Saturday, April 1, the entire city block of 4th street, the longest block in the city, is shut down from Poplar to Spring Street for the event. The band kicks into full swing and the craft beer flows as soon as the races get underway. In addition to Foothills, you will enjoy several amazing craft breweries as well! Keep reading to learn more.

Event Layout

Footnote Coffee & Cocktails will open at 8 AM with breakfast grab & go items. The bar will be open too!

Foothills Brewpub will open at 10 AM with food being served starting at 10:30 AM. 

Parking

Cherry Marshall Garage: 402 North Cherry Street, Winston Salem, NC 27101

Additional parking may be found on surrounding side streets near Foothills Brewpub

* Please note, the 650 W 4th Street Garage, located on 4th Street, will NOT have access in or out! 4th Street will be completely closed to traffic Spring to Poplar *

Cheer Stations

Mile (1/12) 202 S Liberty St, Winston-Salem, NC 27101 (Greenway)

Mile (2.5/11.5) Washington Park, 1490 S Broad St, Winston–Salem, NC 27127

Mile (5/11) Rams Dr. & Price St. (Parking lot adjacent to Greenway)

Mile (7/9) The Quarry at Grant Park, 1790 Quarry Rd, Winston-Salem, NC 27107 (Greenway)

Foothills Brewing

Fresh beer is always the best beer. We strive to not only make beer with top quality ingredients and time-honored methods, but to have it in your hands for you to enjoy within days of it leaving our brewery.

Beers being served: Festival Express Juicy IPA, Hoppyum IPA, Hazyum IPA, Happyum Imperial IPA, People’s Porter, Thousand Smiles Golden Ale

If you’re still wide awake after an early morning or day drinking is just your thing, our Brewpub is open until midnight and Footnote Coffee & Cocktails is open until 5 PM!

Partner Breweries

Incendiary Brewing Co.: Incendiary Brewing has two locations to serve their North Carolina community, Winston-Salem and Lewisville. Ever rotating taps with local favorites and tons of events will always invite you back. Follow us on social media to see the latest beer releases and events. Beers being served: TBA Wise Man Brewing: 15 BBL craft brewery and taproom in Downtown Winston-Salem. They’ve created an urban industrial atmosphere with a laid back, community vibe that makes people want to get off the couch and gather together to enjoy the great invention that is beer. Beers being served: TBA Radar Brewing Co.: Radar Brewing Company is an exciting new brewery and taproom in Winston-Salem, NC. Radar offers an ever-increasing variety of beers in a unique space located in the city’s newest arts and entertainment district, Industry Hill. Beers being served: TBA Fiddlin’ Fish Brewing Co.: Fiddlin’ Fish is a family owned independent craft brewery founded by Stuart and Lindsay Barnhart, with cousin David Ashe. Together, they share a passion for craft beer, and a love for music and the outdoors. Fiddlin’ Fish Brewing Company is about community, beer, and paddling your own path down the river. Beers being served: Riverside Fly Shop Pale Ale, Pez Borracho Mexican Lager Gypsy Road Brewing Co.: Gypsy Road Brewing Company is a family owned and operated craft brewery and venue founded in 2017. Located just off Salem Parkway in an industrial park, Gypsy Road is a destination for craft beer enthusiasts, music lovers and families. Beers being served: Gypsy Juice NEIPA, Ready to Rye’d Amber Lager Little Brother Brewing: A small, boutique brewery with a unique take. They have two intimate taprooms located in Greensboro and Graham, NC, as well as a cafe kiosk in LeBauer Park in Greensboro. They brew our beer on site at their downtown GSO taproom using our 4-barrel system, emphasizing experimentation and creative usage of ingredients. Beer being served: The Gatekeeper Extra Foreign Stout, Cali Don West Coast DIPA  Four Saints Brewing Co.: Great beer for great people. They start with a high-quality beer. Their beer provides them the opportunity to help grow their local economy, support meaningful organizations and charities, and create a place they would enjoy where hospitality matters and everyone feels welcome. Beers being served: Potter’s Clay Amber Ale, Hedrick’s Hefeweizen Goose & the Monkey Brewhouse: Located in the historic depot district of Lexington, NC. Dedicated to bringing our patrons a unique experience. Beers being served: Similar but Different Session Ale, Wandering Pig Hazy NEIPA Kernersville Brewing Company: Local Craft Brewery located In Historic Downtown Kernersville, NC. 1BBL & 10BBL Brewhouse. Beers being served: Intergalactic Space Cats IPA, K-Vegas Blonde Ale Bull City Ciderworks Greensboro: The BULL doesn’t play by the rules. Hard cider doesn’t have to be sickeningly sweet and taste artificial. Their ciders are made with 100% apple juice and never back-sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, so you taste the apple in all its glory! Gluten-free yeast and ingredients ensure a naturally gluten-free cider. They’re crafting unique ciders that bridge the gap between wine and beer. Honey, black tea, hops, ginger, tart cherries, beats, whiskey and hibiscus allow them to redefine cider. Ciders being served: Off Main, Bludacris

