1249-A Wicker Drive
Raleigh, NC 27604
919-834-0045
E-mail: info@bigbossbrewing.com
Website: http://bigbossbrewing.com
Hours: Monday–Tuesday, 5 P.M.– midnight; Wednesday, 5 P.M.– 2A.M.; Thursday, 4 P.M.–2 A.M.; Friday, 2 P.M.–2 A.M.; Saturday, 3 P.M–2 A.M.
Tours: Second Saturday of each month at 2 P.M.
Owner: Geoff Lamb
Brewmaster: Brad Wynn
Opened: 2007
Regular beer lineup: Hell’s Belle, Bad Penny, Angry Angel, Blanco Diablo, High Roller
Seasonals: Big Operator, Dicer, Monkey Bizz-ness, Sack Time, Harvest Time, Aces & Ates
The building Big Boss Brewing Company occupies has been a brewery for much longer than Big Boss has been around. In 1996, Tomcat Brewing opened its doors at 1247 Wicker Drive in Raleigh. A year later, Tomcat closed and was replaced by Pale Ale Brewery, which lasted just two years before being taken over by a brewery out of Pennsylvania, Rock Creek Brewing. With Rock Creek came brewer Brad Wynn. Rock Creek lasted only a couple of years before being bought by Chesapeake Bay Brewing.
The bottling line at Big Boss Brewing Company
When Chesapeake Bay closed in 2003, Wynn was ready with business partner Brian Baker. They bought the old brewery and turned it into Edenton Brewery. Edenton stuck around years longer than its predecessors before Geoff Lamb, a UNC–Chapel Hill grad with a background in corporate law, bought a majority stake in the business in 2007. Lamb and Wynn renamed the brewery once more to reduce the confusion of having it honor a city it didn’t reside in. The new name was Big Boss, after one of Edenton’s most popular beers. The brewery was also rebranded, using a design aesthetic reflecting Lamb’s affinity for World War II aircraft.
Wynn started brewing new beers, as well as old favorites under new names, and Big Boss Brewing Company took off. Within the next few years, it expanded its distribution. Its bottles are now available almost statewide, from Asheville and the mountains through Charlotte and, of course, the Triangle.
The brewery is definitely a large manufacturing environment. On Big Boss’s monthly tours, patrons enter through the loading dock. The warehouse spills open in front of them, the brewhouse stands tall on the right-hand side, and the fermentation and bottling operations are nestled into rooms along the back wall. One of the highlights of the space is the attached taproom, which resides upstairs from the brewery and is reachable via an interior staircase as well as an exterior entrance. The taproom is dark and homey. Its wooden booths bear the patina of years of use. Across from the small seating area stands a short bar featuring Big Boss’s regular beers, as well as some experimental brews that don’t see regular distribution. Other small rooms hold a pool table, a Ping-Pong table, and darts. It is a popular hangout for many locals.
Big Boss has become synonymous with fun outdoor events in Raleigh. Among its regular events are Food Truck Rodeos, during which a vast array of roaming food trucks arrive while Big Boss pours beer, and Casktoberfest, an English-style celebration of a German festival. In 2011, Big Boss hosted the Pan-American Coaster Tossing Championships, a competition in which people compete to see who can throw cardboard coasters the farthest.
Spent grain is taken away from the mash tun at Big Boss Brewing Company.
Patrons wait for a tour to begin at Carolina Brewing Company.
