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Brewmaster Mike Potter started as a beer lover and now runs his own brewery
On the surface, Mike Potter’s journey to becoming a brewery owner would appear to have trod a familiar path — a beer lover starts homebrewing, and what was a hobby grows into a full-blown obsession followed by a business plan, equipment purchasing, and bam. North Carolina has another craft brewery.
Dig a bit deeper, however, and it quickly turns out that Proximity Brewing Company (491 S. Driver Street), Potter’s new operation in East Durham, is more than just the natural progression of a love of beer. For Potter, Proximity is a vehicle to promote Black-owned beverage companies and encourage and uplift Black folks who work in the overwhelmingly white industry. Proximity has a mission, and Potter sticks to that mission with laser focus.
“It was an instant love affair,” Potter said about catching the beer bug in 2010. A branding and marketing professional, Potter quickly realized he could put his talents to use helping promote Black producers and connecting them with Black beer consumers. He created the online platform Black Brew Culture and began to share the work of Black brewers, distillers, and winemakers with the world. Along the way, he also founded the Blacktoberfest Beer Festival, an annual celebration of Black-made beers and Black-owned breweries.
His attempts at homebrewing showed him how difficult the actual brewing process can be, so Potter began to leverage his contacts in the beer industry to not only learn more about beer making, but also to create some one-off collaboration brews with breweries like Dirtbag Ales in Hope Mills, North Carolina, and Brew & Feed in Morrisville, North Carolina.
The next logical step was to open his own brewery, and Potter (who lives in Clayton, North Carolina) knew from the start he wanted to be in Durham. When he stumbled across Garland Mill in East Durham, with the opportunity to be an anchor in a revitalized development filled with Black-owned businesses, he knew that was the space for him.
“I saw the vision immediately,” he said, “I’ve seen many neighborhoods across the country that have begun this gentrification transformation, and it’s not often that you see Black people on the ground level getting the opportunity to actually be the [anchor] businesses. For me, that was like a no-brainer. It’s like the stars aligned for the timing of this project.”
“This was the best possible scenario to put my money where my mouth is,” Potter added.
In opening Proximity Brewing Company in the Garland Mill space, Potter joins Mike D’s Barbecue and Congress Bar in creating a Black-owned food and beverage destination, the likes of which don’t really exist in many places. Potter is also part of the renaissance of Black-owned businesses in Durham, with the recent downtown openings of Missy Lane’s Assembly Room and Glori Cocktail Bar and the imminent re-opening of Zweli’s in Brightleaf Square.
Stepping into the Proximity Space, customers are greeted with sleek black walls and a long black bar to one side, small tables on the other side, and a living room of sorts in the back. There are 14 taps for beer; right now, they are all guest taps as Proximity’s brewing operations get set up. Potter estimates that about 80% of the beer, wine, and liquor he serves are Black brands, like Old Hillside Bourbon, a Durham-based spirits brand.
Once Proximity reaches full brewing capabilities, its beers will take 12 of those taps, with two always reserved for guest brews. Potter’s vision for Proximity’s beers lies in accessibility and variety. He plans to lean hard into lagers, pilsners, and a few easy-going IPAs. He also has some barrels on order from Old Hillside for some special-release barrel-aged ales.
Going forward, Proximity will continue to exist as the physical extension of Black Brew Culture, the project Potter started all those years ago. It’s as much a cultural and community space as it is a brewery. Blacktoberfest will return this fall on October 5, with plans to shut down the whole block for a party celebrating Black beer, food, and more. And throughout the year, Potter envisions neighbors and visitors stopping in for a pint or enjoying some beer alongside a plate of Mike D’s barbecue on the patio the businesses at Garland Mill share.
“As corny as it sounds, I’m living a dream,” Potter laughed.