For the first time since 2019, we are very excited to welcome the Triad back to our full race/block party/beer festival know as CraftHalf, complete with all our Triad #NCbeer friends. This year’s CraftHalf Half Marathon & 5K is scheduled for this Saturday April 2nd, 8am-1pm on the West 4th Street block where our pub sits.

The race is once again a sellout! If you’re registered for the race, we can’t wait to see you – if not, you can still show up and celebrate NC Beer Month with over a dozen of North Carolina’s best breweries. The event is a fundraiser for Yadkin Riverkeeper, who will be selling beer tickets good for every brewery in attendance.

Speaking of which, here’s a list of the breweries and beers that will be there:

• Foothills – Thousand Smiles Golden Ale, Hoppyum IPA, Festival Express Juicy IPA, People’s Porter
• Brown Truck – #10 Light Lager, #14 IPA, Amber Ale
• Bull City Cidery – Cherry Tart and Bludacris
• Fiddlin’ Fish – Buena Vista Blonde Ale, Steal Your Fish Pale Ale
• Four Saints – Flowers & Fog IPA, Omie Blonde Ale, Potter’s Clay Amber Ale
• Goose And The Monkey – TBA
• Gypsy Road – Gypsy Juice Hazy IPA, Mystical Child Fruited Sour
• Incendiary – Light Lager, IPA
• Legion – Juicy Jay East Coast IPA
• Radar – Reflection IPA, Domino Rice Lager or Tangerine Dream Wheat
• Southend – #Nofilter Hazy IPA, Dino DNA Amber Ale
• Wooden Robot – Overachiever Pale Ale, Space Magic IPA
• Wise Man – Mountain Calling IPA, Angelos Italian Pilsner

We’ll also have food, live music, fun stuff for the kids . . . see you Saturday!!

Pilot Mountain is getting some help – from Pilot Mountain Pale Ale.

In case you don’t know, our beloved Pilot Mountain, one of the most distinctive and popular landmarks in North Carolina, caught fire and burned for over a week in November and early December. The fire burned for over a week and ultimately consumed over a thousand acres of Pilot Mountain and the surrounding state park area.

If you’re familiar with us, then you probably recognize Pilot Mountain Pale Ale as one of Foothills’ original brews when we opened our doors in 2005. Also if you’re familiar with us, you know Foothills is always ready to help out in our community when needed (just look at our Craft Happiness Project).

So it didn’t take long for our owners to decide we needed to help Pilot Mountain come back from this disaster. Though we retired Pilot Mountain Pale Ale last year to focus on newer brands, we’re bringing it back for a special run, and will donate a portion of all proceeds of 12-pack sales to help Pilot Mountain recover. 

“Watching Pilot Mountain burn hit us all very hard here at Foothills”, said Jamie Bartholomaus, president and co-owner of Foothills Brewing. “Pilot Mountain Pale Ale was one of our original beers. The mountain is almost like a member of the Foothills family.”

