Booneshine Owned and operated by Carson Coatney and Tim Herdklotz, Booneshine Brewing is dedicated not only to beer, but to fostering a strong relationship with their community. "We are passionate about brewing high quality beer and equally focused on connecting with people and tapping into what makes the community of Boone and the High Country shine," Herdklotz said. While Booneshine is the newest brewery in the High Country, it has quickly established itself as a staple of the Boone beer scene, offering a great selection of high quality beers crafted onsite. Booneshine takes its dedication to producing the perfect craft beer from the tap, all the way to the customer. “We use local ingredients when feasible,” Herdklotz said. “For example, we use Watauga county sorghum molasses in our Molasses Porter, local honey in our High Country Honey Amber Ale and local blueberries in our Tart Blueberry Ale. On the other end of the process, a local farmer picks up our spent brewing grain to supplement his cattle feed.” Collaboration and partnership are a staple Booneshine Brewing’s business model. The Brewery works closely with Ivory Tower Brewing, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the ASU Fermentation Sciences Department. Each quarter, Booneshine and Ivory Tower brew a collaboration beer that sends its proceeds straight back to the Fermentation Sciences program. Through this program, Booneshine is able to provide hands on experience for students at ASU. Booneshine beer can be found in over 25 restaurants and bars all around the High Country, including in the tasting room inside Basil’s Pasta. Basil’s offers 32oz. and 64oz. growlers to go. Weekly specials at Basil’s include $1 off 32oz. and $2 off 64oz. growlers every Tuesday, $3 pints every Thursday, and $7 beer flights every day. Stop by Basil’s for a pint of Booneshine and choose from house made pasta, gourmet sandwiches, salads, flatbreads and more.
18 BEER & WINE GUIDE 2016
Grandfather Vineyard & Winery Grandfather Vineyard & Winery is a locally owned business that opened their doors in May of 2011. After already owning Tatum Galleries, a furniture and interior design shop, for 30 years this new venture started as somewhat of a hobby for owner Steve Tatum. He planted the vines in 2003 on about five acres of a 13 acre track of property that the Tatum’s own in Foscoe. At the time, his son, Dylan Tatum was a beer and wine rep in the local Boone area. Not long after the vines were planted, Dylan moved to Mount Airy to study winemaking at Surry Community College, the only school in North Carolina that offers an Enology and Viticulture program (the study of wine). After he graduated, Dylan, and his parents Steve & Sally decided to turn their hobby into a full grown winery including a tasting room situated right along the Watauga River, with a spectacular view of Grandfather Mountain just beyond their terraced property. Grandfather Vineyard currently produces 3,500 cases a year with wines ranging from dry whites, reds and roses to sweeter style wines as well. Since opening, they have continued to expand their wine selection to include more popular wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir, but also wines that include grape varietals found only in this region. For example, their 2015 Terraced Gold is a product of two local grape varietals called Traminette & Vidal Blanc. These are French American hybrid grapes that are unique to this area and really thrive in the Western North Carolina Mountains, but generally aren’t grown out west. In addition, their 2015 Watauga River White (sweeter wine) is made from locally grown Seyval Blanc, another grape varietal privy to this area. The grape growers in the High Country area have a very special climate to grow their grapes. So special, in fact, that the Federal Government (the Tax and Trade Bureau) are about to recognize a 2,600 square mile area in Northwestern NC, Eastern TN and Southwest VA , which includes Grandfather Vineyard & Winery. It’ll be classified as a nationally recognized grape growing area called “The Appalachian High Country American Viticulture Area”. This will be a tremendous boost for tourism in the High Country.
“One major difference between the wine industry and the beer industry is that in the winery, we have one harvest a year where we have to make all the wine that we will have for the entire year. We have about a three-month period when we are crushing, pressing, and fermenting all the wines. White wine varieties tend to come in earlier and are ready to drink in the spring of the following year, while reds will be pressed, aged in barrels, bottled and ready to drink about two years following harvest. It’s long hours during these fall months, but it only comes once a year,” Dylan Tatum, winemaker. During the summer months their tasting room is open 7 days a week Monday- Saturday from 126pm and Sundays from 1-5pm (closed on Tuesdays during winter). Every Sunday from May through October they feature live music from 1-4pm from local artists. Oftentimes, Sundays bring the biggest crowd, patrons bring a picnic, buy some wine and mingle with the owner Steve and his lovable lab Zoebelle. Their philosophy is to treat everyone like family, to make customers feel welcomed and they will keep coming back. “We really like the feeling of a family owned winery,” says Mr. Tatum, “When we succeed everyone succeeds. That is especially true in winemaking as the fruits of our accomplishments show in every glass of wine for our patrons and all of our employees to see.” For more information about Grandfather Vineyard- please visit their website at www.grandfathervineyard.com
Linville Falls Winery Linville Falls Winery began with a dream by owner and operator Jack Wiseman. His vision came to fruition when he opened his state of the art tasting room in October 2012. He began this life long dream by planting a variety of grapes on his 40 acre farm nestled in the Linville Falls community. To date, he grows and produces award-winning wines like Riesling, Rose' and Cabernet. Fresh homegrown blueberries make up his best of category dessert wine from the North Carolina State Fair and Martha Washington's inspired Cherry Bounce is always a favorite. The tasting room is open daily from 12 PM - 6 PM, offering a flight of 10 wines. Linville Falls Winery is located on Highway 221 north of the Blue Ridge Parkway, milepost 316. We welcome families, pets and packed lunches.