This brewery is located in a county that until recently had been a dry county in central North Carolina. But in July 2008, voters decisively passed a referendum allowing beer, wine, and mixed beverage alcohol to be sold in the city for the first time in nearly sixty years. Almost 7 years later a schoolteacher and a Lowes manager who became friends, started to brew together and would eventually open the county’s first brewery EVER.   When they first opened the goal was to use inexpensive Gildan t-shirts with a 1 color logo on back to promote the brewery within the city. Later those shirts would evolve into the same branding available in several colors. Realizing their customers had one of each color of the same shirt, they had to start developing new designs that customers and travelers would want to buy and wear. Crafting the first couple of new designs after several of their more popular beers they began to see the sales of those shirts grow.

They needed to develop new designs on a regular basis and turn inventory of those designs faster.

Listen in as our guests share how they adopted the “buy less but buy more often” philosophy and soon began to sell through smaller quantities of apparel with new designs.

Front Page Brewing Company opened its doors in beautiful, historic Downtown Bartow, FL in 2020.  Founded by Johnnie and Bill Levin, Front Page was created to provide a gathering place for the local and greater communities to enjoy brewed on-site quality craft beer and socialize.  After semi-retiring from corporate life, Johnnie was looking for something to take on in the next chapter of her life. 

As a long-time fan of craft beer and breweries, this was a perfect opportunity to explore.  After completing the Univ of South Florida - St. Pete Brewing Arts certification program, she realized that she’d found her new “home” and Front Page Brewing Company started coming to life. 

Opening on March 14, just prior to the start of the state and nationwide shutdown, certainly proved to be an unexpected challenge, but with the support of a wonderful city and community, Front Page Brewing Company was able to weather the storm and continues to grow and thrive.