"HVAC, parking, kitchen, private party space and outdoor seating." In July 2024, Sean Lilly Wilson used that list to explain what Fullsteam's Rigsbee Avenue taproom couldn't give its regulars, as WRAL reported at the time. The same announcement said production had run out of room and that the landlord had proposed a rent increase Wilson called "untenable for a manufacturing facility."
Two years later the new Fullsteam is open in the old American Tobacco power plant. Beer service began September 29 and the kitchen opened September 30. No beer is brewed there. The trade behind the move was simple. Fullsteam made its beer somewhere else and spent its downtown address on the list Wilson wrote in 2024. This new place is a public house built around a building, and that explains almost everything about it.
Where the Beer Comes From Now
The Rigsbee taproom's last public day was Halloween 2024, and its kitchen had closed that July 31. Wilson's plan then was to run 726 Rigsbee as a production-only site until the lease ran out in June 2025. He wrote that he didn't know if Fullsteam could stay there in any form. We haven't found any public account of what happened to the building after that.
The plan for production changed along the way. When American Tobacco Campus announced the deal in September 2024, the release described a pilot brewing system at the new taproom and said production would eventually move to Fortnight Brewing Company in Cary, The 9th Street Journal reported. By opening week, the News & Observer reported that Fullsteam brews all its beer at a facility in Rocky Mount and also contract brews at NoDa in Charlotte, with nothing brewed on site at ATC. The same release had estimated the build-out at about a year. Hey Durham described the opening as the end of two years of planning and construction.
The beer itself sounds like a brewery returning to its roots. Wilson told the News & Observer that craft drinkers are drifting away from double IPAs and imperial stouts:
"I call it returning to Earth. When we first opened, half of our beers were lagers. I think there's a lot of people who are going away from extreme flavors into lagers and traditional styles."
The tap list posted on Fullsteam's Durham page when we checked it this month bears that out. Nine of its sixteen beers are lagers, including Lucky's Lager, a Czech-style dark lager called Stoker Club, Carver sweet potato lager, Paycheck pilsner and a Reset: Oktoberfest made with North Carolina malt. That's roughly the same share Wilson described for Fullsteam's first year.
Wilson's 2024 List, Checked Against the Power Plant
Each item Wilson named in 2024 now has a counterpart in the power plant, or a plain gap where the coverage says nothing:
- HVAC. The new space has air conditioning. If you sat through a July afternoon on Rigsbee, you'll remember the barn door rolled open and one big fan stirring the heat around, which is how the News & Observer described it.
- Kitchen. Fullsteam built a new kitchen and hired Phoebe Lawless to run food, beverage and hospitality.
- Private party space. The Stoker Club now hosts private events, and the 100-seat Fullsteam Theater takes private rentals and runs community programming, according to Fullsteam's Durham page. An earlier Fullsteam post sized the Stoker Club at 120 seats.
- Parking. Fullsteam has posted a first-visit arrival guide for the campus.
- Outdoor seating. The 2024 announcement listed indoor and outdoor seating. The opening-week coverage we reviewed didn't describe the outdoor setup.
The list matters because it shows what Fullsteam was buying. A warehouse brewery has to put its square footage into tanks. Moving production to Rocky Mount and Charlotte freed this downtown space for dining rooms, a lounge and a screen.
A Kitchen Run by a Pastry Chef
Lawless's hiring is the biggest change from the food-truck years. Her title is Director of Food, Beverage & Hospitality. Durham diners know her from Scratch, which she started in 2008 as a pie business at the farmers market and moved into a downtown shop in June 2010, according to WUNC. Before Scratch she worked as assistant pastry chef to Karen Barker at Magnolia Grill.
The menu now posted online reads like Southern bar food made by someone who thinks in pies:
- Crystal Coast shrimp burger with dijonnaise and spicy chow chow, $18
- Pub House Burger with Ashe County cheddar, raw onion, pickle chips and Stoker Sauce, $18
- Collard melt with braised greens, muenster and sweet potato chipotle mayo on white toast, $16
- Sides at $8 each or three for $20, among them sorghum-baked lima beans and mac n' cheese
Crispy fried trout, smoked half chicken, country-fried steak and an apple-muscadine pie appear on the menu too. Lawless told the News & Observer that "Fullsteam definitely has a Southern sensibility with the scope and style of its beers," and that Wilson wants a space where the food reflects the same mission.
The Theater That Sat Mostly Empty
The theater was already in the power plant. It opened as the Full Frame theater, part of Duke's Center for Documentary Studies, and had seen little use after the Center consolidated its offices during COVID, Fullsteam wrote. Fullsteam said it was in excellent shape, with strong acoustics and a powerful projector, and the brewery rented it out while construction went on around it.
So the new Fullsteam didn't have to build its best room. It inherited a 100-seat house that had been mostly dark, and Fullsteam has said it will run a mix of private events and its own programming there. At opening, the plans mentioned watch parties, cultural events and movie nights. We didn't find any dated movie nights or watch parties on the calendar yet.
The rest of the building leans into what it used to be. In the old boiler room, Wilson pointed out the original machinery and the palm-sized bolts holding the towering cauldrons together. The same room has a wall of pinball machines, toasted North Carolina malt in jars, dirt-worn baseballs and a giant hamburger head hanging from the ceiling. "That's Officer Big Mac," Wilson told the News & Observer. "We had to have that." Lucky's Lounge, at the back, has low ceilings, neon lightning bolts and the feel of a 1970s basement bar. The Stoker Club name shows up three times, on the private room, a dark lager and the sauce on the Pub House Burger.
What's on the Calendar This Fall
Here's what we found scheduled through early December:
| Date | Event | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday, Oct. 17, 7–9 p.m. | Aloreing Destinations: Tickets, Please | Free, registration required. The Museum of Durham History and The Ghost Guild cover North Carolina theater lore and legends in the Fullsteam Theater, with a mixer afterward |
| Thursdays, 7:30–9:30 p.m. | Trivia with Arturo! | Listed weekly from Oct. 15 into December |
| Tuesdays, Nov. 3 and Dec. 1, 7–9:30 p.m. | Astronomy on Tap | Monthly series that featured astronomer Dr. Rachel Smith in October |
Register for the October 17 program through the Museum of Durham History's event page.
Getting There and When It's Open
Fullsteam sits in the middle of the campus, between the two main buildings and beside the water. The News & Observer's directions are to look for the Lucky Strike smokestack and you'll find Fullsteam at the bottom. Fullsteam's Durham page lists bar hours of noon to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 10 p.m. on Sunday. The kitchen serves from 4 to 9 p.m. every day, and the page says those hours will get longer soon. Since the business is still ramping up, check the page for hours, the menu and the tap list before you go.
Some of the most interesting things about the blocks around American Tobacco are how its old buildings get new jobs, like a power plant turned public house or a documentary theater brought back to life. Ask what that history means for the in-town streets within walking distance, and Tim Hock Properties is glad to walk them with you. Schedule a Personalized Consultation.
