{"id":10284,"date":"2016-11-01T13:22:40","date_gmt":"2016-11-01T17:22:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beverly-hanks.com\/blog\/?p=10284"},"modified":"2016-11-01T13:22:40","modified_gmt":"2016-11-01T17:22:40","slug":"wnc-craft-brewing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.naibeverly-hanks.com\/blog\/wnc-craft-brewing\/","title":{"rendered":"WNC Craft Brewing is Growing by Hops and Bounds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"burial-beer\"With more than 35 independent establishments in Asheville and surrounding towns, the craft beer industry is booming in these parts. Voted \u201cBeer City USA\u201d in 2010 and 2011, Asheville has become the epicenter for a beverage movement unseen in not only the industry, but also the nation as a whole.
\nIn 2014, craft beer pioneer and industry leader Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.<\/a> (Chico, California) opened its $100 million, 180-acre East Coast production facility in Mills River<\/a>, right outside Asheville.
\n\u201cThe community around Asheville attracts such an artistic and eclectic mix of people, a very similar mix of people like Chico,\u201d said Ken Grossman, founder\/owner of Sierra Nevada. \u201cThe outdoors is something I try to do on a regular basis\u2014get outside and hike. We\u2019re near mountains, streams, and places to recreate in Chico, and Asheville is just like that.\u201d
\nAlongside Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., industry giants New Belgium Brewing<\/a> (Fort Collins, Colorado) and Oskar Blues Brewery<\/a> both opened East Coast headquarters in Western North Carolina. New Belgium recently fired up its $140 million facility in the River Arts District<\/a> of Asheville, a property that will become a beacon of economic and cultural significance for the city.
\nOwner\/founder of Oskar Blues, Dale Katechis has built a wildly successful brand of craft beer that is rapidly spilling across the country. Originating in Lyons, Colorado, the business opened an enormous nine-acre, $10 million dollar east coast facility in Brevard<\/a> in 2013. Katechis decided on the location after years of visiting the region, soaking in the ideal combination of southern culture and endless outdoor recreation.
\n\u201cI fell in love with this area,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen we were looking to build, Brevard offered quite the temptation. I knew my quality of life was not going to suffer being here.\u201d
\n <\/p>\n

\n

\u201cSeeing people sitting out here and enjoying our beer is a surreal thing, and we have more exciting things to come.\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u2014Jessica Reiser, Burial Beer Co.<\/em><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 
\nHome to four breweries, Waynesville<\/a> has become a scene in its own right, with Bear Waters<\/a>, Boojum<\/a>, Frog Level Brewing<\/a>, and Tipping Point<\/a> serving up a wide array of selections that perfectly compliment the innumerable varieties brewed in Asheville.
\n\u201cThis area is a vacation destination for the state, and all of these tourists are interacting with our companies while they\u2019re here, and now they want our products where they live,\u201d said Kevin Sandefur, owner\/brewmaster of Bear Waters. \u201cIf we\u2019re that kind of lasting impression, it\u2019s great, and it says a lot of the breweries here and what we\u2019ve accomplished in such a short time.\u201d
\nHeading down the Great Smoky Mountains Expressway, Dieter Kuhn, owner\/brewmaster of Heinzelmannchen Brewery<\/a> in Sylva<\/a>, sees the growth like a spider web, weaving its way out of Asheville and into the depths of Southern Appalachia.
\n\u201cIt has to do with support of agencies, people in the community, and, of course, the customers,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone has been supportive. Yes, we\u2019ve worked hard, we\u2019re still here, but we couldn\u2019t have done it all without the support.\u201d
\nWith brewing beer comes the keen philosophy of \u201cwork hard, play hard.\u201d For Katechis, coming eastward was as much a business decision as it was a chance for adventure in the Great Smokies and beyond.
\n\u201cWe ride bikes and we drink good beer, and we want to turn other people into that,\u201d he chuckled. \u201cI don\u2019t clock out and go home. I hit the trails and everyday is like Christmas out there.\u201d
\nOpening in 2013, Burial Beer Co.<\/a> in Asheville became a hit with craft beer drinkers and the region as a whole. They produced 150 barrels on a one-barrel system their first year, with that number skyrocketing when they installed their new 10-barrel system. The new system will hold the foundation for the main facility, as plans are in the works to build an urban farmhouse brewery outside of Asheville.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s been crazy to keep up with the demand and that word-of-mouth popularity has been catching up with us, but that\u2019s a good problem to have,\u201d said co-owner Jessica Reiser. \u201cSeeing people sitting out here and enjoying our beer is a surreal thing, and we have more exciting things to come.\u201d
\n\"hi-wire-beer-taps\"<\/p>\n

Hi-Wire Brewing in downtown Asheville. (Max Cooper photo)<\/span><\/h6>\n

With the craft brewery explosion in Asheville and greater Western North Carolina, Hi-Wire Brewing<\/a> (Asheville) co-owner Adam Charnack sees it all as friendly competition.
\n\u201cThis industry is filled with camaraderie,\u201d he said. \u201cSo what about competition? The more, the merrier. Asheville is this mecca for craft beer, and the more people that place the words \u2018Asheville\u2019 and \u2018craft beer\u2019 in the same sentence, the better.\u201d
\nAnd for Grossman, it\u2019s about continuing to achieve perfection in a rapidly growing industry, one that has become a centerpiece of the Western North Carolina economy.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been focused on quality since day one,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I just like beer. I enjoy the whole science and alchemy of turning barley, yeast, and hops into something amazing and wonderful.\u201d
\n 
\nThis post is adapted from our annual <\/em>Welcome to Western North Carolina magazine. Click here<\/a> to read more online, or click here<\/a> to order your own free copy.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With more than 35 independent establishments in Asheville and surrounding towns, the craft beer industry is booming in these parts. Voted \u201cBeer City USA\u201d in 2010 and 2011, Asheville has become the epicenter for a beverage movement unseen in not only the industry, but also the nation as a whole. In 2014, craft beer pioneer… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":10286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,2],"tags":[3,39,95,7],"class_list":["post-10284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buy-local","category-commercial","tag-commercial","tag-craft-brewing","tag-welcome-magazine","tag-wnc-businesses"],"acf":[],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.naibeverly-hanks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.naibeverly-hanks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.naibeverly-hanks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.naibeverly-hanks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.naibeverly-hanks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.naibeverly-hanks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.naibeverly-hanks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.naibeverly-hanks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.naibeverly-hanks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.naibeverly-hanks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}