Best Beer Town

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Isurprise to those who follow the brewing industry in North Carolina to learn that Asheville takes home this year’s Best Beer Town award. Jeff Anderson, COO of Nantahala Brewing in Bryson City, says that Asheville and its surrounding areas have for decades fostered a sense of entrepreneurship. He’s seen “creative types and makers” in fields like beer, food and the arts flock to the mountains of western North Carolina because “the freedom of expression is alive and well.” “Asheville has its own feel,” Anderson says. “It’s a unique, welcoming environment.” As for the beer? He partially credits that, at its literal source, to the water. His analogue is New York City pizza — how there’s just something about the water that goes into the dough in the five boroughs. Even with the same basic ingredients, pizza made elsewhere just wouldn’t be the same without NYC water. So it goes with Asheville.

Anderson notes that not only are Asheville brewers getting water closer to its natural source in the mountains, but there’s also an abundance of protection for those sources and springs within the community.

That community is, arguably, the most important factor in Asheville’s success as a beer town.

Anderson also serves as marketing chair for the Asheville Brewers Alliance, a trade and membership organization dedicated to promoting western North Carolina craft beer and breweries. Since 2009, the ABA has worked to support brewers big and small, and Anderson calls it the perfect organization for the Asheville area: “It puts us all in the same room to enjoy each other’s company and help each other out.”

He relayed a story about a brewery that had an issue with a keg washer, he said “before we knew it, the phones were ringing, people were stopping by to help, to do whatever they could do.” Anderson says that community spirit permeates the culture of Asheville and is a primary reason for the success of the brewing industry in and around town.

This collaboration has ultimately helped brewers as well as other industries in western North Carolina. Anderson notes that some folks who might have come to the mountains to see the changing leaves or hike the mountains discover some great breweries, while beer tourists often discover something else unique to the area — nature, food, crafts — and the cycle continues.

Some breweries have even partnered with local restaurants, food trucks and other providers to bring them in-house, thereby offering customers opportunities to sample even more Ashevillemade fare.

“People care about where their food comes from, the same as with their beer,” Anderson says. “A lot of restaurants are moving in this more personalized direction. People know that the products are made well because they’re made by a member of the local community.”

Because of this focus on community, the Brewers Alliance has begun working in tandem with the state ABC and Alcohol Law Enforcement boards to strengthen relationships between lawmakers and creators so that the industry can continue to grow. Anderson cites meetings in which the ABC and ALE invites ABA members to ask and answer questions about North Carolina laws and policies as steps in the right direction.

He says that the ABC and ALE “see what the (brewing) industry has done for the community ... they see that the makers not only live here but they care about the place where they live. It’s all a conscious effort. And it makes a lot of money for the community.”

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Asheville

STORY BY KEVIN FLINN PHOTOS BY STEPHAN PRUITT

2nd - Wilmington, NC 3rd - Raleigh, NC