Foothills Brewing

I left City Beverage with a six-pack of local NC brews to take back to PA and mused on the great times and the host of new and interesting friends made at Foothills Brewing in Winston-Salem. You know, I have not yet happened upon, during this de Tour, a nicer bunch of fellow beer drinker lads and lasses! I feel blessed in this sense. Thank you!

Wow! A whole section of the beer cooler devoted to NC brews. H, J, and M were not joshing when they said they had the best selection around. AND, mix and match to fill a six-pack. You like that? You like that?? I know I do. Egggggggggssssssaaaaaaaaaaaalentttttttttt!

The Hoppiest Fellow on Earth and his wife were kind to give me directions to City Beverage which were spot on. Rain? Not a problem. I'm floating on a velvet sea of beer foam!

Met the brewmaster Jamie, the nicest fellow--props to you and your guys on your World Beer Cup medal for Sexual Chocolate Imperial Porter. M and J implore me to backtrack east and visit Natty Greene's in Greensboro before I had west again; Jamie advises if you must do one place in Asheville make it Barley's and the Green Man; Hoppiest Fellow's wife says Bluegrass if you make it to Kentucky and the Mellow Mushroom in Asheville is good too. When do I have to be back at work? Next year?

Is it raining outside? Who knows, but the taps are raining beer in here!

Did you say you home brewed? These immortal words ushered a new era of north-south beer relations and it was with these words that I introduced myself to M and J at the bar and we proceeded to spend the next two hours ruminating over beers drank and yet to be drank--barleywines and double I.P.As a favorite of M, the merits of floral and herbal hops, home brewing, beer visits, tours, crawls and such.



Through the front doors awaits a spacious (30' x 30') dining room with a wood floor. The original wall to the left is brick. Straight through the dining room to the back though awaits the real treasure: A high trussed-ceiling taproom with what must be a 40' bar running down almost the entire length of the left wall with the brewery beyond that behind glass windows. There must be space for at least 20 beer drinking stools at the bar. The bar-top is constructed of laminated maple strips and must be 30 inches wide and sports a large Chicago-style bar rail. The back bar is impressive: a lower section of storage spans the length of the bar; at bar-height three wide sections delineated by square columns constructed of what looks to be cherry house deep shelves for glassware and liquor, also spanning the length of the bar. An impressive mirror dominates the center section of the back bar etched with Foothills Brewing. AND, crowing each end section and extending to the ceiling are wine lattice with storage for perhaps 300 wine bottles. WoW!

The Foothills Brewing building was at one time a Plymouth car dealership. After that a garage and a night club just prior to being converted to a brewery.

The day began overcast with scattered beer showers and stayed that way most of the day across North Carolina.

Hey Tazio, what's in the Beer Meister?

weeeeelllll, let's see....

Verrastro's had a wonderful selection of beers in the cooler--the likes of which I haven't seen here in a long time. Props fellows.

Even with so many choices, selection came quickly with two Pennsylvania ales that have not yet graced the Beer Meister's icy environs.

First came Weyerbacher Verboten Belgian-style Pale Ale. Pleasantly different and simply wonderful tasting and refreshing--a perfect summer beer to me buds. Zeer goed!

The second sixtel came from Stoudt's, to my understanding, represented in this cooler for the first time.

Their flagship brew: American Pale Ale. This is a swirling cascade of 4.8% ABV summertime fun. Very session-able in a very colony sort of way, really. Eggggggggggggsalenttttttttttt!

N.B.: A stop at Stoudt's in Adamstown is a must if you're in the neighborhood, although it's been a while since I've been there.

N.B.^2: Ruminating on the pleasures of the walk-in cooler in the summer engages the mind with thoughts of a perfect escape: A night spent in the beer cooler with a parka and tap. Glassware? Definitely not necessary on this primitive adventure!

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Traffic nightmares on I81 we can all believe in.