult.
Instead, the original 22-tap system from Rigsbee Avenue will pour Fullsteam’s core lineup and smaller releases, with small-batch beverages produced at the company’s Rocky Mount facility.
That means returning favorites such as Carver, Fullsteam’s sweet potato lager, alongside beers including Curioso, a Mexican-style lager. Fullsteam has also collaborated with neighboring East of Texas on a prickly-pear variation designed to complement the restaurant’s Tex-Mex and Texas barbecue menu.
The bar will extend beyond beer with Fullsteam’s Wyndfall ciders, wine, nonalcoholic choices and spirits from North Carolina and beyond.
Once the doors open, its location will make it an easy stop before a Bulls game or DPAC performance. Its greater test, however, will be whether Durham adopts it as something more ordinary and more important—a place to meet, linger, and return to even when nothing else is happening downtown.
From the baseball gloves on the wall to the hidden patio beneath the smokestack, it looks as though Fullsteam has built this new chapter with exactly that goal in mind.
For more bites, pours, pairings, and local food-and-drink finds, visit our Sip & Savor page.
