Ready to flow: Eno River Brewing set for much

It’s here, finally. The glass is under the tap, hand on the handle. This weekend, locally brewed beer will at long last fill those containers with what folks have been waiting for since rumors about Eno River Brewing first started bubbling up. Even so, even now, Jason Crowe, one of the partners making it a reality, is nervous.

“I think it’s just good anticipation,” he said, sitting in one of the fire-engine red Adirondack chairs in the brewery’s outdoor seating area that overlooks a stretch of the Riverwalk. “Nervousness might not be the best word for it. You’ve spent two and a half years dreaming about building this place and it’s finally done. And you’re about to have customers walk through the doors. There’s a nervousness or anticipation or however you want to describe it. A pit in your stomach.”

More than two years ago, when the plan first began taking shape, the idea for a new brewery in Hillsborough was easier for the owners to talk about. The excitement was less about when, and more about the fact that it actually could happen, even in the unlikeliest of places, the former headquarters of a stormwater drainage solutions and repair company.

As the old NC Drainage building began to undergo visible changes, public excitement grew, and inquiries about when Eno River Brewing would open became more frequent. As the site began to look less like a parking lot for earth-moving machines, and more like a place you would spend an evening with family and friends, people started asking about when they could hold events there, and what the brew menu will look like.

The pandemic, and all the commercial business delays it spawned, kept the brewery’s opening moving backward. Even as it unveiled logos and social media presence, the partners behind Eno River Brewing were unable to, with certainty, nail down its opening date.

Until now. Aug 10, the doors at Eno River Brewing will officially be open for business.

“It’s actually happening,” Crowe said. “That moving target has moved a lot. It’s finally quit swinging.”

The owners of Eno River Brewing have managed to pull off a destination that immediately says, “Hey, look what’s in our back yard,” with a 1,700-square-foot outdoor seating area that faces a long lawn reaching out to the tree-lined Riverwalk. And while it has established its relationship with nature, the architecture and design of the brewery pays homage to its other neighbor, the Eno Mill.

Exposed steel beams hover above the red metal tables on the patio. Inside, the duct work is exposed and Edison bulbs hang from the towering ceiling, providing much of the light over long, thick wood tables. There are large garage-style doors that will roll up on warm days to bring even more of the outside, in. A bright, white bar provides seating for eight patrons, who can watch Brewmaster Alex Leonard do his thing, through a wall of windows behind the bar.

“Alex has made some fantastic beers,” Crowe said. “He’s worked his butt off. He’s been up here every single day since middle of May. He’s brewed 11 beers at this point.”

Crowe added that the brewery has space for two food trucks, and that the owners plan to work with local restaurants for food options, including a new food truck venture called Rad, from Mick and Kate Carroll, the owners of Radius Pizza in downtown Hillsborough. Eno River Brewing is also planning to do business with Lil Brew Bird, a mobile beer dispenser created by Patrick Harrell.

“The ownership group is a big proponent for trying to stay local and be local,” Crowe said. “We’ve tried to include as many folks as we can.”

Crowe said he expects one member of the ownership team will be at the brewery during hours of operation. Depending on the day, they plan to have up to three additional people on staff. Crowe added that the brewery has had great interest for job openings and is at full-staff.

“I think once we open and the product is in the tanks, we’re gonna have some flexibility and be able to join with groups like the Hillsborough Run Club and the folks around town who are anxious to have us here that we haven’t necessarily been able to commit to because we didn’t know the timing,” he said. “I think it opens the doors up and the windows up to a bunch of great connections throughout the town and region.”

Eno River Brewing is at 329 Eno Mountain Road in Hillsborough. It's website is https://www.enoriverbrewing.com/

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