Resident Culture Brewing opening in South End Charlotte, NC

Resident Culture Brewing Co. is celebrating the grand opening of its new South End taproom this Friday at 5pm with live DJs, giveaways and dollar tacos from The brute bull for the first 50 orders, with a limit of three per person.

Owners Amanda and Phillip McLamb and Chris Tropeano had considered a second location before COVID-19 and fell in love with the 17,000-square-foot building that dates back to the 1920s.

“While it was in the middle of the world on hold and we weren’t sure what was going to happen — and we still don’t know — it was a leap we all wanted to take collectively because the space was so special,” Amanda McLamb told me. to Charlotte Five.

The warehouse was Charlotte’s first bus maintenance facility, but it had been vacant before Resident Culture began construction Liles Construction as main contractor and Cluck Design Collaborative as an architect.

Now Resident Culture will open its second location, featuring craft beers, new cocktails, El Toro Gross tacos and a coffee bar coming this spring.

Resident Culture’s new taproom in an old space

“When we were exploring this space, the bones of it were so beautiful that we wanted to preserve and hold on to as much as we could and keep as much of this space as possible and what makes this space so special,” McLamb said. “And we were also inspired to bring as much of the Resident Culture experience to the South End and to this place (if we could) as much as possible. Much of that, of course, is due to the artworks that are unique to Resident Culture.”

The brewery’s signature aesthetic is down to Maryssa Pickett, who has drawn the brewery’s labels and created other art for Resident Culture since it opened. Now those labels make for an immersive experience in any room.

“We worked closely with Cluck Design and Maryssa to create experiences as you walk through each of these places, each of them being inspired by those labels and their individual artworks,” McLamb said.

The main bar is inspired by Lightning Drops, Resident Culture IPA’s flagship. The brewery commissioned artist Jeff Hamrick to bring the label’s skeletal engine to life in the form of a hanging statue, a bolt of lightning shooting through his skull.

Beneath the building’s skylights is another bar inspired by the brewery’s Lager Fest, a festival held in 2019. There are two private dining rooms upstairs. One gets its inspiration from Pickett’s drawings and sketches, the other from the brewery’s Brother Flower IPA.

Even the bathrooms are reminiscent of the brewery’s Dance ‘Til You’re Dead triple IPA, with what McLamb describes as a ‘disco funky death vibe’. Downstairs, a 6,800-square-foot event space called The Gilded Cellar in Resident Culture South End will host weddings, concerts, art events and more when it opens later this year.

The brute bull

McLamb first met Chef Hector González-Mora when he opened Comida in Plaza Midwood. Later, she and her husband counted themselves among the biggest fans of Chilito Tacos, his pop-up concept. So when González-Mora was looking for a permanent place where people could pick up their orders, Resident Culture offered its parking space.

The Resident Culture crew saw firsthand how the chef’s hard work earned him a cult following, so it was only natural that they asked González-Mora to join them with his own physical concept at the new South End location.

“The three of us kept coming back to this person and this food that we absolutely cherished,” McLamb said. “He said yes – spoiler alert – and we’ve been building this thing ever since and really letting him run with all his visions and dreams of creating something that honors his history and his family. The talents he has in the kitchen are so incredible. It’s really nice to see him fly alone and be able to create something he’s been dreaming of for years.”

That new understanding The brute bull, will feature a menu of tacos, quesadillas, and nachos. And fans of Chilito’s breakfast tacos will be happy to know that those will soon be on the menu, as well as homemade baked goods.

The brewery will eventually brew specialty beers for you to enjoy with El Toro Gross’s menu, but for now it will keep refreshing beers like Island Time and El Residente on tap.

“There are certainly plans in the future to have exclusive beers there that are aligned with the cocktail menu and food, but they’re both quite intertwined,” Tropeano said. “I think the cocktails go pretty well with the food.”

Speaking of cocktails…

Those cocktails include La Esquina, a blood orange margarita with tequila, orange liqueur, blood orange juice, citrus and agave; Smoke on the Water, a blend of mezcal, tequila, citrus, cinnamon, hibiscus chili syrup, and club soda; Normal Is Dead, made with bourbon, lime, orange marmalade, and ginger beer; and Linger Longer, a new take on the espresso martini made with vodka, Kahlúa, Montenegro syrup, and cold brew espresso.

Show coffee

Resident Culture South End will also open its coffee bar this spring, exclusive to San Diego’s Show coffee. Named Micro Roaster of the Year 2020 by Roast Magazine, Mostra Coffee has collaborated with Resident Culture (and many other breweries) on coffee-infused beers. This will be Mostra Coffee’s first East Coast location.

“It just seemed like a really interesting opportunity to bring something new to Charlotte and the people around it,” Tropeano said. “We posed the question to them and were super pumped and humbled that they would even consider it. We use a lot more of their coffee and one of our signature cocktails will feature their coffee. We’re going to give it the attention it deserves. We have pretty nice plans for that.”

South End Residential Culture/The brute bull

Venue: 332 W. Bland St., Charlotte, NC 28203

Neighbourhood: Gold District

Opening Hours: Initially, Resident Culture South End will be open Mondays from 4pm to 10pm; 4-11 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 12 noon to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday; and Sunday from 12:00 to 22:00.

Instagram: @residentculture

This story was originally published January 5, 2022 6:00 AM.

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Daniel Hartis is the author of “Charlotte Beer: A History of Brewing in the Queen City” and “Beer Lover’s The Carolinas.” He writes about the local beer scene for the Charlotte Observer and has been published in All About Beer Magazine, Beer Advocate, The Beer Connoisseur, Craft Beer & Brewing, The Local Palate, Our State, Food Republic, and Paste Magazine.