
The Boylan Bridge Brewpub opened its doors and taps at 3pm on Friday to a packed house and line out the door.
As the past few years have ticked away, we here at New Raleigh have followed closely the progress of the most hyped bar in Downtown Raleigh, the Boylan Bridge Brewpub. From the initial days when the wooden nickels were handed out and Andrew Leager stated his intentions to turn upstairs into a brewpub, to the time when they had to change their name from Sidetrack, and now on the day of opening, BBB has brought everyone together in the name of beer and a beautiful view of the city.
The occupancy sign stated no more than 90 and including the long line, I counted almost that exact number inside. This didn’t include the 50 or so folks that were on the patio around 4:30pm, just an hour after opening. As the evening grew longer and the rain held off, both the interior and patio of the Brewpub continued to fill up. Everyone had smiles on their faces and all I could hear were love for the beer and love for the city in the background.

The pub was packed for hours and already at about 5pm, the bar ran out of glasses to serve the beers in and moved to plastic cups and wine glasses. Everyone in downtown wanted a taste of the long anticipated beer. I tried each of the beers and they all quite fabulous.
Andrew Leager and staff were very friendly throughout the evening. Leager and son Travis toured the tables inside and out, finding pleasure and conversation throughout. Councilman Thomas Crowder was in attendance, as were a handful of other notable designers, artists, writers and other common faces from the downtown world. Although it has taken over three years, on this beautiful Friday evening, Boylan Bridge Brewpub was the place to be in downtown Raleigh and I foresee many more in the future. It was well worth the wait.
Is there another bar we can hype for a year or more? Foundation will be open before we know it, so that’s not an option. I’m sure we’ll think of something. Stay tuned.



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