There goes the neighborhood

This story was originally published by Fingers, an independent newsletter about drinking in America. Readers of The Food Section can score a discounted subscription to Fingers here. 

It wasn’t the birds that finally drove Fullsteam Brewery out of its longtime location in Durham, North Carolina’s Central Park neighborhood earlier this year. Sean Lilly Wilson had more or less made peace with those unwelcome visitors to his award-winning taproom, who flitted in and out through holes in the warehouse’s eaves. But as Fullsteam neared the conclusion of its lease term after nearly 16 years on Rigsby Avenue, and its “chief executive optimist” got a look at what the building’s landlord aimed to charge for the space, he decided to take flight himself.