107 East Parrish Street
Durham, NC 27701
919-680-2333
E-mail: moocow@bullcityburgerandbrewery.com
Website: http://bullcityburgerandbrewery.com
Hours: Monday–Thursday, 11:11 A.M.–10:00 P.M.; Friday–Saturday, 11:11 A.M.–11:00 P.M.
Owner and brewmasten Seth Gross
Opened:2011
Regular beer lineup: Parrish St. Pale Ale, Bryant Bridge Gateway Ale, “Goat” Bullock Bock, Harvest Ale 2011, Pro Bono Publico Porter, Stonewall Jackson Brown Ale, Bonnie Brae 60 Shilling Scottish Ale
Seasonal: Hibiscus/Cayenne Scottish Ale
THE BULL STARTS HERE.
That sentence is painted on the floor just as patrons walk in the door of Bull City Burger and Brewery, or BCBB, Durham’s newest brewpub. A big red line leads away from the front door, guiding visitors between the small brewery, behind glass on the right, and the brightly lit bar and Enomatic wine machine, on the left. Rustic wooden tables are lined up neatly across the restaurant as patrons walk up to the counter, where they can order some of the best burgers imaginable. To the right of the counter, a ramp leads out the back of the building to a patio full of sturdy picnic tables that find themselves full of patrons on sunny afternoons.
The welcome sign at Bull City Burger and Brewery
Bull City Burger and Brewery specializes in burgers, tube steaks, and, above anything else, local foods. Almost everything at BCBB is made at BCBB. The meat is ground on-site every day. BCBB makes its own sauerkraut and pickles and cures its own bacon. It even makes its own buns. And of course, it makes all the beer.
Seth Gross, the owner of Bull City, didn’t start his career as a brewer. He wanted to go to culinary school, but that didn’t fly with his parents, so instead he enrolled at the University of Florida and got a degree in microbiology and genetics. But two weeks after graduation, his passion took over, and he enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America in New York. After graduating from CIA, he moved to Chicago and began cooking in five-star restaurants. But something was happening nearby on Clybourn Avenue in a brand-new brewpub called Goose Island. Chicago’s first brewpub, it is now one of the most successful in the country.
“Like every other guy in there, I spent a lot of time bothering Greg Hall, the brewmaster, and I guess he took a liking to me,” Gross recalls. Hall needed an assistant, and Gross was exactly what he was looking for: someone good with food, flavors, and cooking who just so happened to have a background in microbiology. Gross started working as assistant brewmaster at Goose Island, and his entire career changed paths. He used his college training to do cell counts and maintain yeast health. Meanwhile, his knowledge of cooking helped him come up with new flavors for beer.
He looks back at the experience with fondness. “That period was some of the most rewarding, backbreaking work I have ever done in my life,” he says.
After his tenure at Goose Island, Gross started exploring the world of wine. He became a certified sommelier and traveled extensively, tasting and eating at some of the best restaurants in the world. “Wine has been very, very good to me,” he notes.
Gross has experience at every tier of the wine business—except as a winemaker. He has worked in distribution and was one of the owners of Wine Authorities in Durham, a successful retail store. “I love wine, but the thing about wine is that I really couldn’t make it myself of any quality. We don’t really have the climate for it here in North Carolina, plus I don’t really have the patience to wait five years for a red to sort of come around.”
It was ultimately Wine Authorities, however, that helped Gross find his way back into beer. He sold his share of the store to his business partner and used the proceeds to start Bull City Burger and Brewery.
“For the most part, startup was pretty easy,” says Gross. “What really surprised me was how difficult it was to source local pasture-raised beef. I thought that once I explained the concept to people that farmers would be able to get behind it immediately.” What he discovered, however, was that, while he was looking for a few specific cuts of meat, farmers weren’t interested in selling parts of cows. They wanted to sell the whole thing. “For a while,” he says, “I thought I was going to have to open a butcher shop, too.” That’s when he found Farmhand Foods, a local company whose sole purpose is to connect farmers with restaurants and retailers interested in using pasture-raised beef. It was win-win. Gross jokingly suggests that he’s probably keeping Farmhand Foods open single-handedly. “At times, I’ve gone through over a thousand pounds of beef in a week.”
And finally, there’s the beer. Gross notes that his tenure at Goose Island taught him authenticity. “It was a time in the early ’90s when that’s what people were trying to do: brewing authentic English-style ales. And we did it well. At that time at Goose Island, we were brewing 40 new styles of beer every year, which at that time was unheard of.”
He brings that same authenticity to Bull City’s beers. They are classic examples of English-style ales, whether milds, bitters, porters, stouts, ESBs, or IPAs. He and brewer Luke Studer work meticulously to have the highest-quality beer available to match their food. “Luke came to me before I had even announced that I was opening a brewery,” Gross says.
Studer, a graduate of Vermont’s American Brewing Guild, had been working at nearby Triangle Brewing Company when he heard rumors of Gross’s plan and approached him about the possibility of working there. “Triangle was wonderful, but I always wanted to work in a brewpub,” he says.
Gross found Studer to be an excellent match. “He has been fantastic, hardworking, and reliable, and we have an understanding that we won’t make any bad beer.”
That doesn’t mean they don’t play outside the boundaries of style a bit, though. Much like Goose Island, Bull City has been known to throw a bit of food into its beer for good effect. For example, its Hibiscus/Cayenne Scottish Ale tastes so much like you’ve put a fresh cayenne pepper into your mouth that it comes with a warning from the bartender.
The future is bright for BCBB, but Gross doesn’t want to talk about plans too soon. “We’re still in our first year,” he says, “and I want to make sure we have a solid base under us before we look at any sort of expansion or other future plans. Who knows what will happen?”
Bull City’s Luke Studer
The bar at Bull City Burger and Brewery
Rick Tufts and Andy Miller of Triangle Brewing Company
