Diversions: What experience do you have with your company, and the World Beer Festival as well?
Lauren Macaione: I’ve been with the company since May of 2008. I started at the company when I was still in school at Carolina, working as a bartender, a server, and then as a manager of the Franklin Street location. Now I’m the sales manager for the company, selling our beer to other bars and restaurants. I’ve been doing festivals for the past few years, and I did a festival in Raleigh in the spring. This will be my first time at the Durham festival.
Dive: How did the brewery’s creation come about?
LM: Robert Poipras founded the Carolina Brewery in February of 1995. He was in school at Carolina, writing his honors thesis, when he suddenly decided to change course and write up a business plan for the brewery. He and his original partner, Chris Rice, then met and found investors to start the company.
Dive: What influenced this change of course?
LM: Before Robert first started the brand he had traveled to Europe for school, and he had traveled to the West Coast for surfing. I think it was the flavors and microbreweries he found there, as the West Coast was where American microbreweries first started in the ’90s, which made him want to start something like that in Carolina.
Dive: What is unique about your brewery?
LM: Carolina Brewery does a lot of true-to-style beers, as we’ve been around for a long time and we’re one of the oldest breweries in the state. A lot of breweries will branch out to different types of beers such as flavored ones and double IPAs. We’ve continuously stayed true to style, though we’ll occasionally do a one-off series, such as our Black IPA, to mix it up.
Dive: What are your thoughts on the upcoming festival?
LM: We’re really excited about it. We do a lot of beer festivals, but the World Beer Fest is close to home. It’s a good opportunity for us to reach people close to us, and for customers to discover what they like as well. This festival is going to have more of an educational purpose, and the consumers will have a lot of resources available to teach them about craft beer as an industry and as a gourmet item. Plus, the brewers come out to the World Beer Festival pouring the beers themselves, and it’s a good opportunity to grow the brand directly with people.
Dive: What are some of your future plans for your products?
LM: As far as future plans for the products, we’re continuing our distribution expansion, from North Carolina to places in South Carolina as well. We’re looking to expand because the craft beer industry is growing at a rate of around 12 percent, which is incredible considering the context of the recession.
For more information visit the Carolina Brewery online.
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