The transformation on tap in downtown Morganton has captured the attention of a national magazine. “Beer Advocate” magazine, a national resource for independent breweries and homebrew enthusiasts, featured Morganton’s Fonta Flora Brewery in its August issue as part of an article highlighting the economic impact breweries have made in three small southern towns. Fonta Flora’s head brewer and co-founder, Todd Boera, is featured on the cover. The article describes how the arrival of craft breweries in places like Morganton, Mount Airy and Danville, Virginia, has spurred growth and vitality in the urban core of towns struggling in the post-manufacturing South.