Club West opens: What's actually different?
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo: Provided by Club West
Club West Brewing, the rebranded version of the embattled Sycamore, reopened Saturday in South End with much of the original staff, familiar-tasting beer and the same long bar lines.
Why it matters: New owner Brad Bergman says his strategy to regain trust after the scandal that shuttered Sycamore earlier this year is to produce the "same level of quality products" with continuity on the staff.
- "None of those people had anything to do with what happened," he tells me on a call on Monday.
Catch up quick: Once one of Charlotte's most crowded patios, Sycamore cleared out virtually overnight in December as customers protested co-founder Justin Brigham following his arrest for statutory rape of a child. The brewery closed in January.
- During the closure, Sycamore's co-owner, Sarah Taylor, who has initiated formal divorce proceedings from Justin, agreed to sell the brewery to Bergman, the company's director of brewery operations.
- They're keeping the deal's details confidential but say Bergman will acquire full ownership, pending regulatory approval.
What they're saying: "Our focus is on our actual customers, of which we feel there are still many in support," Bergman says. "We'll never be able to control the people in the comments sections, keyboard warriors, etc. Most people are reasonable and hopefully understand what's going on."
Between the lines: Bergman says the team started planning the rebrand in January.
- Experts have suggested a rebrand would be challenging, given the nature of the scandal and the challenges facing the craft beer industry.
- But the centrally located South End taproom was slammed over St. Patrick's Day weekend, when it opened on a 70-degree day.
- "Our expectations were tempered, but we wanted to stay prepared," Bergman tells me. "Couldn't be happier with how the day turned out."
What to expect: Club West has fresh decor, a revamped food menu, and a bourbon bar instead of coffee. The beer, Bergman says, is a mix of old recipes and new ones. The Club West IPA, for example, is a modified recipe of Sycamore's flagship Mountain Candy.
- "We want to recognize the contributions of the team and the stability of the team," he says. "Those recipes were born of years of hard work and dedication."
- The new name, Club West, is a nod to "new frontiers."
- The brewery painted furniture, keeping some of the staff working during the closure. Bergman says the company retained 69 employees and has regrown headcount to 84.
- The brewery also decided to turn the second-floor Airstream trailer into a bar to ease pressure on the upstairs bars, signaling their confidence in the reopening.
- An Asheville native, Bergman says he wants the brewery to be more involved in philanthropy, especially environmental conservation, such as staff participating in waterway clean-ups.
- "Our actions are going to resonate more than anything that we can put on social media or a website," he says.
What's next: Bergman aims to have beers back on grocery shelves and in bottleshop fridges in the next couple of weeks. Stores pulled the product in the weeks after Brigham's arrest, sending sales plummeting.
- But Bergman says their distribution and retail partners were pleased to see the turnout this weekend, and that was a first step toward regaining distribution business.
