By Nathan Ham
Booneshine Brewing Company co-owner Tim Herdklotz has been hard at work to get “East Boone” on the map.
The restaurant and taste room officially opened in its new location at 465 Industrial Park Drive just off of Highway 421 near the Greenway Trail and Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex.
The brewery had moved to the facility a year ago, but the tasting room remained in its previous location at Basil’s until this past weekend when Booneshine celebrated with a soft opening in their new East Boone home.
“The East Boone neighborhood connections have been awesome,” Herdklotz said on Tuesday.
Not only has Booneshine Brewing Company embraced their new location, but they have also worked with businesses in the same area to help with the new restaurant. Tim says that Charleston Forge made the barstools and several of the high top tables, Hardin Creek Timber Frame constructed the wood framing at the entrance and Carroll Leather Goods made the leather seat tops. Goodnight Brothers Ham, another local business in the East Boone area, provides the ham for one of the appetizers on the menu.
“We were able to incorporate the local businesses into what we’re doing. The food that we’re rolling out now, the same philosophy holds using local produce and items when we can. We’re just building relationships that way,” said Herdklotz. “So far we think it has turned out amazing.”
During the soft opening, Tim says they were still finishing up some small things here and there, but he felt like things are going great.
“I think people are really happy that we’re here. We wanted to create a space where community could happen. People seem to be excited about it,” he said. “There have been people already riding their bikes up here and several people who had gone for a run on the Greenway came up the hill to have a beer. We’re already seeing stuff like that and that’s what we wanted to do.”
Indoor seating can accommodate around 100 patrons, including some upstairs seating in an area that Tim calls the loft. In addition to the indoor seating, Booneshine features outdoor seating with a fire pit and an open green space area that will eventually be home to come fun cornhole games and even a couple of disc golf baskets.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how people utilize the green space. I have been to other breweries where people will bring their own chair and go sit on the lawn,” said Tim.
The inside décor took as much time and effort, maybe even more so than the excellent outdoor features. There are a pair of antique chandeliers and an antique mirror on display to show off what Tim coined as a “warm industrial” feel.”
“We didn’t want to lose the industrial feel, we just wanted to warm it up a little bit. So as we progressed through the project, we realized what ‘warm industrial’ is to us and I think this is a pretty good picture of that,” he said.
The bar area features 26 available taps. One tap will be reserved for water and the others will be a mixture of what brews that Booneshine currently has in stock. Eventually, Tim said they will also have at least one wine on tap and may even consider making their own sodas or seltzer drinks.
The restaurant menu features everything from appetizers and small snacks to full-sized meals, flatbread pizzas and desserts. Chef Adam Cole and sous chef Ryan Grady have worked hard to come up with a wide variety of menu options for their patrons. Matt Mize is the restaurant’s general manager making sure everything runs as smoothly as possible.
“The concept we’re going for is that we wanted to have a good number of appetizer-portioned items that went really well with beer. We also wanted to have some light snacks that were inexpensive if you just wanted to come in and nibble on something while you’re having a beer,” said Tim. “We wanted to keep things simple. What we do, we want to do really well. We’ve got some really nice salads and a burger, chicken sandwich, fries and some flatbreads.”
Booneshine offers a tasty variety of sweets as well, thanks to business partner Carson Coatney, who also owns and operates Stick Boy Bread Company. One of the highlights of the menu is the Stick Boy Magic Cookie, a cookie that is baked in a cast iron skillet with ice cream on top.
“It’s pretty amazing. Everybody likes these cookies already,” added Tim.
As of right now, Tim said that they are only going to be open for dinner, however, the plan is to eventually expand to offering lunch and dinner six days a week.
The hours right now are 2-10 p.m. on Wednesday, 2-11 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2-9 p.m, on Sunday. A grand opening for Booneshine Brewing Company will happen in the coming weeks.
The craft brewing industry continues to grow, and with that, Booneshine Brewing is ready to keep adding to that. The brewery will be recognized by the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce for a special academic development award at the annual meeting coming up on August 1.
“We are super excited and proud of that. That’s why we’re here, we love Boone and the community here and we’re proud of that,” said Tim.
He estimates that they employ between 40 and 50 people and are expected to continue growing and hiring more people.
Making customers happy is always the biggest goal that any business strives to reach for. At Booneshine, Tim and the rest of the crew are proud of the product that they will offer through their beers, their food and the atmosphere.
“We want this to be a family-friendly place. We are a brewery, but it’s really important to us that it’s family-friendly. We’re really focused on the quality of what we do, whether it’s the beer, the food or the service,” said Tim. “We’re really serious about that, but at the same time, we don’t take ourselves too seriously. It’s the perfect picture of who we are and how we like to work. I think life is better if you don’t take yourself too seriously. I’ve been pretty proud of that element being in here.”
For more information on Booneshine Brewing Company, visit their website at https://www.booneshine.beer/
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