Inside Triple C’s new barrel room

It’s clad with a brushed aluminum plate, carrying a simple message: Triple C Barrel Room.

Step through the doorway, bypassing the Uptown-facing 800-square-foot patio area in favor of the cavernous 4,400-square-foot main room. Rows of barrel heads hang on the wall, 52 of them in total, all leftovers from the brewery’s barrel-aged beer program.

Visitors can run their hands over the weathered wood, some bearing stencils of their former distillery homes.

Despite the room’s size, my ears aren’t inundated by a deafening echo. Chris Harker, the brewery’s owner, jokes about the soundproofing being worth every penny. I’m inclined to agree.

The entire space is an impressive 10,000 square feet.

While the lion’s share belongs to the event space, there’s room for an on-site brewery and enough kitchen space to make a caterer swoon, but I’m getting slightly ahead of myself.

You’ll find the bar in the far corner. Twenty taps have something to quench your thirst (16 pour beer, two for wine, two more are nitro lines).

Antique heart pine serves as the bar top, repurposed from a former home in a Gastonia mill. Similarlyrecovered pallet wood serves as wall dressing.

Even with light shining full-strength through the windows (blinds have been ordered, but aren’t yet installed), a pair of projectors effortlessly light up 119” screens.

If a booked event needs a stage, they’ll have a 16-by-20 modular unit.

A seven-barrel brewing system, currently en route, will prominently feature behind a glassed wall. (“We’re really excited about the flexibility the new brewhouse will bring,” says Harker.) It’ll feed a pair of 7-barrel fermenters and a 7-barrel brite tank. The brewery’s bottling line will be brought over from across the street along with a 30-barrel brite tank.

As a result, expect to see more out of Triple C’s barrel-aging program; they’re looking to take full advantage of the climate-controlled brewhouse area as barrel storage. Similar expansions to their wild ale program are in the works; expect eventual wooden foeders (say ‘foo-ders’) to join the line-up.

A soft opening event is in the works for local event and wedding planners. As of this writing, the space is 90% complete, with the finishing touches set to fall into place post-haste. Rental pricing information should similarly be finalized soon, with half-day and hourly options. There’s already a wedding on the books for August, and the space hasn’t even opened yet.

Also, great news for attendees of the Thursday yoga sessions: say hello to your new climate-controlled exercise space, and goodbye to the temperature fluctuations of the brewery’s production area.

Compared to the Triple C taproom this is a significant step up size-wise; compare these 4,400 square feet to those 2,500. Mid-December saw construction begin in earnest, but the end is in sight. A grand-opening date is still TBD besides a vague promise of “April.”

These days, breweries breaking into the event-hosting game is becoming less newsworthy, but this Barrel Room is certainly a new high-water-mark for the movement.

Cover image courtesy of Justin Engel