History
Our Story
If you do some research you’ll find that some pretty big things happened in 1985. The first ‘.com’ was registered, Windows 1.0 was released, “Calvin and Hobbes” made its newspaper debut, “We Are The World” was recorded to raise money for famine relief in Africa, and a promising young basketball player named Michael Jordan won “Rookie of the Year.”
What you might not find in your research is that 1985 happened to be the year that Brad Johnston put together a team of investors and purchased a failing wine wholesale distributor named Tryon Distributing. The rest is history. No, seriously, it’s history, and we’ve jotted a few of the big milestones down for you below. Enjoy!
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1985
Brad Johnston and Steve Hedberg, old college roomates, put together an investment group to purchase Tryon Distributing which had been in business for 18 months and was losing money. Angie Packer was hired a couple of months later as the first sales person.
1987
Moved from a 7,000 sq/ft warehouse to a 13,000 sq/ft warehouse.
1992
Tryon purchases Altamont Distributing which in turn extends Tryon's distribution footprint to include the Western part of the state. Tryon now sells to Charlotte and the West.
1993
Tryon purchases Liberty Wholesale which greatly expands Tryon’s wine portfolio
2001
Tryon's sales continue to grow and to accommodate that growth the company moves into a much larger 60,000 sq/ft warehouse.
2002
Tryon purchases East Coast Distributing, Piedmont Distributing, London Wine Man, and Mark Yonce Wine Merchants. These acquisitions give Tryon a state wide distribution footprint.
2005
Brad Johnston is instrumental in "popping the cap" in North Carolina, which increases the legal alcohol content in malt beverages from 6% to 15%.
2008
Tryon expands their warehouse from 60,000 sq/ft to 92,000 sq/ft to accommodate their increasing sales.
2012
Tryon runs out of operating space again and has to open a new 9,120 sq/ft office in Charlotte.
2013
Tryon starts working on opening a full distribution center in Durham, NC to better service the Eastern half of the state.
2016
The 92,000 sq/ft Durham distribution center is operational, which gives Tryon a total of 193,120 sq/ft under roof.
2018
Tryon is awarded Wholesaler of the Year from the American Brewer's Association.
2021
Ed Johnston is appointed President.
2023
CEO Brad Johnston is knighted by the Belgian Brewer's Association for his role in helping to "Pop-the-Cap" in North Carolina and for his contributions in facilitating the importing of Belgian beer to the state ever since.
2024
Tryon becomes the first major wholesaler in NC to begin selling hemp beverages.
Tryon completes a $1M expansion of their Charlotte Distribution Center.
Tryon wins Distributor of the Year award from the Duckhorn Portfolio.
2025
Tryon celebrates 40 years in business.
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