Greenshields Brewery & Pub

closed - delete

Gary Greenshields is one of the South’s true brewing pioneers. He labored for years in the mega-beer and soft drink industries, only to grow weary of the corporate world. Frustrated and jobless, he and wife Martha decided to take matters into their own hands. By March 1988, the cherubic entrepreneur had a business plan and backing from several banks. Eight months later, Gary signed the lease on a historic 1914 farmers market building in downtown Raleigh.

Eight more trying months, with renovation and legal work behind them, they fired up the Greenshields Brewing Company brew kettle for the very first time, establishing, in July 1989, only the state’s second brewpub. That places Greenshields among the first 50 craft brewers in America. The original brewhouse was of English design. It was replaced in 1994 with a fully computerized 20 barrel German-designed brewhouse, eight 40 barrel fermenters and six 27 barrel serving tanks. Greenshields annual production hovers around 1,500 barrels.

That output had much more significance back in 1992, when Gary was instrumental in convincing the state legislature, which meets just a few blocks away from his city-wise brewpub, to amend state brewpub law. At his urging, North Carolina brewpubs are now allowed to produce up to 10,000 barrels annually, five times what the statute initially provided.