The Backwards “F”
Back in the day, Fullsteam was one of the original local craft brews in the Triangle and they had a fantastic warehouse space filled with picnic tables, sticky floors and a great industrial vibe. Their flagship lager pulled a crowd in constantly. It was a solid plan for any open afternoon. We’d take friends or family there when they came to visit and even bought their gear (it takes a serious impression for us to actually buy gear). So, as you can imagine we were really looking forward to visiting this place again!
Unfortunately, we struck out three times. Ahhh! When we walked through the American Tobacco campus, we noticed that one of the empty spaces had a huge Fullsteam sign on it all lit up. There were little signs on all of the tables outside as well – which we mistook for daily special menus, or something of the like. When we looked closer though, we noticed that they were just signs saying “Coming Soon – Date TBD”. Upon checking their website, there was no indication of when this new headquarters was set to open (this is when we also realized that the original sticky-floored warehouse was no longer around – sadly). So, with a sigh we moved on.
Strike two was at the Durham Bulls game where all of the Fullsteam taps were sputtering and the kegs were out of beer. For real?! Sigh again. With some determination, we discovered that they had opened another spot in a food market development in the parking lot of a corporate mall. Hmmm. The photos looked promising and there was square pizza on the menu and so we drove to the corporate parking lot, parked and walked into the development. It was made to look as if it were industrial with all sorts of containers, metal roofs and railings and Big Ass Fans. The standard “we want to make a new development look like it was once part of an industrial port”. These developments make me a little sad. I have never understood why you want to look like something you’re not. But, then again – you don’t want to look like yet another corporate mall in a corporate mall parking lot either.
So, in we went to – sigh, yet another disappointment. The beer I wanted to try was only in cans. They don’t do flights or small sample-sized beers. They don’t even brew there anymore. Their new brews were a world away from their original flagships. The apple had not only fallen, but rolled far, far away. I ordered a whole pint of a beer that seemed by its description to have promise, and it was OK – not, OK-enough for a whole pint, but I tried. Sad, but still holding out hope, I ordered the beer that was in a can as well as some square pizza. Sigh again! The pizza was not good – we sample square pizza anytime we can – Detroit Style, we call it. And this one was abandoned on the table – a big statement for us – especially my two pizza lovers who will rarely not finish a piece of pizza from anywhere. We left the remnants of both the beer and the pizza on the table and sadly walked back to the Prius.
After this disappointing end to our whirlwind Triangle tour, we circled back to Goodberry’s for a third and final time. Thank goodness for Goodberry’s to perk us back up and say goodbye to the Triangle on a high note! Please come back soon Fullsteam! We are anxiously waiting!
punkTREKS 