South End brewery owner inspired by Ebenezer Scrooge, leaves career in emergency med
Tabu Terrell says he learned from the lessons of Ebenezer Scrooge.
This former emergency room doctor, 42, saw that job demands began to put pressure on his health and kept him away from his family. That was compounded by the fact that his wife, Jennifer, is also an emergency-room physician.
Together, they formulated a way to fast-forward their one-day retirement plans to open a brewery now, making it Tabu’s new career path.
"It was time, I think," he says. "When you start to get burnt out, you’re not the doctor that you want to be. The post-retirement plan got moved up to a career change."
He plans to open South End’s newest brewery — appropriately called Three Spirits Brewery — by late September.
The fictional Scrooge serves as the brewery’s mascot.
“It was kind of a little reminder of why I quit” working as a doctor, he says.
Construction on the12,000-square-foot space at 5046 Old Pineville Road started in late March. The brewery is a five-minute walk from the Woodlawn stop on the light-rail line.
It took three years to find the space, as well as to find a landlord that was willing to lease to a startup, Tabu says. There’s also room to expand in the future.
Terrell started brewing beer at home in 1999, when he was a medical student in Indiana. Facing long, cold winters there, he was advised to find a hobby to fill his time.
His first batch of beer took about seven hours to make — and was not a success. But he stuck with it.
As plans for Three Spirits ramped up, he took classes at the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago and visited breweries across the country to gain additional insight from those in the beer industry.
He plans to have six beers on tap, including amber and golden ales, an IPA and honey porter. A seasonal lager will also be on tap.
Terrell has perfected nine recipes, including an amber lager called Red Moon Rising and Southern Bliss, a light golden ale with apricot.
His style of beers are what he likes to drink – he’s a fan of lagers — and maybe a little less adventurous then some of his counterparts in the industry.
“I like to say they’re comfort beers,” he says.
Plans call for a 10-barrel brewhouse, with windows from the taproom that provide a peek into operations. Terrell anticipates the brewery will produce up to 1,000 barrels within the first 12 months of operation.
There also will be a stage for live music and nooks, which Terrell calls “curmudgeon corners,” where patrons can have a beer without being in the heart of the taproom. He also plans to add video games into one of those nooks.
The goal is to give the space a cozy feel, similar to an old English pub. That means dark woods, comfortable chairs and leather seats.
Gais is the general contractor for the project. Studio Fusion is the designer.
http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2015/07/27/south-end-brewery-owner-inspired-by-ebenezer.html?ana=lnk
