New Brewery Coming to Franklin County
Chaos Mountain Brewing taking shape inside former bed factory
CALLAWAY, Va. (January 27, 2014) – There’s a new business brewing inside a former bed factory in Franklin County.
Work is wrapping up to transform the former SleepSafe Beds facility on Dillon’s Mill Road in Callaway into Chaos Mountain Brewing. Once open early this year, the microbrewery will be capable of producing 2,500 barrels of beer in the first year, eventually creating 20-25 new jobs.
The million-dollar-plus, 20,000-square-foot project will eventually feature eight to 12 varieties of beer, bottling facility, cold storage and office space. It will include a tasting room, open to the public within view of brewing tanks.
“Chaos Mountain is part of a growing microbrewing industry in the Roanoke Region and across Virginia,” said owner Joe Hallock. “The East Coast is several years behind the West Coast in the growth of the craft beer industry. This part of the state is within two days shipping to 75 percent of the United States. We see a lot of potential in the Roanoke Region and the Mid-Atlantic.
“Originally we were going to name the brewery after Cahas Mountain, where the building is located,” Hallock added. “But we realized Chaos was a more fitting name. It lends itself to more interesting beer names and, as we like to say, “Chaos is brewing!”
Workers have been busy renovating the interior, installing floor drains, staging equipment and framing rooms. Joe and his wife, Wendy, are doing much of the work themselves, joined by son Ben. The brewery has space for 30 tanks, each holding 30 barrels of beer. The plant will have a long-term production capacity of 25,000 barrels per year, or more than 325,000 cases of bottled beer per year. The brewery will use a well as its water source. The water has been tested as high quality and essentially neutral, negating the need to remove anything from the water.
The Franklin County Board of Supervisors provided financial assistance to the project, which also is receiving assistance from the Roanoke Regional Partnership and Virginia Jobs Investment Program.
Brewing beer is big business. There are more than 40 breweries in Virginia, a 25 percent increase in the past two years. In the Roanoke Region alone, there are five microbrews and 11 within an hour of downtown Roanoke. Chaos Mountain is the second in Franklin County after Sunken City Brewing Company opened last year.
The Franklin County Board of Supervisors worked to achieve this new business announcement within the community. Board Chairman David Cundiff stated, “We are proud to have a company like Chaos Mountain Brewing opening in Franklin County. As the second brewery in the county, this announcement proves that this community is an advantageous place for entrepreneurs, especially craft brewers, to locate and grow their businesses.”
“Chaos Mountain has recognized that the Roanoke Region offers craft breweries a host of advantages, starting with quality water and low costs of doing business,” said Ann Blair Miller, director of project management for the Roanoke Regional Partnership. “As Chaos Mountain looks to future growth, it’s also important to be within a day’s truck drive of two-thirds of the U.S. population. And our region’s outdoor-oriented culture typically draws fans of microbrews.”
ABOUT THE ROANOKE REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP
The Roanoke Regional Partnership markets Alleghany, Botetourt, Franklin and Roanoke counties, Roanoke, Salem, and Vinton to new and expanding industry. Since 1983, the Partnership has assisted expansions and locations representing $1.4 billion in new investment and 14,000 direct new jobs in the region. To learn more, please visit www.Roanoke.org.
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