The Spooky Detour to Fonta Flora Brewery at Whippoorwill Farm
by Jen Ryan
On our way from Virginia to a wedding in Cashiers-Sapphire Valley, NC we took a little detour to visit the Fonta Flora Brewery at Whippoorwill Farm in Nebo, NC. At the US-70 W exit a cluster of unique and state issued signs greets you - a Fonta Flora Brewery sign, a sign for Lake James State Park and a sign pointing the way to the Southmountain Children’s Home. The road to the brewery is a mountain road - it winds its way through forests, old lake houses and farms. During our drive I got a spooky feeling - it was the discovery that children’s homes still exist combined with winding through rural roads that overlook Lake James that charged my imagination into conjuring up horror scenes from the Friday the 13th movie and Stephen King stories (Children of the Corn; The Raft).
At the time of our visit in September, 2019 I wasn’t aware of the history of the brewery’s name or Lake James. I have since discovered that my “spooky feelings” were kind-of on point - Fonta Flora is the name of a 19th century African American sharecropping village that now lies at the bottom of Lake James. The village of Fonta Flora was flooded when the Southern Power Company dammed the Catawba River in 1916. Maybe the ghosts of the village at the bottom of the lake remain in Nebo? I look forward to finding out more about the history of the village by reading “Glimpses of Fonta Flora”, a book by sisters Helen Norman and Patricia Page that includes oral history from locals.
The FF 15 barrel brewhouse and tasting room are in a historic stone barn that is surrounded by farmland and other stone buildings - Whippoorwill used to be a dairy farm. On our arrival the tasting room, which is spacious with an open garage door wall that frames the scenery, was full of locals joining each other at wooden communal tables. The sleeping black lab by the front door and friendly tasting room team welcomed us in. I enjoyed a fresh DIPA that was made with local peaches and was impressed by the cold bottle of Cheerwine that they had available for my 12 year old - she gets dragged to breweries often and we are pleased when breweries offer nonalcoholic beverages.
Matt had contacted friends in the brewing community and we were able to meet up with Matt, another brewer, who was working on the day of our visit. Matt welcomed us into the brewhouse - it was a busy Friday afternoon - and gave us the tour from grain to packaging line. We checked out the other buildings on the property that will eventually become part of the brewery operations, like a building that will house a coolship room. We toured the newly finished and impressively stocked barrel house/grain storage house where we met the friendly barn cats - every farm needs barn cats.
Fonta Flora beers are known for their unique flavors - their recipes generally include ingredients foraged in the area or procured from local sources/farms - like the local peaches in the Sun Prince DIPA that I drank at the tasting room (and purchased in cans to go). FF beer descriptions sound a lot like chef created dishes. As an ex -chef I imagine that the brewers have fun with the freedom to use such a vast variety of ingredients to create world class beers.
I could have lingered in the tasting room all day. The laid back vibe and calming Blue Ridge Mountain and farmland scenery helped me stay in the moment and soak in Fonta Flora Brewery and Nebo. I can’t wait to go back to Whippoorwill Farm to try more beers, to try all of the menu items that are available at Singlewyde - the onsite food trailer that is committed to sourcing all ingredients from local farms and foragers - and to hang out with the ghosts of the lost Fonta Flora village (and maybe write a horror story/movie plot line).
Cheers! Jen Ryan