If you’ve followed the evolution of Fullsteam Brewery over the past decade and a half, you’ll know this Durham-born beer institution isn’t afraid of change—or challenge. And now, with its original Rigsbee Avenue location shuttered since Halloween 2024, Fullsteam is marching onward with a bold new move that doubles down on its farm-forward mission.
This summer, Fullsteam officially took the reins of the 12,000-square-foot Rocky Mount Brewmill campus. That’s right—the brewery that introduced us to Paycheck Pilsner and Southern Basil is now managing the entire Brewmill site, shifting its focus toward small-batch, Southern-sourced wine, cider and non-alcoholic drinks—all while continuing to contract brew its flagship beers through NoDa Brewing in Charlotte.
“Once we could no longer afford to brew in Durham, we had a choice to make,” says founder and self-proclaimed Chief Executive Optimist Sean Lilly Wilson. “We could try to rebuild, or we could adapt to a changing marketplace and take advantage of existing capacity.”…