E-Malt.com News article: USA, CA & NC: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. to expand to East Coast

Ken Grossman, co-founder and CEO of California-based Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., was in Western North Carolina last week intending to meet with area brewers about possible plans for an East Coast expansion, BlueRidgeNow.com reported on December, 13.

Founder Oscar Wong and brewmaster John Lyda with Highland Brewing Co., Asheville's oldest and largest brewery, said Grossman requested the meeting with members of the Asheville Brewers Alliance. Lyda said Grossman hopes to ease concerns local brewers have about getting "pushed by the wayside" if a microbrewing giant like Sierra Nevada comes to town.

Andy Cubbin, co-owner and brewer with Southern Appalachian Brewery in Hendersonville — a non-voting member of the alliance — said he will not be able to attend the meeting because of a scheduling conflict but hopes to meet privately with Grossman while he's in town.

Sierra Nevada, the second-largest craft brewer in the U.S. behind Boston Beer Co. (maker of the Samuel Adams brand), is looking to build an Eastern facility now that the company is close to maxing out capacity at its Chico, Calif., headquarters.

On December, 12, Henderson County commissioners approved an economic incentive package worth $3.75 mln over seven years for an anonymous manufacturing company currently located outside the area. Two sources familiar with the negotiations confirmed after that meeting that the company is Sierra Nevada.

At the same time, officials with New Belgium Brewing Co., from Fort Collins, Colo. — the third-largest microbrewery in the country and maker of Fat Tire Ale — have confirmed their company is close to choosing Asheville or Philadelphia for its own East Coast expansion.

Lyda said some local breweries are unhappy about the incentive offer Sierra Nevada has received from Henderson County, and the brewers alliance recently took out a full-page ad in the Mountain Xpress opposing New Belgium's request for special tax breaks to set up shop here.

Cubbin, however, said last week that not all members agreed with the alliance's public stance opposing New Belgium's request.

With regard to Sierra Nevada's possible move, Cubbin said he's all for it.

"We think it would be fantastic for anybody to move to Henderson County. I really don't see any negatives from (our) size brewery's point of view," said Cubbin, who opened the business in April with his wife, Kelly. "I think larger breweries see competition; I don't think of it like that at all. I think of it as more beer tourism for the area; more people thinking about craft beer is more people drinking craft beer."

Cubbin added that Grossman and his 32-year-old company are "probably the most important thing to happen to the American brewing scene," and, "if it wasn't for Sierra Nevada, I don't know if any of us would be here."

"I still think Sierra Nevada is the premier craft brewer in America," Cubbin said. "Everything about the company I have a lot of respect for. So I think a brewery like that in Western North Carolina, and specifically Henderson County ... I would be honored to be his neighbor. I can't think of another brewery that size that I would say that about."


23 December, 2011