North Asheville ginger beer brewer, with $50k NC IDEA grant win, wants to grow and grow

ASHEVILLE — Ben Colvin isn't here to compete with tap handles like his brewer friends in Asheville. He'd rather his new line of canned beverages complement them, all while stealing refrigerator space from more sugary soda brands.

"This is where craft beer was 15 years ago," said Colvin, co-founder of Asheville-based Devil's Foot Beverage Co. "It's where people started moving away from the bigger brands of beer because they wanted craft brews. They wanted something that was made a little better and a connection with the brewery.

"That's really where we see ourselves."

Colvin, a longtime local conservationist, recently with Wild Forests and Fauna, transitioned out of his job in 2017 to launch Devil's Foot with local musician Jacob Baumann and others. The North Asheville-based company brews a half-dozen "farm-to-can" nonalcoholic drinks and sparking waters ranging from its signature Ginger Beer to Future's So Bright Sparkling Lemonade and Lime Aid.

Only in its second full year of production, Devil's Foot now can be found at almost 200 vendors in the Carolinas and Virginia, according to Colvin, and last month landed in 21 Earth Fare supermarket stores in the region.

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It also recently won a $50,000 NC IDEA SEED grant, funding Colvin said that will help it grow even quicker.

"(It) really give us that spark, that little bit of jet fuel to grow really fast and get bigger than we should at this moment," he said. "It's a big boost."

Devil's Foot is one of only six grant recipients in the cycle — the only one based in Western North Carolina — out of more than 150 applicants for NC IDEA funding which supports entrepreneurs in the state. Of its 142 grants paid out since 2006, Devil's Foot is the ninth to be based in WNC, of which seven remain operational. 

They include names like No Evil Foods, a plant-based meat company soon to be in 1,000 Kroger locations in the U.S., essential oils company Adoratherapy and Elite HRV, developer of an app to track an individual's heart rate variability.

NC IDEA President and CEO Thom Ruhe said in a news release the six grant winning companies embody "the vibrancy of entrepreneurship across the state of North Carolina."

"Industries from textiles to technology-enabled services to food and beverage are represented in this eclectic group positioned to quickly grow, create jobs and positively impact the state’s economy," Ruhe said. 

Katie Smith, an Asheville native and a brewer at Highland Brewing, which stocks Devil's Foot products, said she first tasted its drinks at a past Asheville Brewers Alliance meeting. Colvin noted Smith and others — such as Brandi Hillman of Hillman Beer and Billy Pyatt of Catawba Brewing Co. — have lent "big support" to the growth of Devil's Foot.

Smith said it was "really cool" when Highland finally brought their products into the Highland tasting room, allowing her to have it more than she already does. It's also become a vacation favorite in Smith's family, she said.

"It's great, and especially at Highland," she said. "My mom has had friends here and they have kids. It's like, 'Oh, we do have this lemonade,' and they're like, 'Oh, really?' The kids love it and it's cool to see."

She added that Devil's Foot is "very excited for the possibility it can expand beyond Asheville." 

North Carolina is no stranger to major beverage distributors. Carolina Beverage Corp., which manufactures the cherry-flavored soda Cheerwine, is based in Salisbury and PepsiCo., now based in New York, traces its roots to New Bern. Asheville also consistently is ranked among the top U.S. cities for craft beer drinkers featuring major brands like Asheville Brewing Co., Wicked Weed and New Belgium. 

But as bottled water sales outpaced those of carbonated soft drinks in recent years, Colvin said Devil's Foot sees room to grow — and fast.

He says much of the grant funding will be spent on "products and people" to expand the market for its products.

"We're kettle brewing and heat extracting good stuff and we're not adding bags of syrups and concentrate," he said. "We're pulling that in, but at the same time, it took the craft beer industry a while to slowly, organically grow and we don't have that luxury.

"It's grow big and fast, and that's where we're going."