Community reacts to Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery closing

FARMVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - A popular craft brewery in Farmville said on social media that they’re closing down.

The business announced on Facebook that the weekend of April 25th would be Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery’s last weekend in business after 20+ years.

The owner of Duck-Rabbit, Paul Philippon, made the post on the brewery’s Facebook page. He says in the post that he knows it’s the right decision.

Community members tell WITN that while there are other places to get drinks in town, Duck Rabbit will be sorely missed.

“Duck Rabbit was very important. People would go on Thursday and Friday nights and take their hors d’oeuvres and taste the beer that was special for the week. It was a fun place to go,” said Farmville resident, Dana Cox.

WITN is told that while Farmville does have other options to get alcoholic drinks with friends and family, Duck-Rabbit will still be a major loss to the town.

“A craft brewery, you can’t replace a craft brewery, because his beer was just so delicious. It’s just a terrible, terrible loss for us,” said Farmville Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Millissa Alexander.

Other local business in the area say that they sometimes had visitors from other parts of the state, who were visiting the town mainly because of the brewery.

“It will affect us. We had a lot of people come in our store who were visiting from other places just to go to his place,” Farmville Furniture Company President, Hunter Walters explained.

The owner of Duck-Rabbit did not want to talk about the closure, so we don’t currently know why the decision to close was made.

Pitt County Economic Development’s YouTube page says that Duck-Rabbit was named Pitt County’s Industry of the Year in 2016. It was also given the Sound Rivers “River Friendly Business” award in 2019.