Update: Catawba to expand and renovate Morganton brewery

BREWED ANEW: Catawba's Morganton brewery will soon get a functional facelift.

On the heels of announcing a new satellite brewery on the South Slope of Asheville’s downtown, Catawba Brewing has announced a major renovation and facelift for their Morganton location. “We have been in this building for over five years, and it is time we optimized it for the dual purpose of manufacturing and tasting room. …We need to spruce up the place, modernize it and improve the experience for both our local supporters and tourists alike,” says Billy Pyatt, co-owner of Catawba Brewing.

Pyatt says that the Morganton facility is now running at roughly five times the capacity of two years ago, and they have been adding equipment rapidly over the past year to keep up. He estimates the brewery has already spent around a half-million dollars on expansion in place, but to increase production further they’ll need to rejigger the building itself with “a functional and cosmetic face-lift” that will begin in a few weeks.

In short, the tasting room will move from its current location where it’s breaking the flow of the shipping/receiving area of the brewery. By moving it to the front of house and installing new windows on the Green Street side of the building, it will also create a natural flow from the tasting room to a new patio. The old tasting room space will merge with the rest of the manufacturing, shipping and storage space. On the exterior of the building, the company will also install a silo for grain storage.

“We will be able to open our customer-facing facilities without having to constantly juggle kegs, cans, shipments and stored materials between the current bar area and brewing areas,” says Ivy Johnson, commercial manager at Catawba Brewing. “We expect to be open to the public more days per week after the expansion, and we’ll have a much more spacious area for our customers to sit [and] enjoy a beer.”

SHARE

Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

About Thom O'Hearn
Thom O’Hearn is a writer, book editor and homebrewer. Twitter: @thomohearn

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.