It was Jamie’s idea to do something to help replant and restore the park that sees over a million visitors each year.

“When the fire happened, I knew we needed to make Pilot Mountain Pale Ale again to help restore one of North Carolina’s greatest landmarks.”

Foothills’ efforts have been noticed by those the proceeds will benefit. “The Pilot Mountain community extends beyond our great town near the base of our namesake landmark. This wildfire has shown us that we belong to a community that goes far beyond those boundaries,” said Pilot Mountain Mayor Evan Cockerham. “We are grateful for the support we have received across the nation and we welcome Foothills Brewing’s contributions to the restoration of our State Park.”

Adds Debbie Vaden, President of Friends of Saurtown Mountains, “We are excited to partner with Foothills Brewing as they bring back their popular Pilot Mountain Pale Ale. The proceeds they donate will be beneficial in helping us restore areas damaged by the Pilot Mountain Grindstone fire. Support like this from our community means so much and will go a long way in helping us return beauty and splendor to Pilot Mountain.”

Pilot Mountain Pale Ale will be released early in 2022 in 12-packs of 12-oz. bottles. Each box will have a QR code on it that will link to a website accepting donations to help with Pilot Mountain restoration.

Nothing says Autumn like football, falling leaves and drinking beer. OK the drinking beer thing is every season . . . but this is indeed a special time of year for craft beer.

Few beers accentuate that better than Oktoberfest Lager, which arrives at the end of the summer and heralds the onset of the biggest beer party on the planet (when it’s not canceled by coronavirus like it was this year and last).

Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany is attended annually by 6 million people who go through about 66,000 barrels of beer (it would take our brewery over a year and a half to brew that much beer). And even though it’s called Oktoberfest, it’s traditionally celebrated in September when the days are warmer — and a little longer. Germans are apparently big on day drinking.

So why are we holding a celebration in October? Because ours isn’t OKtoberfest — it’s HAWKtoberfest.

I feel your puzzled looks from here. Let me explain. You might be familiar with our Craft Happiness Project, which themes and brews beers based on needs in our community. In 2019 we created Raptorial IPA, brewed to help protect birds of prey (hawks, falcons, eagles, owls . . . even vultures). Our brilliant marketing department (full disclaimer: the ones writing this blog) came up with the bright idea of celebrating the release of the beer by releasing a rehabilitated hawk back into the wild. Fortunately North Carolina is home to one of the preeminent wild bird rehabilitation facilities on the planet, Carolina Raptor Center. They enthusiastically agreed to help us out, and the result was, well . . . majestic.

So we thought . . . well that was cool. Let’s do it again. Annually. And thus was born Hawktoberfest.

Obviously this isn’t your typical Oktoberfest celebration — no tuba bands or guys in lederhosen. What we will have is plenty of great beer (including our version of Oktoberfest Lager, and our just-brewed Stout and Frostbite Black IPA), specialty beer ‘flights’ (ha!), live music and food trucks, and a full interactive display from our friends at the Raptor Center. Then around 5pm or so, we’ll let our newly healed feathered friend fly free. It’s an amazing site – one you should be here to see.

“The Raptor Center is extremely grateful to have Foothills Brewing as a community partner,” says Jim Warren, Executive Director of Carolina Raptor Center. “Starting with Raptorial IPA in 2019 and now Hawktoberfest, the great folks at Foothills understand who we are and what it takes to help us achieve our mission. I appreciate their team’s generosity and willingness to give back. Also…we just love their beer!”

And we love your birds. Come help us set one free – at our free to attend, kid friendly Hawktoberfest – Saturday October 23rd.

Foothills Tasting Room

3800 Kimwell Drive

Winston-Salem, NC

Hey remember that awesome unforgettable 15^th anniversary bash we threw last March?

Yeah we don’t either. ‘Cause it never happened.

