R & R Brewing is celebrating five years in business by hosting an anniversary celebration on Oct. 14. As part of their anniversary, the Mount Olive based brewery will host live music courtesy of the Guy Unger Band from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., a paint splatter room, food trucks on site and the first 55 guests to order a drink will be given a free commemorative glass. 

Owner and head of “Hoperations” Ryan Roberts shared that after the past five years of surviving COVID and being able to work on expansions, the celebration is well deserved. 

“Around year five is when you're going to know if your business is valid, or if you need to reevaluate and invest in something else. So year five is one of the first major milestones. We've made it this far, so we're out of the infancy and we've proven our product and we've proven service,” shared Roberts. 

Now, with a second location in the works for downtown Clinton, the company has had to expand operations with the purchase of a 10 Barrel System, which will allow the brewery to grow from 100 gallons for each batch of brew to over 300 gallons. Roberts said that was a choice made in anticipation for the demand in their second location and demand seen in other markets. 

As part of preparation to open for lunch in Clinton, R & R Brewing is also making the decision to expand into non- alcoholic beverages. Roberts shared that a new line of sodas is currently in the works with R & R  brand root beer currently planned to be released first to officially launch the line. 

“We are starting with a root beer and we got the labels approved. So hopefully they'll be in hand next week, and that'll be canned up by the anniversary. But our first is called Parker's Pints and it's named after Parker which is our brewer’s son. It's a non-alcoholic root beer but we made that to have a draft so the option is not only for children, but for just anybody in the family who likes root beer,” shared Roberts. 

Other flavors currently in the works include cherry lemon lime and “Astro pop” named after the red, white and blue popsicles. Roberts shared though that the possibilities are endless. 

“We're trying to get into the soda market a little bit and again, have that diversity for the non alcoholic market but we're not going to do your like traditional Coke or cola. flavorings, we're going to try to think outside the box maybe like orange creamsicle or cream seller. Definitely do a ginger ale and maybe mix it with some other flavors, but we'll see what we can do.”

As of Oc. 5, renovations have already begun on the Clinton location.

You can learn more on the R & R Brewing Facebook page here.