With 45 breweries in planning around North Carolina, dozens of others growing exponentially each year, tens of thousands of square feet of vacant warehouse space in a community ripe for development, and three men eager and ready to build a first-of-its-kind craft beer campus, it might seem like serendipity is surrounding the Rocky Mount Brewmill.
The news leaked out in May—that the Capitol Broadcasting-owned 140-year-old textile mill (pictured left) in rural Rocky Mount will be transformed into an incubator for startup craft breweries, a contract production facility for growing breweries, a destination for lovers of craft beer, a school for those who wish to study the industry and a residential community for people who work on the campus.
It will bring life back to a economically-troubled old town and celebrate an industry already bringing national recognition to North Carolina. In a Wall Street Journal story earlier this month, our state ( and its now 110 breweries) was recognized in the top 10 for craft brewing.
In the weeks since details of the Brewmill were released, dozens of brewers have toured the facility. Many attended a June 20th kickoff event hosted by Brewmill co-founders Vann Joines and Slates Snider and master brewer Sebastian (Seabass) Wolfrum. They’re all eagerly awaiting the start of construction late in 2014, once financing is secure, and a grand opening next summer.
The ExitEvent team was immediately intrigued when we learned of the project from Capitol (our parent company) several months ago.
For the full report, please visit ExitEvent.
Editor’s note: ExitEvent is a news partner of WRAL TechWire. Both companies are part of Capitol Broadcasting Company.