Instead we watched the world turn upside down thanks to the pandemic . . . and rather than celebrate Foothills’ decade-and-a-half in existence on March 17th, 2020, we closed our doors on the very day we opened them 15 years earlier.

Fast forward to 2021, and our planning meetings for this year’s anniversary. As we were lamenting last year’s landmark birthday celebration that never was, someone (I think it was an intern) told us that one time they were sick on their birthday so their mom and dad gave them a birthday do-over.

Nice, Intern Mom and Dad! We’re stealing your idea.

Last year’s 15^th-Anniversary-That-Never-Was has become this year’s Anniversary 15.1. As it happens our birthday falls on St. Patrick’s Day (which, as it turns out, is a REALLY good day to open a pub). We’ll be celebrating all day long — with double the fun on 15th Birthday Take Two, including hourly swag/gift card giveaways and lots of food and drink specials – like $1 off Seeing Double IPA, and $2 off other select drafts at all our locations.

Chef Shane has plenty to keep him busy, and you stuffed – choose from corned beef and cabbage, our Arnold burger (Swiss, Corned beef, sauerkraut, Thousand Island), fish and chip tacos and bangers and mash. PLUS: 20% off apps for loyalty members all day at the pub. And yes, we’ll have birthday cake. 

We’ve also made some new additions to our loyalty program, so it’s easier than ever to earn points you can use for anything we have – beer, food, gear, coffee . . . more beer . . . be sure and ask about the program WHEN (not if) you come see us on Wednesday March 17!

PLEASE NOTE: we still have COVID-19 protocols in place at all our locations; masks are required when not seated, and social distancing and hand washing regulations will continue to be observed. If you aren’t willing to abide by our protocols, perhaps you should save us both the hassle and skip this party.

That beer in your hand? It’s come a long way.

It made it to your pint glass from a keg, can, growler or bottle. Before that it sat in a fermentation tank, little yeast cells happily munching away at its sugars. And before that, it began with two simple ingredients – grain and water.

The moral of this little story? Great beer starts with great grain.

Here at Foothills, we source grain from all over. A good portion comes from Canada (ay) where wheat is the #1 crop grown. We also import grain from Germany, and get a healthy amount from right here in the U.S. as well – mostly from Breiss Malt (who incidentally also make a mean malted milk ball).

That said, we’re always committed to buying local whenever possible. Whether it’s beer packaging, beer equipment or beer merchandise, we’ve a long list of local suppliers.

Beer ingredients, however, has been another story.

North Carolina, while blessed with abundant annual crops of tobacco, corn and sweet potatoes (we’re the #1 state for producing those sweet spuds), ingredients for beer – mainly grains and hops – have traditionally been in short supply in our state.

But that’s changing . . . thanks in large part to pioneering entrepreneurs like Carolina Malt House. Nestled on 60 pastoral acres right in the middle of North Carolina’s grain belt, CMH is quickly making a name for themselves with NC breweries. Why? Well, just like wine, the soil that ingredients grow in plays a big role in the ultimate flavor profile. And North Carolina’s central region of gentle, hilly grasslands has the ideal soil and weather for growing top-quality grains. In fact all of Carolina Malt House’s grains come from a tight 30-mile radius surrounding their operation.

So why not incorporate those native North Carolina flavors into a beer brewed in North Carolina?

That’s the question our brewmaster wanted to answer when he reached out to Carolina Malt House to help with our newest seasonal, Good Ship Wit. Witbiers, as you can probably guess from the name, are heavily reliant on wheat for their flavor.  The style dates back to 14^th century monasteries, where monks used a blend of herbs and spices with their fermentable grains (mostly wheat). Good Ship Wit stays close to that monastic tradition, using lime, orange, ginger, turmeric, coriander and lots of wheat – all 100% grown and malted right here in North Carolina by Carolina Malt House.

The short local supply chain allows us to use the malt at its absolute peak flavor.  Instead of traveling thousands of miles from somewhere like Germany, the wheat malt in Good Ship Wit travels less than 50 miles from field to brewery, changing hands only from farmer to maltster to brewer.

