“It’s an unexpected brewery in an unexpected place,” says Erin Jones, the new marketing director at Burial Beer Co. The company is in the midst of expanding to a second location in South Asheville on the historical two acre property, deemed “Forestry Camp.” The site is home to six buildings that will be used as a production brewery, a two-story tap room, corporate offices and a restaurant led by a “currently unnamed, but local restauranteur,” Jones says.
Burial hopes the new location will be up and running by early July. At the very least, they plan to be brewing test batches at the new site by that time.
In addition to Jones, the company has recently hired Vince Tursi (former brewer and barrel manager of Night Shift Brewing and Head Brewer of Lord Hobo Brewing) as Head of Brewing Operations, as well as Zachariah Hilyar (who previously worked at Oskar Blues) as Head of Packaging. The three newest members all come onboard as part of the organization’s overall expansion.
Jones describes Burial’s growth as intentional and measured. “We aren’t trying to have [our] beer in every single market and every single bar and bottle shop in North Carolina or South Carolina or Georgia for that matter.” Burial’s interest is in maintaining close ties with its consumers in order to continue to brew “creative beers that really inspire us and that keep people involved in what we’re doing,” Jones says.
The new location will come equipped with a four-vessel, twenty-barrel system capable of producing sixty-barrel batches. While its intention is to push boundaries, Burial is also interested in “breathing life back into things that are considered ‘old school,’” Jones says. “We’re inspired by Belgian beers and traditional styles like doubles and singles and German lagers. People are super into IPA and sour beers right now, as are we, but I think it is more of a revivalist attitude toward giving new life to those old styles that we really appreciate. The styles that got us into brewing beer in the first place.”
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.