Unlike other mixed martial arts fighters, when Cody Maltais leaves the battle in the cage, he will soon be able to drive to his own brewery in Carrboro and enjoy a pint of Rubber Room Session Ale.
At age 27, only four years out of N.C. State, Cody Maltais and two partners plan to open Steel String Brewery in March. Unlike his partners, Maltais fights on the amateur mixed martial arts circuit and hopes to turn pro in July.
And he plays a mean mandolin.
A 2007 State alum in agricultural business management, Maltais said he never thought he would find a use for his degree. But in 2009, together with friends and co-owners Will Isley and Andrew Scharfenberg, plans began forming to open a brewery of their own.
“Will and I were in a bluegrass band together all through college,” Maltais said. “He was the guitar player, and I played mandolin. We played all around the Triangle and that was our big introduction to craft beer. Because we played a weekly gig at Milltown in Carrboro, one of the things that we got in our contract for the gig was two craft beers a week.”
The experience resulted in planting an unslakable thirst for quality beer. Gone were the days in college of subjecting themselves to “national” domestics, ironically many of which are owned by out-of-country companies.
“[Initially] Andrew and Will were in North Carolina homebrewing, and I was in the Marine Corps. I would come home to visit, and every single time I came home there was always new homebrew to try,” Maltais said. “[A brewery] just seemed like a very good fit for us because we had always wanted to find a way to open our own business.”
Steel String Brewery, currently slated to open March 22, is keeping things local, possibly even keeping beer local to the brewery itself. Maltais said this would be to keep quality at its peak.
“We have complete quality control,” Maltais said. “So we know when you have our beer, it’s exactly the way we envisioned it.”
“When it came time to start naming the brewery, we were having all these brainstorming sessions. So one day I was in California, I called up Will and I was like I’ve got it, we have to call it Six String Brewery because a guitar has six strings and it shows the music [roots]. And he goes, ‘Yeah, that’s good, but all bluegrass instruments have steel strings.’ So we just called it Steel String and took it from there,” said Maltais.
But behind the pleasant and seemingly pedestrian appearance is a serious competitive MMA fighter. A former Marine, Maltais has a variety of skills in his arsenal, including a background in grappling, Muay Thai and a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
MMA, a full contact sport, lets participants use both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, utilizing styles from a variety of martial arts.
During his time at the University, Maltais and a friend began rolling out mats and training every Friday in Carmichael Gymnasium. After a few sessions he quickly developed a love for the sport, even rearranging his class schedule to squeeze in more time to train.
Already a veteran fighter with nine fights on his record, Maltais trains nearly every day for most of the day, having to coordinate between the brewery and the gym.
“As of July I will be the only professional MMA craft brewer in the world,” Maltais said.
Maltais’s fight this Saturday is set to take place in Durham at Bull City Brawl, where he will take on Matthew “Pretty Boy” Probin for three rounds.