And, like Foothills, Carolina Malt House is dedicated to environmentally responsible practices. Most of their farmers employ no-till farming practices, preventing the topsoil erosion common in other grain-growing regions. Their wastewater is used for irrigation, and grains too small for malting go to feed local livestock.

Good Ship Wit is the perfect marriage of homegrown ingredients from Carolina Malt House and local craft brewing from your friends here at Foothills. Give it a try and let us know what you think! And look for more potential partnerships with local beer ingredient growers in the future from Foothills.

Good Ship Wit is available in 12-oz. bottle 6-packs and 12-oz. can 12-packs. Look for it where craft beer is sold in North Carolina.

Before we give you any details about what will transpire this week, let’s get one thing out of the way.

We’ve missed you.

We miss you at our pub, our tasting room, our cafe, our events . . . we miss talking with you about beer, food, the weather, your kids, our kids . . . the reason we do what we do is largely because of you, our customers. And not being able to see you every day, especially during the year of our 15th anniversary . . . well, it’s just part of the reason life hasn’t been the same.

It’s also part of the reason we’re happy to announce that our downtown brewpub will take part in the phased re-opening of North Carolina restaurants this week; on Friday May 22 at 5pm, limited dining and service operations will resume at the pub AND our tasting room. (Footnote will remain temporarily closed.) The pub’s current hours will be Sun-Thu 11am-10pm, Fri-Sat 11am-11pm. (We will continue to offer curbside pickup from the pub as well.)

Unfortunately resuming business is not as simple as flipping the switch on our OPEN sign. As an industry craft beer wants to set the example for how to operate and keep our customers and employees safe. We’ve adapted your service model to safeguard customer and employee health, and have implemented practices designed to mitigate potential exposure. These measures, taken together and taken seriously, will help keep everyone safe.

Here’s what we’ll be doing for you, and asking of you:

We’ll also be asking you to observe ‘the three W’s’, as outlined by the North Carolina Brewer’s Guild:

Yes, these are new rules, restrictions, and “inconveniences”.  Nevertheless we’re asking for diligent adherence to the protocols outlined above (including encouraging use of face coverings until you are seated). There are good reasons behind these protocols, ALL of them having to do with the safety and wellbeing of ALL our customers and employees.

We’re grateful for your overwhelming support as we have navigated the last couple of months. Your patience with our changing operations and your concern for our staff have been both humbling and incredibly welcome. So please be patient with us. Respect our staff and support our efforts. Managers will be on hand should you desire immediate resolution to any matter or would like to offer feedback. Our staff is here to serve you to the very best of their ability given the rules by which we must all abide.

Some good news: our menu will have new items on it when you return! Chef Shane has added some really cool dishes, including Crab Cakes, Buffaloaf (buffalo meatloaf), RanchHouse Chicken Sandwich, Vegetarian Stir Fry, Roasted Shallot and White Bean Hummus, Southern Caesar Salad, and Mediterranean Pasta Salad.

Thank you for your loyalty to Foothills, for your understanding and for your patience as we navigate a safe, thoughtful and respectful path forward.

For the complete guide to the NCDHHS requirements and recommendations for re-opening restaurants, go here

Dear Foothills Family,

What a March it’s been. The month we had planned to spend celebrating our 15^th anniversary has instead featured closed businesses, canceled events, people in isolation and life brought to a near standstill.

Through it all, like most of you, we have first and foremost been concerned for the health and safety of our families, our co-workers, our community, our state and our planet. But we also, like most small businesses, have had to rapidly deploy drastically different business models, a process that would have been unthinkable even a couple of months ago.

Closing our doors and re-working how we continue to serve you, our customers, became the next top priority. We reacted by instituting curbside pickup for food, beer, wine and coffee at our pub and tasting room; and re-working our brewery schedule to keep the beer flowing to store shelves.

