WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT
“We love to try cooking different and new things,” Brandi says. “We saw it as the next progressive challenge in that process.” But pressing apples proved laborious, and, admittedly, they like beer better. Brandi’s first homemade brew – a Mexican hot chocolate stout with cinnamon, cocoa nibs and four kinds of dried chiles – is still her favorite. Through the years, she’s experimented with a wide range of recipes, gravitating toward stouts and India pale ales over funkier sour beers or traditional lagers. She and Derek often daydreamed about turning their pastime into a profession, so when her father expressed serious interest in becoming business partners, it felt like the stars aligned.
BRANDI MORRIS
BREWMASTER, RED MOOSE BREWING COMPANY
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BY ERIC GINSBURG
felt “a little crazy” deciding to open a brewery with her family, but after more than a decade of homebrewing with her husband, Derek “Moose” Morris, the idea was just too irresistible. “It’s something we had talked about wanting to do forever,” Brandi, 34, says. Plans coalesced quickly on a family trip to Busch Gardens in 2020. Sitting at a packed brewery near Williamsburg, Virginia, Brandi’s dad, Danny “Red” Jenkins Jr. – who recently retired from a career in law enforcement – asked her if she thought they could run a successful brewpub back home in Chatham County. That’s all the push Brandi needed. A month later, the family signed a lease to open Red Moose Brewing Company inside a former karate studio on East Street in downtown Pittsboro. randi Morris
GLASS OF INSPIRATION
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randi and Derek started brewing about 11 years ago after a trip to Asheville, a craft beer mecca. As self-proclaimed foodies, they are always up for a new culinary experience. Inspired by the likes of Wicked Weed’s Funkatorium, the couple wanted to try their hand at making hard cider. So, they stopped at a farmers market on their way home and bought five bushels of bruised apples.
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CHATHAM MAGAZINE
APRIL / MAY 2022
OPEN BAR
There’s something really satisfying having so much overwhelmingly positive feedback. That’s been a really cool thing.”
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ver Thanksgiving weekend 2021, the family welcomed the public into their industrial taproom which includes a large moose head mounted to the wall, a kid-friendly space and ample outdoor seating. The glass front entrance is within a stone’s throw of Pittsboro’s central courthouse, and the pub is quickly becoming a local favorite. Each week, they sell 600 to 800 pints – especially of their popular Morning Beer coffee porter and Above Ground Pool lager – and the one-barrel system microbrewery may be outgrowing its production capacity. “There’s something really satisfying having so much overwhelmingly positive feedback,” Brandi says. “That’s been a really cool thing.” The family’s deep local roots help draw a crowd. Like many of their relatives, Brandi and Derek both attended Pittsboro’s Northwood High School. Then they connected as friends at North