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New Natty Greene Beer Brewery Opens In Downtown Raleigh

By R.Gregg, The Raleigh Telegram

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

RALEIGH - Natty Greene’s, a new beer brewery with roots in Greensboro, has expanded into the Raleigh area and is now open in the historic Powerhouse building in downtown Raleigh where Southend Brewery used to be located.

The massive brick building, located at the intersection of Jones and West Streets one block over from the busy Glenwood South entertainment district, has undergone a year-long renovation by Natty Greene’s.

With an extremely large kitchen and a capacity for 602 people, Natty Greene’s is excited about the new location, especially compared to their relatively small facilities in Greensboro.

“For us it’s a dream come true,” said David Peacock, the General Manager of the new Raleigh Natty Greene’s.

The kitchen area features its own bar for beer service to restaurant diners, a chicken rotisserie, two large walk-in cooler areas, and lots of room for main dish and side preparations.

Peacock said that the extra room means that Natty Greene’s can now make all of their own sauces and salad dressings in-house.

On the menu, guests can try everthing from crabcakes to sandwiches to very large salads to regular pub fare like chicken wings at reasonable prices.

During our visit, we enjoyed a great “Cohiba” pork loin sandwich with carmelized barbecue sauce and also the “Aniston” which was a very large corned beef sandwich that was also very good.

Throughout the building, Peacock says that Natty Greene’s tried to upgrade the building to enhance it, without making it look new. In other words, they were trying to remain true to the character of the 100+ year old building.

All About The Beer

Like most breweries, Natty Greene’s is focused a lot on their beer and Peacock said that their new Raleigh location will not stray from that goal.

In other words, don’t expect the brewery to open up a dance room or disco lounge anytime soon in Natty Greene’s.

In the back room, there is a pool table, a set of dart boards, and a fun tabletop shuffleboard set, but there aren’t too many distractions from the main goal of drinking beer and enjoying food.

Towards that goal, Natty Greene’s hired experienced brewmaster Michael Morris from Raleigh’s Big Boss Brewing Company. (see video below for interview).

Natty Greene’s is going to be brewing their own beer on the premises in Raleigh and they will be offering several key “core” beers including Guilford Golden Ale, Natty’s Pale Ale, Buckshot Amber Ale, Old Town Brown Ale, and General Stout.

They will also be offering seasonals in their taps as well and they’ll have seven different ones in rotation at the taps every day.

For those who want to take beer home with them, Natty Greene’s will be offering growlers of beer as well that can be refilled.

Natty Greene’s hopes to expand on their success in Greensboro and with the move into the Raleigh market, they are well on their way to reaching their goal of becoming the standard bearer for North Carolina breweries.

Click here to see a short video with Natty Greene’s brewer Michael Morris on how they make beer at the brewery. A Raleigh Telegram Exclusive!

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