Oh, February, arguably the most hated month of them all. It’s winter…still. New Years resolutions are crumbling. Valentine’s Day is somewhere between mildly annoying and full-blown stressful, depending on your situation. People say that the best thing about it is that it’s over sooner. Well we thought we’d reclaim poor February and make it the Month of Awesome. Remember when we made 2010 the Year of Awesome? This is like that, but with February.

So what are we going to do?

First, we’re expanding our hours starting February 1st.

Second, we’re revitalizing regular events like Drinks With Fullsteam and Celebrity Trivia (oh yes, stay tuned).

Third, we’re kicking off some brand new monthly fun stuff. Belly Dancing! Drag Bingo!

Did someone say Mardi Gras?

We told February about our plan and it was so excited that it’s giving us an extra day. That’s 29 days of awesome. Wow, February, you never looked so good. Did you do something with your hair? You said you’re just feeling awesome? Awesome! Glad we could help. More Month of Awesome updates are on the way.

It’s been a busy December here at Fullsteam: a beer dinner, two craft markets, a First Frost launch, a strange and wonderful variety show. And we’re just a little over halfway through the month.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s ride the wayback machine…all the way back to Movember.

Last month, along with men and women around the world, we grew mustaches to support men’s health research and education. We posed, you voted with your donations, and the Fullsteam team raised over $650 for the cause. In total, our team, Team RDU (of which we were a very small part), raised nearly $20,000.

But let’s get real. In life, there are mustaches that play the game and there are mustaches that change it. Here are the winners of Fullsteam’s mustache contest, starting with third place:

Bronze: Sean Lilly Wilson

Silver: Chris Pope

And, the Movember winner, in a stunning gender upset:

Gold: Alice Powell

Congratulations, Alice! Thanks to everyone who voted. We’re already scheming up our ‘staches for next year. And, on that note, onward toward 2012!

On-tap at Fullsteam:

Worker’s Compensation session beers ($2/$4)

• El Toro cream ale
• Carver sweet potato lager
• Working Man’s Lunch

Apothecary / Forager

• 2011 First Frost winter persimmon ale (9.1% ABV, $5 a half-pint)
• 2010 First Frost winter persimmon ale (8.8% ABV, $6 a half-pint)
• IGOR bourbon barrel aged Imperial Stout (8.1%, $5 a half-pint)
• Paw Paw Belgian strong ale (8.8%, $4 a half-pint)

NC Guest Taps, too! Depending on when you visit, we may have on-tap:

• Highland Kashmir IPA (Asheville)
• Foothills Torch Pils (Winston-Salem)
• Triangle Golden (Durham)
• Carolina Brewery Santa’s Secret (Pittsboro)
• Natty Greene’s Red Nose Winter Ale (Greensboro)
• Natty Greene’s Amber (Greensboro)
• Big Boss Aces & Ates (Raleigh)

Food trucks

• Klausie’s Pizza (5pm until late)
• OnlyBurger (6:30pm to 9pm)
• KoKyu (at Motorco until late)
• PiePushers (at Motorco until late)

see the entire 1907 magazine online

A hearty welcome to those of you visiting Durham for the World Beer Festival! Please come see us at our tavern, at the festival itself, or around town this weekend.

It truly is a great weekend for craft beer enthusiasts. The content-a-plenty NC Brewing has a nice write-up of the area’s World Beer Festival activities (including a summary of all the NC beers at the festival and an amazing pre-party at Sam’s Quik Shop).

Here’s what Fullsteam has going on, starting today:

FRIDAY at FULLSTEAM R&D!

• El Toro cream ale on CASK with North Carolina blueberries
• 2010 First Frost winter persimmon ale 
• Also El Toro cream ale, Rocket Science IPA, and Working Man’s Lunch
• El Tango shandies and draft Abita root beer
• NC guest taps, as always!

We look forward to seeing you this weekend…at Fullsteam, at the World Beer Festival, and around town!

(There’s so much great stuff going on that we also sent this blog post as a email newsletter update. If you no longer wish to get Fullsteam news via email, you can unsubscribe below. We send email updates no more than twice a month. Cheers!)

Saturday! Saturday! Saturday! We are proud to feature…nothing!

We received feedback from our patrons that they wanted a place to hang out, gather, and to hear one another. With all that’s going on in and around Durham on Saturdays, we thought our space would be best used as a community center and social gathering hub.

So hit Fullsteam before, after, or (if you want) instead of the many dining and entertainment options the Bull City has to offer. Yes, we’ll have special event days where we pause the Saturday Social. But in general, expect great beer, awesome food trucks, ping pong and pinball, and good conversation at Fullsteam on Saturdays.

Meet your friends; make new ones. Join us for the Saturday Social!

THE OCTOBER 15th SATURDAY SOCIAL

On-tap at Fullsteam:

• El Toro Cream Ale
• Rocket Science IPA
• Working Man’s Lunch, our MoonPie-inspired beer brewed with Escazu chocolate

Also…

• “El Tango” — El Toro and fresh-squeezed lemonade ($3.50)
• Abita draft root beer

Coming soon…

• Paw Paw Belgian Golden Ale
• IGOR (Halloween weekend)
• the return of Carver sweet potato lager

NC Guest Taps

• Carolina Brewery Flagship IPA (Pittsboro)
• French Broad Wee Heavier (Asheville)
• Natty Greene’s Old Town Brown (Greensboro)
• Triangle White Ale (Durham)
• Green Man ESB (Asheville)
• Foothills Torch Pilsner (Winston-Salem)

Confirmed food trucks

• Pie Pushers (at Motorco from 6:00 to ???)
• KoKyu (at Motorco from 5:00 to ???)