Local Celebrity Profiles
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Joel McClosky | Four Saints Brewing Company
[Perma Link]Joel McClosky | Four Saints Brewing Company
Q: You started a new brewing company in downtown Asheboro that people seem to love, and have a unique story of how you raised the funds to start it. Can you explain?
Yes, it’s true. We started a Kick Starter Campaign to help raise money for the brewery, but we also wanted to gauge what kind of interested there was in Asheboro, which less than 10 years ago was a dry town. We were thrilled that 75% of the money we raised was from locals and we reached our goal. Of course, we had our own personal capital to invest, plus we had investors and an SBA loan in addition to the Kick Starter funds. It took a lot of money to secure our leases, licensing fees, products, and marketing, but it all worked out and we’ve never looked back.
Q: How did you come up with the name Four Saints Brewing Company?
My partner, Andrew Deming, and I were having a conversation in his garage and our friend Pete was there, too. We were doing some research and Pete found out that there were four patron saints of brewing. We double and tripled checked to see if anyone else had a name involving these four saints and could not find anyone who even had a name close to what we wanted. The rest is history. Four Saints Brewing Company was born.
Q: What are your and your partner's backgrounds?
Andrew was the master brewer of home beers but neither one of us had a background in doing this professionally. At the time we met, I was a school teacher who worked with Andrew’s wife, and he was in retail management at Lowe’s Hardware. We both liked beer and thought it could be a good idea for the town, and luckily we were right. We love what we do!
Q: For those who know nothing about how to make beer, can you explain the process?
There are four main ingredients in making beer. The first is malts, which include barley, wheat, and other grains. You mix the malts, crush them up, and add water for it to become a mash. The mash will steep for about an hour, kind of like a tea bag, and it will produce flavor, color, aroma, and fermentable sugars. Once this is done, it becomes wort. Then you boil the wort to reduce it down and add hops, which gives it a certain bitterness, and it acts as a preservative. You boil that for about an hour then the fermentation process begins and you add the fourth ingredient, which is yeast. Without the yeast, there would be no alcohol. The beer takes about three to four weeks to ferment. Then we add carbon dioxide to carbonate it, put it in kegs, and serve it up!
Q: Do you serve food, and do you have any special events or activities at Four Saints Brewing Company you’d like people to know about?
We do not have a kitchen, but we serve some prepackaged local food. We also have a couple restaurants that deliver food here including Bia’s Gourmet Hardware and Mike’s Chicago Dog, plus pizza delivery. Some people even bring in their own picnic type food. As far as events we do a lot of specialty nights to keep things interesting. Every Wednesday we have a "drink and draw" with an artist, and we brew a small batch of specialty beer, about five gallons. Once it’s gone, that’s it. On Thursday's, we have Team Trivia and Theme Trivia, like Star Wars for instance, and that’s always fun. Every Saturday night we have live music. Every first Friday we have an open mic night, and on the second Sunday of the month, we have a pet adoption event since we are dog-friendly.
Q: What is the Four Saints Art Wall Project?
Every few months we feature a new artist, whether it’s a mural, portrait, or some other type of artist. Mainly we just want to support the local arts. We have receptions every few months and we love having new art and new energy here.
Q: What do you love about living in Randolph County and when people ask for recommendations of what to do here what do you tell them?
This is a really fantastic community. The people here really pull together whenever needed. People know you by name and we have each other’s backs. I believe this community is moving in a forward direction and it is really great to see. Some of the places I love myself are the same places that I send others. They include the North Carolina Aviation Museum, Petty Museum, and the Seagrove Pottery community. Places I love to eat are Bia’s Gourmet Hardware, Flying Pig, The Table Farmhouse Bakery...gosh, there’s so many more, too! My daughter especially loves di’lishi Frozen Yogurt Bar...they are great people and great yogurt!