And you? You reacted by pulling together and supporting the businesses in your community, including us, to a degree that is both amazing and humbling. That outpouring of love and support has kept us going over the last couple of weeks and will continue to help us find our way in this new normal. ‘Thank you’ doesn’t seem like nearly enough to say . . . but thank you.

Here’s an update on the latest at Foothills:

BREWERY – Our brewery continues to brew and package beer. We are keeping areas like our lab off limits to all but essential personnel, keeping the brewers a healthy distance apart every day, and maintaining our usually stringent sanitation and sterilizing procedures. Some good news to report — last week we did our first canning run with our new Juicy IPA, Festival Express, in 19.2-oz. stovepipe cans! Those should be hitting store shelves this week and next, so keep an eye out for them. That beer will now be available in 12 oz. can 6-packs and 15-packs, in addition to the stovepipe single serves.

And we’ve switched Torch Pilsner to cans! Our award-winning Bohemian Pilsner is now available in 12 oz. can 6-packs.

Also, just a heads up, if you plan on purchasing our HopBox variety pack anytime soon, you’ll find a different mix of beers in it than we normally have (Hoppyum IPA, Jade IPA,  Seeing Double IPA and a seasonal selection). Since we don’t currently have a seasonal to put in there (though HopJob Session IPA will soon be making its appearance in those), we’re putting one extra of each of those core beers in it instead. Which works out well for you — Jade and Seeing Double are two of our high-end beers, and you’re getting an extra one of each in this HopBox!

We’ve also made the tough decision to put our Craft Happiness IPA Project on hold for now. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, it’s our monthly IPA we brew to help support needs in our community. Our first release of 2020, U B U Juicy IPA, is still on shelves — it was brewed to encourage individuality and acceptance in our culture. A portion of proceeds from sales of that beer will benefit United Way. We’ll eventually crank this project back up again — but since these beers are 90% draft sales, we’ve decided to suspend production for now.

PUB – The pub, where it all started for us 15 years ago, has become a curbside pickup and delivery machine. The kitchen staff is turning out the same great food they always have, and our managers have been handling the logistics of pickup and delivery for the menu as well as packaged beer and growlers, wine and whole bean coffee. Pickup/delivery hours are 11:30am-8pm every day. Chef Shane has put together some family package specials for you, and you can also order from our regular menu (though there are a few htings we’re out of; those are noted on the online menu). And all of our wine bottles are half price! Just give the pub a call – 336.777.3348.

TASTING ROOM – The tasting room is open 11:30am-6pm every day, and also has packaged beer, growlers, wine (also half price) and whole bean coffee available for curbside pickup (sorry no delivery). Like the pub the tasting room has been offering growler fills, with the growler glass being free when you get it filled so we don’t have to sanitize brought-in growlers. But so many people have been taking advantage of that special . . . that we’re running out of our big (64 oz) growlers! We still have plenty of 32 oz. growlers, and we have more big ones arriving next week; so this week only we’re allowing customers to bring their growlers in (to the tasting room only, not the pub) and have their growler sanitized and filled.

They also have 4-packs of our 19.2 oz. cans – choose from Hoppyum IPA, Thousand Smiles Golden Ale, or Festival Express Juicy IPA ($10.99) or Craft Happiness Project IPA ($12.99).

PRO TIP: the tasting room has a pretty healthy stash of Sexual Chocolate left, in both 22-oz. bombers and 4-packs of 12 oz. cans. AND . . . we are allowing growler fills of Sexual Chocolate, for the first time ever. Might wanna get in on that. Call the tasting room at 336.997.9484.

There’s a word we use all the time in craft beer  — coopetition. OK not a real word we made it up. But we think it sums up the craft beer life pretty succinctly — because no matter how much breweries compete, we know that at the end of the day we’re all in this together. So we always help each other. It’s a fitting word to use when referring to how we’re gonna get through this pandemic – by realizing we’re all in this together. We’re working to do our part . . . and we’re incredibly grateful to you for continuing to allow us to do that.

Stay Safe and Healthy,

Jamie Bartholomaus
President & CEO