Beer Scout: A new chapter for Asheville Brewers Supply

There’s a new face behind the counter at Asheville Brewers Supply. But for customers who’ve frequented the Merrimon Avenue homebrew shop in recent years, it’s a face they’ve become familiar with.

On June 1, JW Jones officially purchased the business from Tedd Clevenger, who took over in 2015 from original owner Andy Dahm, also the former owner of French Broad River Brewing. The shop turned 30 on April 1, right around the time that Clevenger earned his master’s degree in accounting and opted for a career change. But he’d been searching for someone to buy the business for a few years.

“Given the legacy of ABS, it was very important to me to find a suitable successor that was knowledgeable, passionate and customer-focused,” Clevenger said in his farewell email on June 20. “I wanted someone that would not only be able to sustain the level of service that we strive for, but to exceed it.”

Both sides believe Jones is that person. The former solar technician and recent Asheville transplant has been homebrewing off and on since 1997 and has been in the homebrewing business since 2018. Seeing an opportunity to help his fellow hobbyists in Tampa, Fla., he acquired a warehouse and began selling grain, malt and hops supplies.

In addition to his industry knowledge and passion, Jones is also a longtime admirerer of Asheville. He first visited the city in 1993 and quickly became enamored with it — despite numerous downtown storefronts being boarded up and the general lack of activity.

Jones’ wife is from Charlotte, and the couple maintained regular visits to Western North Carolina over the years, during which Jones frequented Asheville Brewers Supply. Their interest in moving to Asheville gradually grew, and they followed through in June 2022. The warehouse business was relocated to Woodfin, and in November 2022, Clevenger floated the idea to Jones about him buying the shop.

“It takes a passionate person. The problem is that that passion doesn’t always line up with business skills,” Jones says. “It’s a lot of moving parts. It’s not just knowing how to brew beer or knowing how to help people make their beer better.”

Doubling down

Jones calls Asheville Brewers Supply “a rare bird, even compared to other [homebrew] shops” in the U.S. Though he says it “looks like somebody’s dusty basement that they put their hobby in,” its three decades of continuous operation speaks volumes to past ownership as well as local craft beverage makers.

“The amount of talent in the brewing community here is incredible. It’s very passionate,” Jones says. “Obviously, Asheville is, if not the No. 1 destination for beer in this country, in the top three at least. And I felt like it deserved to have a world-class homebrew shop. And so that’s my challenge. I have to make that happen.”

The new owner doesn’t want to change much about Asheville Brewers Supply but is excited to work with as many area creators as possible and strengthen the shop’s already strong ties with local industry providers.

Jones is working on offering Riverbend Malt House’s complete catalog instead of the approximately 20 items that are currently carried and can use his other business’s warehouse for storage so that the shop’s modest square footage isn’t overrun. He’s also looking forward to teaming up more with White Labs, whose PurePitch pouches are used by many of his customers.

“They have the best yeast and bacteria bank Stateside, easily,” Jones says. “And it’s so nice that you can literally just drive down the street. You don’t have to ship it. It’s impeccably fresh and well-handled.”

Western North Carolina’s moist climate makes it difficult for hops to grow well in the region, but access to high-quality cones is also becoming easier for the shop.

“Because of the proliferation of craft, hops industries have popped up in other places that also have the right climate,” Jones says. “So it’s not just all Yakima Valley — Washington, Oregon. Michigan is a huge producer. Minnesota now is getting into some production, and New York state. Hey, that’s close enough for me.”

Industry pipeline

By providing such core items to local makers, Jones notes that businesses like Asheville Brewers Supply help homebrewers in ways that a nationwide shipping service like Northern Brewer can’t.

“When you have a [local] shop, it strengthens the hobby,” he says. “Everybody knows Northern Brewer. Yeah, they’ll keep you brewing. But you can’t go down the street and talk to people or even run into town if you happen to be out and about.”

Jones feels that the community is simpatico with his vision and wants to celebrate and help homebrewers of all kinds — including makers of wine and mead. The more experimental people want to get, the better.

“They can go to a college and learn how to operate the machinery. But until they’ve dabbled with 5 gallons to see what happens if we put honeycomb into this beer or this fruit or this yeast, you’re just not going to get innovation,” Jones says.

It’s that very creativity that Jones feels elevates Asheville’s homebrewers among those of many other cities, and the shop’s track record of helping makers achieve their goals of opening a brewery speaks for itself. A trio of brewers/co-owners — David Ackley (Ginger’s Revenge), Tom Miceli (Whistle Hop Brewing Co.) and Dave Byer (Diatribe Brewing Co.) — are longtime Asheville Brewers Supply costumers and attendees at its socials on the first Friday of each month.

Jones hopes to continue that tradition but is upfront that, while he’s here to help, he may take a little getting used to.

“Tedd’s amazing. People love Tedd,” Jones says. “People are not going to love me as much. I’m kind of brash. I have bad jokes. He has better hair than me. And he’s also very worldly with music.”

He continues, “I couldn’t get the speaker to fire up. I do like music and I do like to play it, but the difference between us is Tedd would have stopped the world to get the speaker working and then the vibes would be right.”

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