Foothills Brewing – Expansion News, SC, TN & VA Coming

15 months after moving to a new 50,000 square foot brewing facility, Winston-Salem’s Foothills Brewing is once again expanding, installing the first of four 200-barrel fermentation vessels that will increase the company’s production capacity by 72%.

The vessels were ordered in December from Specific Mechanical in British Columbia. Two were delivered to Winston-Salem this week, with the remaining two scheduled for delivery the first week of May.

With the additional equipment, Foothills will now be capable of brewing 40,000 barrels annually. In 2012 the company brewed just over 13,000 barrels.

“We need this equipment to keep up with demand for Foothills beer,” said Jamie Bartholomaus, president and brewmaster. “The move in January to wholesale distribution has raised the bar. Our partner wholesalers have done an amazing job creating a much larger market for our brands, so increasing our production capacity is the next logical step in our growth.”

In addition to better serving Foothills’ all-important North Carolina customer base, the new 23-foot high tanks will allow for better expansion into other markets, including South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.

“North Carolina will always be our ‘hometown’ market,” according to Foothills’ head brewer T.L. Adkisson. “But these new tanks will allow us to increase 6-pack distribution to some of our emerging markets, where we are seeing increasingly bigger demand. We’re very happy to see this equipment arrive.”

The increased production capacity will also give Foothills an opportunity to diversify, according to Adkisson. “Every brewer likes to experiment and play around; hopefully these tanks will give us the room to do that.” That could include brewing small batch beers at the company’s popular downtown Winston-Salem brewpub.
.