Foothills Brewing Tasting Room

The Foothills Brewing Tasting Room is the taproom attached to Foothills Brewing’s main production brewery on Kimwell Drive in Winston-Salem, NC — a 48,000-square-foot former manila envelope factory in an industrial park southwest of downtown. This is where the beer is actually made, and the 28-tap tasting room was built specifically so drinkers could sample it at the source, with roll-up garage doors, an outdoor patio, and an inside view of the brewing operations.

Foothills has been brewing in Winston-Salem since 2004 and has grown into one of the largest regional craft breweries in the Southeast, with beer distributed across North and South Carolina. The tasting room opened in April 2015 as a substantial renovation of the production facility, designed by the Michael Graves firm.

Worth knowing: this is a different experience from the Foothills Brewpub downtown on West Fourth Street, which is a full-service restaurant and bar. The Tasting Room is the brewery side — more taps, fewer frills, and the smell of wet grain when the line is running.

Be sure to check out the pictures below to get a feel for the Foothills Brewing Tasting Room before you go — or to relive the visit after.

The Production Brewery and the 28-Tap Room

Foothills’ main brewing facility occupies a former manila envelope factory in the Kimwell Drive Industrial Park — 48,000 square feet of production space that turns out everything Foothills distributes across the Carolinas. When the owners decided they wanted a place where people could gather and drink the beer at the source, they brought in the Michael Graves architecture firm to update the facade and build out a tasting room. It opened in April 2015.

The design keeps the industrial character rather than covering it up. Roll-up garage doors open the room onto an outdoor patio, and the seating is arranged so you have an inside view of the brewing operations — which means the room gets loud when the bottling line is running, and it smells like a working brewery, because it is one.

The 28 taps are the main draw. Beyond the year-round lineup, the Tasting Room pours seasonal rotations and tasting-room exclusives — small-batch experiments the brewers put together with local coffee, fruit, or whatever else they’re working through. Those are typically one-and-done: when the keg kicks, that beer is gone.

Foothills’ core beers are widely known across North Carolina. Hoppyum IPA, Torch Pilsner, People’s Porter, Pilot Mountain Pale Ale, Carolina Blonde, and Jade IPA anchor the regular lineup. The one that put Winston-Salem on the national beer map is Sexual Chocolate, a cocoa-infused imperial stout with a release day that people used to camp out overnight for — tents and sleeping bags on the sidewalk. The hype has leveled off as the craft market has gotten more crowded, but release day at the brewery is still an event.

Beyond beer, the Tasting Room carries wine, cider, and THC seltzers, and the Footmobile food truck is on-site daily, so there’s always something to eat. Programming runs to karaoke, trivia, music bingo, and live music, and there’s a private event space available.

Good to Know

• Location: 3800 Kimwell Drive, Winston-Salem, NC 27103
• Phone: 336-997-9484
• Hours: Open daily, generally mid-afternoon into the evening on weekdays with earlier openings on weekends — check the Foothills Brewing website for current tasting room hours
• Foothills founded: 2004, in Winston-Salem
• Tasting Room opened: April 2015
• The building: A 48,000-square-foot former manila envelope factory in the Kimwell Drive Industrial Park; tasting room renovation designed by the Michael Graves firm
• The room: 28 taps, roll-up garage doors, outdoor patio, and an inside view of the brewing operations
• Core beers: Hoppyum IPA, Torch Pilsner, People’s Porter, Pilot Mountain Pale Ale, Carolina Blonde, and Jade IPA
• The famous one: Sexual Chocolate, a cocoa-infused imperial stout with a release day people once camped out for
• Also pouring: Seasonal rotations, tasting-room exclusives (one-and-done small batches), wine, cider, and THC seltzers
• Food: The Footmobile food truck is on location daily
• Programming: Karaoke, trivia, music bingo, and live music; private event space available
• Distribution: Widely available across North and South Carolina in bottles, cans, and on draft
• Also from Foothills: The Foothills Brewpub downtown on West Fourth Street, and Footnote Coffee and Cocktails next door to the brewpub
• Best for: Beer drinkers who want the widest Foothills tap list, anyone chasing tasting-room exclusives, patio sitters, trivia and karaoke crowds, and Sexual Chocolate release-day regulars
• Pair with: Our guide to the top breweries to visit in Winston-Salem; the full Winston-Salem food and beverage cluster; the Foothills Brewpub downtown for the full-kitchen version; or Fiddlin’ Fish Brewing Company and Wise Man Brewing for other Winston-Salem taprooms

A Winston-Salem Highlight

The drive out here does not feel promising. Kimwell Drive is an industrial park — warehouses, wide empty roads, a big building with a modest sign — and if you were expecting the polish of West Fourth Street, this is not that. But this is where the beer gets made, and the tasting room was built so you could drink it about fifty feet from where it came out of the tank.

Twenty-eight taps is the practical argument. That’s the deepest Foothills list anywhere, and it includes the tasting-room exclusives the brewers put together in small batches — local coffee, experimental fruit, whatever they felt like — that never leave the building. When the keg kicks, that beer is finished. If you want to try something from Foothills you can’t get anywhere else, this is the only address that works.

Sexual Chocolate is the beer that made the brewery’s reputation. A cocoa-infused imperial stout with a release day that once drew overnight campers with tents on the sidewalk — genuinely, people slept out for it. The frenzy has cooled as the craft market has expanded, but the beer is still the thing Foothills is known for outside North Carolina.

Come for the taps, stay for the patio and the Footmobile, and know what you’re choosing: the Brewpub downtown has the full kitchen and the walkable location. The Tasting Room has the beer.

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Resources

Foothills Brewing Website

Foothills Brewing Facebook

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