Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of the TN-WNC-SWVA region. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around The TN-WNC-SWVA.
Is your business serving the residents of TN-WNC-SWVA? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpTri-Cities.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA
EP# 322: Building a Community-First Brewery Experience: The Salt Face Mule Story
Tucked just off I-26 at exit 21 in Western North Carolina, Salt Face Mule Brewing Company stands as a testament to what happens when passionate entrepreneurs reimagine what a brewery can be. As Partners Anthony Randolph and Christopher Luce approach their second anniversary, they share the remarkable journey of transforming a former arcade complex into a multifaceted destination where craft beer meets Southern cuisine and family-friendly entertainment.
What makes Salt Face Mule truly unique is their preservation of the property's original charm. The 36 holes of miniature golf remain intact, batting cages have become bocce courts, and plans are underway to convert the go-kart building into dedicated event space. This thoughtful approach creates an environment where, as Christopher notes, "babies to great-grandparents" gather together, making it genuinely inclusive.
Behind the taps stands Ray Dobbins, a brewer with 23 years of industry experience who has already brought home gold and bronze medals for his meticulously crafted beers. From the popular corn lager "Maze Runner" to their West Coast IPA "Holleratch" and hazy "Blessed," each brew reflects their commitment to stylistic excellence. But Salt Face Mule isn't content to rest on liquid laurels alone—their Southern-inspired menu deliberately transcends typical "bar food," creating a genuine dining destination that complements their craft beverages.
Perhaps most compelling is their community-first philosophy. "We're servants to the people that come through our doors," Anthony explains, describing how they've leveraged their miniature golf courses to create accessible fundraisers for local causes. Unlike traditional golf tournaments that require significant time and skill, these two-hour putt-putt events allow anyone to participate. Their partnership with Mountain Strong has helped raise nearly a million dollars for hurricane victims, embodying their mission to make tangible differences in people's lives.
Whether you're looking for award-winning beer, quality Southern cuisine, family entertainment, or a gathering space that genuinely cares about its community, Salt Face Mule delivers an experience worth discovering. Come see why locals and visitors alike are making this innovative brewery a destination rather than just a stop along the way.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monty.
Speaker 2:Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast of the Tri-Cities in Western North Carolina. So today we've got a couple very special guests with us in the studio for the first time. We're thrilled to have them and excited to learn all about them and their organization. I'm sure you will be too, because today it's my pleasure to introduce your good neighbor neighbors sorry, mr Anthony Randolph and Christopher Lace, who are co-owners or co-partners with Salt Face Mule Brewing Company. Gentlemen, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Good morning. Thanks for having us Skip.
Speaker 2:Well, we're thrilled to have you, like I said, all excited to learn all about two of my favorite subjects beer and food. So I'm really excited to learn all about what you guys are doing. And so, if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us about Salt Face Mule Brewing Company?
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, we're coming up on our second anniversary, the 13th of September. We started this project in late 2021. It actually took us till September, the 13th of 2023, to get the building reconstructed and demoed and built back the way we we needed it to be, with a full kitchen and a brewery. We have a 10 barrel brewery and we also have what made the property a little bit unique. It was formerly a arcade with 36 holes of miniature golf, batting cages, go-kart tracks and lots of games and stuff inside the building. And, like I said, we got rid of a lot of the games and stuff, built out a full kitchen, a brewery, we kept 36 holes of miniature golf, we converted the batting cage area to two full-size bocce courts and we're getting ready to start demoing the go-kart track for additional parking and remodel the go-kart building for event space. Wow, and, like I said, we're coming up our second year and we're super excited with how we've been received so far. We've been in this market for 11 years. We have two restaurants in the market, one in Weaverville and one in downtown Nashville that it's called Twisted Laurel, and then we also have a catering company that's Daphne's by Twisted Laurel. So we've been in this neighborhood for some time and we just felt like that the property was unique enough, with the amenities that that came with the property, that it was worth uh, you know us taking a chance and and uh and making something happen. Our goal from the get-go was to try to make sure that we had great beer and great food, uh, and we've been very blessed uh at at both ends. Just like any new business in the beginnings, you know you, you have some bumps in the road that you have to work through, but we're super excited with where we are currently and I think the response that we're getting from the community and guests that are visiting the area are reflecting that.
