There’s been lots of growth and expansion in the WNC craft beer industry in 2010 — and you can expect more of the same in 2011. The residents of Beer City (and of the larger WNC region) routinely show their appreciation for both craft beer and buying local. It’s a perfect storm for our breweries.
“We want to play while the fish are biting,” says LAB Master Brewer Ben Pierson. Pierson says the 35,000-square-foot building at 37 N. Lexington Ave. next to the LAB has been gutted and is in the process of renovation. Two floors of the building will be dedicated to brewing and bottling the LAB’s beers, while the ground floor will become a tasting room and bar (one way to handle overflow from next door). The new brewery will contain a 20-barrel system, and Pierson hopes to produce up to 5,000 barrels in the first year, which will help keep all beers on tap at the LAB and give him surplus suds to bottle and keg. First up on the bottling line will be the LAB’s popular White Ale and Oktoberfest brews.
A nanobrewery is a really small brewery — typically, a one-barrel system. Thirsty Monk owner Barry Bialik has hired award-winning local home-brewer Norm Penn to head up his new nanobrewery, which starts producing beers out of the Monk’s south location within the next month or so. Bialik says he’ll add to his existing taps at both Monk locations, offering up to 30 draught lines at the south locale and up to 42 downtown. At least two of the lines downtown and up to six in the south location will be devoted to Monk beers.
ACB has moved their brewery to 822 Locust St. in Hendersonville from their original location in Fletcher, but owners Andy and Kelly Cubbin are awaiting their state license in order to start selling their beers again. Once they get their beers back out to area restaurants and bars (in January, they hope), they’ll continue to work towards opening Hendersonville’s first tasting room.
Appalachian State University’s Board of Trustees authorized the university’s educational nonprofit Ivory Tower Brewery to apply for state and federal production licenses. This will enable them to sell beer if they so desire (and keep the A.B.C. happy). Chemistry professor and brewery founder Brett Taubman is also working to expand the university’s fermentation programs, creating both a fermentation concentration in the chemistry department and a four-year Bachelor of Science degree in fermentation. If approved, the four-year program may be one of the first in the country.
Wedge owner Tim Schaller worked out a lease agreement with the railroad to fence in a good bit of the dirt parking area between his brewery and the tracks. This will offer more seating and a more consistent spot for the brewery’s warm weather movie nights. Schaller also says he wants to add a seven-barrel system sometime in 2011 in order to go back to making enough lovely Belgian ales to bottle in 22-ounce flip-tops.
CORRECTION:
That would be a seven-barrel vessel being added by the Wedge in order to fill 750 ml bottles with Belgian-style ales, says brewer Carl Melissas.
Golem, etc., in fancy bottles–yay!