When we were in Winston-Salem earlier this year for a relative's wedding, we'd been out sight-seeing in the northern North Carolina countryside and when we got back into the city we decided to get a bite to eat to tide us over until the wedding later in the day. I decided to find a brewpub in the area and the first one that came up in a Google search was the Foothills Brewing Company. My wife had one of their beers during the lunch at another restaurant the day before, so I was looking forward to checking out the place.
Jamie Bartholomaus was an anthropology major at the University of Georgia and an avid home brewer since the early 1990's. He volunteered his time - up to 30 hours some weeks - at a small brewpub in Athens, GA, the now-defunct Blind Man Ales. After graduating from Georgia, Bartholomaus did some archeology work around the Southeast, but brewing beer became his calling.
In the mid-90's, Bartholomaus would commute a couple times a week from Athens to Columbia, SC to help brew beer at the Vista Brewing Company. He continued to do his archeology work and work at Vista Brewing for three years before he decided to focus on brewing beer full time. In 1999, Bartholomaus landed a full-time brewing gig at Olde Hickory Brewing Company in Hickory, NC. During his time at Olde Hickory, he also helped out the people who ran the Blue Ridge Brewing Company in Greenville, SC.
Pictured right - Jamie Bartholomaus. Photo courtesy The Business Journals.
During his stint at Olde Hickory Brewing Company, Bartholomaus met a young waitress by the name of Sarah McNeill who shared Jamie's love for craft beer. The two eventually married and shared a dream of owning their own brewpub someday. A chance to move to Winston-Salem to take over an old nightclub and turn it into a brewpub soon came around. They formed a business plan, looked for investors and founded the Foothills Brewing Company in 2004. Along with co-owner Matt Masten, a local Winston-Salem financial advisor, they opened the doors to the brewpub in March of 2005. Jamie Bartholomaus was the President/CEO and Brewmaster, while Sarah Bartholomaus was the COO.
In 2011, Foothills took over the operations for the Carolina and Cottonwood brands of craft beer and opened up a 50,000 square foot brewing facility on the south side of Winston-Salem with a capacity of nearly 55,000 barrels of beer annually. In 2014, Foothills Brewing Company opened a tasting room at the brewing facility. And in 2016, Bartholomaus stepped aside as the brewmaster to focus upon expansion of the Foothills brand in the Southeast. Bartholomaus handed over the brewing reins to T.L. Adkisson who came to Foothills in 2010.
We found the Foothills Brewpub on 4th St. E. in downtown Winston-Salem. (see map) The building that houses the brewpub was originally a car dealership that was built in the late 1920's. When the Bartholomaus' and investors took over the building, it was pretty trashed out from years of use as nightclubs in a not-so-nice section of town. They completely gutted the building from top to bottom and turned it into a neighborhood showcase. As Foothills Brewing Company grew, it spurred development of older buildings in the area. When we were there, it appeared that a number of buildings that will house apartments or condos were going up along 4th St.
In the front of the brewpub was the front dining area. When we got there, no one was seated in the room. But when we left, it was about 1/3 full of diners. It was bright, open and airy.
A hostess met us in the front dining room and asked if we wanted to sit up front or back in the bar. We opted for the bar area in the back of the structure. The original tanks were on display in the back of the bar area.
The bar, itself, was a wonderfully ornate structure of dark walnut behind and above the long bar. If I would have been dining by myself, I would have sat at the bar. But we found a table near the bar next to a staircase that went to upstairs party rooms.
We were given menus to look over and it wasn't long before our server, a nice young lady by the name of Scarlette (how's that for a Southern name?) came over to greet us. We took a quick look at the beer menu they had and my wife got a pint of the Jade IPA, one of their year-round beers. They had a limited edition India Pale Ale called Move that I tried a sample of. I thought it was pretty good, but then Scarlette told me that they had a Kolsch on tap - a great summertime beer. I ended up getting the Kolsch.
The food on the menu was your typical brewpub fare - burgers, sandwiches, soups and sandwiches. They also had a number of entrees including shrimp and grits cakes, pork ribs, beer brats and a pulled pork chimichanga. The Foothills Brewpub also featured a number of appetizers including a veggie quesadilla, beer-battered fried mushrooms, housemade potato chips with French onion dip, hickory smoked wings and flash-fried calamari. Chef Shane Moore also has a number of featured items that he likes to pop up on a daily basis.
I thought about getting a burger - the Dirty South burger featured a 1/2 pound patty with pimento cheese, bacon, tomato and fried pickles - but I'd had a burger the day before. The reuben sounded good - they make the corned beef in-house, as well. But I ended up getting the grilled smoked gouda/pimento cheese with bacon and tomato slices on sourdough bread. I had a choice of a side with it, but none of them really appealed to me. I noticed, however, that I could get onion rings for a $2.00 upcharge. I asked Scarlette if the onion rings were good and she said, "They're fabulous. They're my favorite."
The grilled smoked gouda/pimento cheese sandwich was a nice adult grilled cheese sandwich. The sourdough bread was spongy and lightly grilled. The bacon had a nice smoky taste and the tomatoes were fresh enough. And Scarlette didn't steer me wrong with the onion rings. They were thick with a wonderful beer-batter on the outer shell. I usually like onion straws, but if they aren't available my close second choice are thick cut onion rings with a beer-batter like these.
My wife really didn't know what to get. She thought about getting the chopped romaine Caesar salad with grilled chicken, but ended up going with the grilled chicken wrap. Actually, it was called the Spicy Buffalo Chicken Wrap on the menu and it came with either fried chicken strips or grilled chicken tossed in a spicy sauce. But she didn't want it to be too spicy and Scarlette said that the kitchen would be able to accommodate her on keeping the sauce off the chicken. It came wrapped in a large flour tortilla cut in half with lettuce, tomato and provolone cheese with a side of ranch dressing. It was a large wrap even cut in two. For her side, she asked about the Moravian slaw they had and Scarlette described it as a cole slaw with chopped peppers, onions, pickle relish and pimento. My wife turned up her nose at that and ended up getting the sautéed veggies. (Personally, I was hoping that she got the mac and cheese side as I was really thinking about getting that before I pulled the trigger on the onion rings.) She thought her grilled chicken wrap was delicious, but it was too much food for her to finish. She said, "We could have split this." I said that, yes, we could have. But I didn't want the grilled chicken wrap. My grilled smoked gouda/pimento/bacon/tomato sandwich was very good on its own.
So, for our visit to the brewpub for the Foothills Brewing Company, we thought our food was good and hit the spot for a nice lunch. The beer, I felt, was very good and I ended up having a couple more Foothills beers during our trip to North Carolina. And Scarlette's service was impeccable. She was friendly, helpful with suggestions, and on top of things for us. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Foothills Brewing Company, one of the better brewpubs that we encountered on our trip to North Carolina.
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