After Dan: A Dark Time For Charlotte Brewing Brought An Outpouring of Light – Charlotte Magazine

Josh Patton still can’t bring himself to discuss the accident. He can’t talk about what it’s like to go to work at Wooden Robot Brewery and know that Dan Wade, his childhood friend and partner in brewing and business, won’t be there and never will again. To the extent that Patton allows himself any solace, it’s in the work—Wooden Robot remains a cornerstone of Charlotte’s independent brewery scene—and the support he and his staff have received from their peers in town.

When Wooden Robot closed both of its locations—the original in South End and “The Chamber” in NoDa—for a week, other breweries’ employees donated money and work shifts. Amanda McLamb of Resident Culture Brewing Co. and Rachael Hudson of Pilot Brewing Co. set up a GoFundMe that, as of late March, had raised more than $65,000 to benefit Wooden Robot’s 44 employees. McLamb and Hudson also helped register the Wooden Robot team for a year of employee benefits, including counseling sessions, through the North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild, says brewery spokesperson Jacki Keating.

The community made similar efforts to help Wade’s widow, Samantha, and son, David, born on New Year’s Day. Even nonbrewers pitched in: Hoppin’ Charlotte, a self-serve taproom franchise, announced soon after the accident that it would devote a portion of its profits through March to the Wade family. “I personally never met Dan or his family,” Hoppin’ founder and CEO Rich Moyer told me via email. “The reason I wanted to help … is because I know the bar/brewery community would have made the same gesture had a tragic incident happened to someone in our Hoppin’ family.”

Patton gratefully registered the immediacy and scale of the help. “I think we were surprised by everyone’s generosity and how supportive everyone was right away,” he tells me. “We feel incredibly fortunate to be part of such a strong, close community. When something tragic like this happens, obviously it’s awful for myriad reasons, but that’s been the lone bright spot in these super-dark times—just knowing that there is support within the community and the industry.”

Patton and I speak on March 20, one month to the day after the accident that killed Wade. (It involved a fall, and the brewery has declined to discuss details. As of late March, the North Carolina Department of Labor continued to investigate, said department spokesperson Erin Wilson.) The two had been friends since middle school in Fort Pierce, Florida, on the Atlantic Coast north of Fort Lauderdale. They developed an interest in brewing in high school, when they realized that beer could be more complex than Bud and “not just a means to get intoxicated, you know what I mean?” Patton says. Wade was the chemistry nerd who loved brewing for brewing’s sake. Patton was more interested in how to turn it into a profitable business. “I realized pretty early on that he was a far superior homebrewer to me,” Patton says. “I’m not ashamed to admit that at all.”

They kept in touch even though they attended different colleges—the University of Florida for Wade and Florida Atlantic University for Patton, who moved to Charlotte in 2009 for a job at Bank of America. Wade, still in Florida, would come up for visits, and the two friends would brewery-hop. Finally, Wade decided to move. They found a location in South End and opened their “urban farmhouse brewery” in summer 2015. Patton handled the business end while Wade focused on the product and representing Wooden Robot to the public. “It was kind of like a perfect partnership,” Patton says.

Patton and Wade chose the name “Wooden Robot” to reflect the artisanal-yet-innovative spirit they were after—a robot made of wood seems kind of silly, but if it works, it works, and a wooden machine is warmer and more approachable than the standard metal type, isn’t it? Later on the afternoon Patton and I speak, the brewery posts a short video on Instagram. “Today would have been Dan’s 37th birthday,” the caption reads. “We hope you raise a glass and attempt your best beer foam mustache in his honor. He would have loved it.” The silent video shows Wade, in a yellow Wooden Robot T-shirt, taking a hearty swig. He lowers the stein, lifts his blue eyes toward the camera, and flashes a broad and joyous smile.

GREG LACOUR is the editor.