Attracted by the idea of increased brand awareness and selling directly to consumers, breweries tackle growth by opening multiple locations in their hometowns. We look at examples in San Diego, Grand Rapids, Mich., and Asheville, N.C.
The ever-changing menu at Salt & Smoke, a food truck on the patio of Burial Beer Co., explores the link between Old World European traditions and the chef’s Southern roots in eats that pair well with beer.
In a round-up of beer news, Belgian beer is recognized as cultural heritage; White Labs Asheville begins production, New Holland brews lager with heirloom barley; and 2016 is a record year for US hop growers.
For an industry veteran who wanted to run a smaller, neighborhood brewpub, the friendlier laws in North Carolina were a huge incentive for the Terrapin co-founder to launch UpCountry Brewery in Asheville.
In the can art for The Keeper’s Veil, a honey Saison, each side represents an extreme—a beekeeper in the spring and summer of her life, and a dark, heavy scene of death and decay.
To celebrate the National Park Service’s 100th anniversary, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation teamed up with 17 Asheville-area breweries for special beer releases and fundraising events.
Brewers guilds must educate, protect and promote. It’s taken the craft brewing industry some 35 years to be able to produce 12 percent of the beer bought in America. No one accomplished that feat alone. There is strength in numbers.
White Labs to open East Coast location; Carlsberg stops production of Draught Burton Ale; individual beer sales now legal in Missouri; and New York seeks federally backed crop insurance.
Set foot inside Riverbend Malt House in Asheville, N.C., and it’s clear that the maltster has a similar role to the brewer’s. While employees who work at large malt houses may see grain move at the push of a button, at Riverbend much is still human-powered.
Green Man is one of Asheville, North Carolina’s old-line breweries—a legendary name in a legendary beer town. And under Stuart and his crew, it’s been growing faster than ever, delivering unique takes on English Ale standbys plus an array of sought-after American IPAs, Stouts and American Wild Ales.
Since opening in 2012, Wicked Weed, the Dickinson brothers’ Asheville, N.C., brewery, has been at the forefront of the industry’s relative newcomers, most recently taking home a bronze at the 2014 World Beer Cup.
Hops stand in the spotlight at one of the country’s newest brewpubs, Wicked Weed Brewing. There, hoppy American ales are featured alongside Old World Belgian styles, as co-founders and brothers Walt and Luke Dickinson carve their own niche in one of the most impressive beer cities in the world.
Since opening in early 2008, Thirsty Monk has become more than just a world-class Belgian bar, adding a second floor for American craft selections, and a second location in South Asheville with a nanobrewery. They’re also working on expanding their brewery space and adding a third-floor rooftop deck.
For many breweries, a regional, cultural identity fosters the brand’s wider appeal. Paradoxically, that popularity might dilute the brand by requiring a large-scale production model that precludes ties to its regional roots—something expanding breweries keep in mind.
Highland Brewing Co. now encompasses 70,000 square-feet on the eastern edge of Asheville, N.C., quite a step up from the 3,500 square-feet in the downtown basement under Barley’s Pizzeria & Taproom, where the brewery started in 1994.
With dozens of breweries now producing more than 100,000 barrels per year and employing dozens if not hundreds of employees, we’re on the precipice of a new era of competitiveness.
If 2011 was a year for celebrating a return to local beer, 2012 will be a year when consumers and brewers seek to redefine what local really means. This past year saw dozens of breweries, including many well-known names, retreat to their home markets due to supply issues.
Carl Melissas, brewmaster at Asheville’s Wedge Brewing Company, brews up unpretentious ales and lagers inspired by the classic style benchmarks. It’s a simple-sounding proposition, until you account for the stiff competition all around town. The city knows quality and craftsmanship.
Garage breweries aren’t brewpubs in any traditional sense. You won’t find any food, beyond peanuts or popcorn, and the beer is usually sold off-site as well. And you’re always aware that the brewery hovers around you, not hidden away behind glass partitions.
Asheville’s moniker is “Paris of the South,” but the place feels more like a strangely wonderful convergence of Appalachia and the South, with a bit of Cambridge, Mass., and Boulder, Colo., thrown in for good measure.
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