Speaker 3:Brewer has won Ray Dobbins. Ray's background is he was 23 years in the industry. He started out at Harpoon Brewery up in the northeast and he just does it right and he's a stylist that makes sure that every beer fits the style of what he's brewing. We've been fortunate enough. Last year Ray won a gold medal with the Pilsner his first year as a operating brewery A North Carolina award. This year he won a bronze medal with his ESB and we locally we've won some first place awards as well the. He has a corn logger that's called maze runner. That, uh, has become one of the the real favorites here. And we've got a couple of ipas that are really, really popular holleratch is a west coast ipa that that does really well for us, and blessed is a a hazy ipa. That that does really well for us. So, you know, we've got some flagship beers that we're super excited about and that will be with us from now on, and the response that we get is really really good. As far as the beer is concerned and, like I said, he has some wonderful we just are getting ready on Saturday to launch our October Fest. Our Fest beer will be released on Saturday with our anniversary party. So we're super excited about that as well.
Speaker 3:But getting back to what's unique about the property we kept is we kept, you know, 36 holes of miniature golf. So we, you know, we we like, like for people to come and enjoy the outside space as well as to come to eat with us. And that's another thing that we discussed is, you know, from the very beginning we wanted to make sure that food was a top tier product as well, and it's not just bar food. So we have southern uh style uh food, uh, a lot of our menu is is, you know, related to us being in the south, but but again it's, it's not bar food.
Speaker 3:Our goal from the get-go is to really try to have quality food and beer and and we feel really really blessed and honored to to be where we are in both and people are really responding. I I think in the beginning you know, when you first open people just trying to get a feel for what you're about. We have seen a huge increase in food sales this year. That kind of sets up as kind of setting the trend for what we're truly are. You go into a market and you just kind of have to figure out what the market wants and clearly they are really enjoying their food or beer. We also have a full bar. We do mixed beverage as well, and we have seltzers, house made seltzers, and we also have wine full bar. We do mixed beverage as well, and we have seltzers, house-made seltzers, and we also have wine available too, and so we are a lot of different things for a lot of different people.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Well, what are some very unique, by the way? What are some myths or misconceptions in the brewery business that you can think of?
Speaker 3:You know, the national trend for beer and alcohol is probably it's definitely not on an uptick right now and we see that in our mock cocktail sales how they've increased and we have a lot of options as far as for those that aren't interested in alcohol. But you know, for us as a brewery, especially in our situation, we're able to brew beer too for the two restaurants that we have, and so that allows us. We don't do a lot of distribution. We do have a few restaurants and businesses around us that we do sell some beer to, but most of what we do is we sell it here at the brewery and through the Two Twisted Laws.
Speaker 2:Very good. Well, you guys sound like you work all the time. If there is any downtime, what do you guys like to do for fun, chris?
Speaker 4:He likes to work Myself I like to be active.
Speaker 3:Chris has young kids so he gets to. He's in that part of his life now and mine has. I'm an empty nester, so I do work a lot, but I enjoy people. You know we enjoy being around people and I love working with and building teams of people and, like I said, we're blessed to get to work with some incredible people.
Speaker 2:Christopher, how old are your kids?
Speaker 4:Four and 14. Oh wow, got to be out there. Christopher, what uh? How old are your kids? Uh, four and fourteen, yeah, oh wow started t-ball and then the girl just started softball in high school, so got a lot going on a lot going on, oh my goodness, oh my goodness.
Speaker 2:well, good answer time with family, I totally get that. Well, if you guys could think of one thing that you would like our listeners to remember about Salt Face Mule Brewing Company, what would that be?
Speaker 3:I'll let Chris go first. I know what my answer is going to be.
Speaker 2:Okay, your experience.
Speaker 4:Your experience. Come try it. Bring the family. Family just come, have a great experience. We're a place of of all ages. You have babies to great grandparents that come here. It's a place for everybody and just come try it. See how you you like it, have fun. Bring the whole family.
Speaker 2:Everybody's welcome.
Speaker 4:Everybody's welcome. All right.
Speaker 3:And Anthony what?
