NoDa Brewing temporarily closing its original taproom on North Davidson, the end of an era for 26th Street

Just a couple years ago, 26th Street was brewery central on North Davidson, with Birdsong Brewing and NoDa Brewing Company right across the street from each other and beer lovers hopping back and forth between the two.

Then Birdsong moved into its new space last year. Then NoDa opened a new location on North Tryon.

And at the end of this month, NoDa Brewing will be closing its old taproom temporarily, but for a significant amount of time.

July 30 is the last day the North Davidson location will be open and it will be closed no less than a year, “unless something amazing happens,” said Suzie Ford, owner and president of NoDa Brewing.

“It’s really hard,” Ford said. “I think honestly at the end of the month I will shed a couple of tears. Even though it’s only temporary, it’s the end of one chapter. … It’s kind of bittersweet.”

Wait, doesn’t NoDa have a new location?

Yes, it does, a huge one with great outdoor space at 2921 N. Tryon St. that opened late last year. And it will still be pumping out brews like normal.

But the old location has still stayed open three days a week — Wednesday for the popular NoDa Run Club, and Friday and Saturday — and is also being used to brew “small” batch beers, plus sours and barrel-aged beers.

The North Davidson location remained popular even after the new one opened up, Ford said, especially on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

So why’s it closing?

The main reason: Parking. The lot on the other side of North Davidson that has been used as overflow parking for NoDa will be replaced with condos, Ford said, taking away the vast majority of NoDa Brewing’s parking.

Plus, any street closures in the area from construction will make it harder and less safe for people to get to the brewery, even if they’re just walking through the neighborhood.

“We feel like we’re disappointing people, but we’re really doing it temporarily for everyone’s safety,” Ford said.

Is Run Club going away, too?!?

Nope. Don’t worry.

The Run Club will move over to the North Tryon location Aug. 3 with routes to be decided.

“I don’t want people running on North Tryon,” Ford said. “That’s just an accident waiting to happen. We’re going to get creative where we take people. …

“I hope people still come out and enjoy it because the run club, it is partly about running but it’s also about fellowship and hanging with your fellow runners.”

Ford said the brewery plans to start a loyalty program for the run club, and it will give away commemorative pint glasses at the first run club at the new location.

What’s next for the North Davidson location?

It will still be used to for small batches — beers like Good Will Hopping, Czech Mate and Premium Roast Coffee Stout have already come out of that location — and the barrel-aging and sour program there will continue to develop and grow.

NoDa already has a couple of “fun” beers aging: Stop Collaborate and Glisten (a collaboration with Night Shift Brewing) is being aged in white wine barrels and a Russian Imperial Stout is being aged in bourbon barrels. Both are scheduled to be released in November.

Ford also said the old taproom will still be available for special events. She has an idea to partner with a near by bus company to host events where people start at the North Tryon location, then get bused over to the North Davidson location to learn about sours, the barrel-aging process, take tours and maybe have a beer dinner.

And Ford said the old location will reopen to the public once the parking situation gets better.

“Once we reopen it, it will be in a whole new glory,” she said.

Photos: Charlotte Observer file

This story was originally published July 12, 2016 at 12:20 AM with the headline "NoDa Brewing temporarily closing its original taproom on North Davidson, the end of an era for 26th Street."