Bold Missy Brewing coming soon to North Davidson with beer honoring history’s strong women

In the back, a row of stainless steel fermenters is getting connected to a cooling system to allow for controlled fermentation. Just a few more weeks, hopes brewery owner Carol Waggener, and these will all be full of fresh beer.

Bold Missy Brewery (610 Anderson Street) will be a short walk from the future Sugar Creek Lynx station, and one of seven breweries falling along a two-mile stretch of the North Davidson corridor (upcoming Divine Barrel Brewing sits just across the street).

Waggener spent 10 years with mega-brewer Anheuser-Busch before being “restructured out” in the 2009 merger with InBev. Years later, an “epiphany” while sitting at Triple C inspired a return to her passion for beer.

Taking a 3-week course at the Siebel Institute in Chicago solidified her brewery-ownership dream, but really “scratched the surface of the knowledge I needed to have,” she said. So it was followed by a 26-week online course through Portland State on the business of craft beer.

Rounding out the Bold Missy Brewery team are brewer Dan Baker (formerly from Sweetwater and Deschutes) and niece Lybbi Roth (handling all things social media).

So what’s on tap for Bold Missy? According to Waggener, the focus will be on “well-loved styles of beer” with names of the four flagships paying homage to history’s famous “Bold Missys.”

• Solo Flight American Brown ale, named after Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic
• Find a Way Wheat, named after Diana Nyad, the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage
• Get Your Gun Golden, named after Annie Oakley, the American sharpshooter and performer known as “little sure-shot”
• Rocket Ride IPA, named for Sally Ride, the first American female in space

In addition to these core four, expect two seasonals, “whatever Dan’s special creation is on the pilot system,” and two dedicated tap lines pouring wine.

“We want to create a really fun non-intimidating atmosphere,” explains Waggener, “so people who are sort-of interested in craft beer but not really sure about it can have an offering, something they can taste and really enjoy, and grow to love craft beer.

“We’ll also have enough offerings for the craft beer crowd that they’ll be excited to see what we have on tap as well.”

The taproom will have a mid-century modern feel, complete with the obligatory wall of glass to show off the stainless steel of the 15-barrel brewhouse. A particularly interesting touch in the under-development taproom are lights salvaged from a church in New Orleans.

“We come to (the Charlotte craft beer scene) with a different perspective because we are a predominantly female owned brewery,” says Waggener.

Currently, women are in the minority of craft beer drinkers, but their market share is swiftly growing. Millennial women alone consume 15% of total craft beer volume, according to the Brewers Association, and drink craft beer more regularly than the national average.

“This is a great fit for me,” says Waggener about her return to beer, “and something I really want to do. I’m really excited about getting back in the beer business.”