Steel String Brewery is not your average bar, employee Isabella House said.
“It's weirdly cozy for a place where you would think people come to get drunk,” she said.
The brewery is a social hub for Carrboro creatives to hang out and work on arts projects nearly every day of the week.
In the taproom’s corner stands a red-curtained stage and microphone, awaiting local performers during Monday’s Open Mic Night. Potted plants and stringed lights decorate the brick walls of the quaint venue. On Wednesdays, colorful signs mark several picnic-style tables for Stitch N’ Bitch, an evening of crafting that House spearheaded.
The brewery began hosting the free event about two years ago following the COVID-19 pandemic’s boom of what she described as “grandma activities,” like knitting, sewing, baking and gardening.
“My grandmother had given me a bunch of knitting supplies and I had learned how to knit over COVID, and it was just something that stuck,” House said.
Following a period of isolation, she said Stitch N’ Bitch is a way for people to get creative together with either one of Steel String’s beers in hand, or non-alcoholic options like kombucha, soda or seltzer water. She said it started as a monthly event before flourishing into a weekly one, and people immediately started to fall in love with it.
“To just drink and chat and hang in a place you wouldn't really think about doing that,” she said. “And also, I had customers already who were knitting here, even without me introducing the event itself. So it was kind of just natural for it to happen here.”
Now that it is a regular event, Emmy Andréasson, the brewery’s taproom and events manager, said that people bring sewing machines, looms, Legos or any creative project they have been working on at home. For a more casual evening of craft making, Steel String also provides supplies like fabric, thread, markers, colored pencils and coloring books. House said that the event is extremely communal, and she encourages sitting with people you may not know and exchange ideas — a show-and-tell, for example.