Myers - North Carolina craft beer & breweries

ERIK LARS MYERS

JOHN F. BLAIR, PUBLISHER WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA

1406 Plaza Drive
Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27103
www.blairpub.com

Copyright 2012 by Erik Lars Myers
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or
portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
For information address
John F. Blair, Publisher, Subsidiary Rights Department,
1406 Plaza Drive, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27103.

C OVER I MAGE

Copyright FikMik, 2011, used under license from Shutterstock.com

Cover design by Angela Harwood
Interior by Debra Long Hampton and Melissa Clark James

Photo on Frontispiece: Barrels at Olde Hickory Brewery

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Myers, Erik Lars.

North Carolina craft beer & breweries / by Erik Lars Myers.
p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-89587-571-6 (alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-89587-572-3 (ebook)

1. BeerNorth Carolina. 2. BreweriesNorth Carolina. I. Title. II. Title: North Carolina craft beer and breweries.

TP577.M94 2012

338.76634209756--dc23

2011052574

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

A brewer hard at work at Catawba Valley Brewing Company

This is an exciting time to be a fan of craft beer in North Carolina.

It hasnt always been this way. As youll see in the following pages, North Carolina does not have a long and storied brewing history, though beer has been in the state for as long as people have. Even considering the large influx of British, Scottish, German, and Czech immigrants, North Carolina has no giant brewing centerno Philadelphia, Milwaukee, or St. Louis. It does not have the perfect climate for growing barley or hops. It has not always boasted a friendly political climate for alcohol.

Today, thanks in no small part to 2005s Pop the Cap bill (see ), North Carolina has one of the most exciting and dynamic emerging beer cultures in the country. It is a leader in the craft beer industry, claiming more breweries and more national and international awards than any other state in the American South. North Carolina is quickly becoming recognized as having some of the most sought-after beers and breweries in the country.

Whats more, North Carolina brewers are compatriots before they are competitors. They are congenial, friendly, and helpful to one another. That same warm camaraderie is reflected in the patronsthe states beer lovers and homebrewers. To put it simply, North Carolina is a great place to have a beer.

In this book, I hope to show the essence of the craft beer community in the state. Like that of any small business, the true story of a brewery is not its label art or its logo, but the people behind it. Small craft breweries are labors of love. Their proprietors are passionate and driven, and the beers they produce often reflect their personalities. To know a craft brewer is to know his or her beer.

In each profile, I try to capture the people behind the brewery and the beer, in order to show the diverse population that gets itself into the brewing industry. Breweries are complex entities. No two are alike. The smallest brewery in North Carolina makes 10 gallons of beer at a time and produced approximately 500 gallons in 2011. The largest brewery in the state produced somewhere around 15,000 barrels, or 465,000 gallons. To consider those two businesses as parts of the same industry seems almost ludicrous, yet theyre cut from the same cloth. Both were built by passionate homebrewers who wanted to take their craft to the next level simply because they love great beer and want to share it with others.

Its my goal to present those people to you.

Astute North Carolina craft beer fans may notice the conspicuous absence of Charlottes Rock Bottom Brewery from the book. Rock Bottom, now owned by Gordon Biersch, is the only national chain brewpub left in the state. Because of the books focus on the people behind the breweries and the emphasis on local breweries, I elected to leave Rock Bottom off the list. However, as you partake of beer tourism around the state, I encourage you to stop by Rock Bottom and have a pint. It might not be a local brewery from a management and ownership perspective, but the people who work there are local and are just as passionate about beer as those at any other North Carolina brewery. Theyll appreciate your business.

Unfortunately, its almost impossible to write a book about beer in North Carolina and keep it up to date. At the time of this writing, more than a dozen breweries were in the process of opening around the state, and more are being planned every day. Many of those startups are listed in . Be sure to keep an eye out for them. They are the future of the industry just as much as the veteran brewers.

I hope this book inspires you to support your local North Carolina brewery and to experience beer from around the state. With the right help, the beer industry can continue its growth and become an economic boon to North Carolinas agriculture, tourism, and hospitality industries. That help is you. Your presence, your support, and your passion can make North Carolina beer and breweries flourish for years to come.

For his friendship, for suggesting me as a possible author for this book, and for providing the base for what became the North Carolina beer history timeline, I thank Jonathan Surratt, proprietor of beermapping.com, a tool that should be in the back pocket of every beer tourist, and beerinator.com, a wonderful online North Carolina beer community.

Thanks to the fantastic staff at John F. Blair, Publisher, for taking a chance on an untested author and helping me through the process with professional grace, humor, and enthusiasm.

A huge thank-you to the North Carolina craft beer community, from brewers to drinkers to everyone in between. The enthusiasm and drive that all of you show are both inspiring and humbling. I would especially like to thank Sebastian Wolfram of Natty Greenes and Sean Lily Wilson of Fullsteam for their friendship, unending support, and passion for North Carolina beer.

I offer thanks to John Schlick, Adam Rowe, Sarah DAmato, Stuart Arnold, Glenn Powlas, Larry Jones, Mike Ranck, Jim Looney, Chris Darling, Joe Mecca, Jeremy Fanning, Adam Ledford, Daniel McKinnin, and Jon Odgers for help in tracking down bottle shops around North Carolina.

Thanks to my left hand, assistant brewer, and good friend Chris Shields for compiling an enormous amount of the information in these pages and especially for taking some of the pressure of starting Mystery Brewing Company off my shoulders while I finished the book.

No amount of thanks could possibly be enough for my lovely wife, Sarah Ficke, who spent hours combing through historical documents, even more hours being the first reader on the book, and still more hours putting up with me while I worked on it. I could not do thisor anythingwithout her.