After becoming the first brewery within a Minor League Baseball facility, the Bull Durham Beer Co. is opening another location.
In covering the craft beer trend across baseball, the Durham Bulls (Class AAA; International League) relationship with Bull Durham Beer Co. is something that we have cited as a unique addition to the landscape. In opening at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, the brewery became the first to set up shop at an MiLB ballpark and it proved successful enough to expand beyond its original location.
Bull Durham Beer Co. recently announced that a year-round establishment will open this month. The Bullpen, as it has been named, will open on the ground floor of the Diamond View III building, which is located behind the ballpark.
More details are to be announced, but Bull Durham Beer Co. has offered some specifics. More from The News & Observer:
Heavenly Buffaloes, a Durham hot wing takeout stand, will provide lunch and dinner service at The Bullpen. As of now there is no word as to whether or not they will offer an expanded menu outside of wings.
Regular live music will be arranged by the Music Maker Relief Foundation, with $1 from each pint of beer sold going to support the nonprofit’s work preserving the musical traditions of the South.
“Beer, baseball, buffalo wings and the blues are part of Durham’s DNA. This new restaurant will bring together some of the most popular homegrown institutions for one dynamite restaurant where folks can have a great time for a good cause,” Capitol Broadcasting vice president of real estate Michael Goodmon said in the release. (Capitol Broadcasting developed and currently owns and operates the American Tobacco Campus.)
Over the last several seasons, numerous clubs have either introduced team-branded brews or taken a unique spin on craft beer service. One of the most recent notable examples of the latter came from the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (High A; Carolina League), who added buckets and growlers in 2016. The opening of The Bullpen, though, could certainly tempt more teams and ballparks to carve out a larger role when it comes to craft beer.
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