Speaker 2:about you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for me it's in all of our business. We also own some independent pharmacies, so I came from the corporate world. I spent 21 years in the corporate world and just got tired of what corporate was becoming. We like to not give service, slip service. We like to give service. I'm a servant to the people that come through our doors and we want the experience to be different and we expect the people that we get the opportunity to work with to understand it. We expect it at a different level. We want you to feel what we're about when you come in and you know. I think a lot of companies talk about that, but not everybody's able to make that happen and for us, that's kind of what we build everything around. That is the minimal expectation is we expect people to treat other people the way you would expect to be treated.
Speaker 2:Well, that means a lot.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and the other thing real quick that I would put in there is community-minded. We love to be entrenched in our communities, we love to make a difference in our communities. Like I told you before we started recording, part of the reason we decided to move on this project here is we felt like that with the miniature golf, that we could offer opportunities for people to raise money for good causes, and we love to be able to make a difference in people's lives and make a difference in our community. We've been able to do that. We've got three, had three tournaments in September I think is what we have on the books. We got one coming up, that's with the local high school. They're going to have about 100 and 104 players and what we try to do is skip is, instead of it being a full-fledged golf tournament, we make a golf tournament that takes an entire day, a two-hour fundraiser that anybody can play putt-putt. Not everybody plays golf and so you know our goal is for people.
Speaker 3:If you have a good cause and a good following, we would love to try to help you raise money for your cause and, like I said, we all love to make a difference and we have a big fundraiser coming up on September 20th with Mountain Strong, which is a group of young ladies from Yancey County that have, I think they've raised now upwards of close to a million dollars and they're continuing to raise money for Helene victims and trying to make a difference in our communities. And so we're going to have a beer, a Mountain Strong beer, that we're going to launch on the 20th with them and we would love for people to come out and support their cause and other people. And we've done, like I said, other fundraisers. We do fundraisers with UNC Asheville basketball. We've done it for other family. You know somebody that may have a sick family member that has a good following. Like I said, if there's a way for us to make a difference and allow you and help somebody, we're all about that.
Speaker 2:Well, I think that's incredible and it definitely sets you apart. The putt-putt sets you apart, period. But you know there's a lot of breweries. That's incredible and it definitely sets you apart. The putt-putt sets you apart, period. But you know there's a lot of breweries that's got putt-putt. I love putt-putt too. It's one of my favorite pastimes.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we even have some afternoon skins game putt-putt tournaments, which are a lot of fun for people to come out and be a part of.
Speaker 3:But the key here like Chris said, is getting back. We just want people to have fun. And what is crazy and what's been, I guess, for me, the difference in a restaurant and a brewery that people like to gather at breweries. You know, it's groups of people that want to get together to hang out and our space allows that and we're getting ready to start a remodel of what was the old go-kart building on the property for an event space. We're super excited to get that building built out so that we can host parties that will have a little more privacy than what we've had to do A lot of times. You'll come in on busy weekends and we may have tables reserved for three or four different parties that are coming in busy weekends and we may have tables reserved for three or four different parties that are coming in.
Speaker 2:But it's also what is what's really cool about this business compared to just a regular restaurant, absolutely Well. Well, guys, I can't tell you how much I appreciate this For those of us who would like to come check it out or potentially has a an organization that we'd like to. You know need a fundraiser and was be be interested in that. How can we learn more?
Speaker 4:I just email uh christopher saltbassmulecom. Check us out on google, saltbassmulecom. Uh, just reach out to the store, uh 828-484-7474 828-484-7474.
Speaker 2:Very good.
Speaker 3:Like we said too, we want to get you up to join us and participate and taste some of the food and beer. We'd love to have you up.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well. I appreciate that and I will definitely take you up on it, no question. No question about it. Thank you very much. Guys, can't tell you how much I appreciate your time. You're obviously very busy and I appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule to tell our listeners and viewers all about Salt Face Mule Brewing Company and you guys and your journey, and I wish y'all and your business, as well as your families and clientele, all the best, moving forward.
Speaker 3:Thank you, skip, thank you, skip. We're right off of exit 21, right off of I-26.
Speaker 2:And maybe we can have you back sometime and we can talk about my experience coming to visit.
Speaker 3:Oh, that would be awesome. We'd love that. All right, we always love to see love as well.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Well, you guys have a great rest of the day and we will see you soon.
Speaker 3:Thank you Skip, Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP, try dash citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.