CHARLOTTE, N.C. (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE)- A new kind of brewery has landed in the Queen City and it doesn’t feature beer.
“It’s one of those things where your dreams are actually coming true,” Kristin Cagney said with a big smile on her face.
This week, Cagney opens the doors to Summit Seltzery. It’s the first of its kind business along the East Coast. The idea came to Cagney a couple of years ago and getting to this point has been a labor of love.
“I was getting my MBA at UNC Charlotte and working in breweries. This is my happy place. I was in corporate finance and hated it. I love the feeling of a brewery and saw everyone drinking seltzers and I was like what if we combined the two,” Cagney explained.
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Lenders and banks rejected Cagney for loans mostly because they did not understand what kind of business she wanted to start.
The popularity of seltzers over the last couple of years has soared.
Finally, Cagney secured the money she needed to get the business started. She signed for the loan in March of 2020 around the same time the pandemic shut everything down.
“We had gotten so far there wasn’t anything that was going to stop us,” Cagney said.
A self-described optimist, Cagney saw the extra time as an opportunity to perfect their craft and deal with months of unexpected construction delays due to the pandemic.
“I think seltzers will be around for a long time. This isn’t a fad,” Cagney said.
For the first couple of weekends to limit crowd sizes and comply with Covid-19 regulations the business will only be taking reservations on the weekends. Guests can walk in Sunday through Thursday.
You can make a reservation for their grand opening here.
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