Sierra Nevada to bring brewery to Mills River near Asheville Airport

Written by Tony Kiss

MILLS RIVER — It’s finally official. Sierra Nevada Brewing of Chico, Calif., will build its long anticipated east coast expansion brewery in Mills River, Gov. Beverly Perdue and state and local officials announced today.

The brewery will employ 90 full-time workers and offer 80 part-time jobs. The plant represents a $100 million dollar investment, officials said.

The brewery, which will become Western North Carolina’s largest beer-maker, will be built at the Ferncliff Industrial Park near the Asheville Regional Airport. Next-door Buncombe County is currently home to 10 craft breweries, and others are located around the mountains, including Southern Appalachian in downtown Hendersonville.

“This is a fantastic day for the beer community and for Asheville and Western North Carolina,” said Asheville Brewing president Mike Rangel, who has long sold Sierra Nevada beers at his pizzeria and brewpub. “It really establishes us as more of a craft brewing mecca.”

Another major American craft brewery, New Belgium of Fort Collins, Colo., has said Asheville is on its “short list” for its East Coast expansion, but has said it won’t made a decision until February.

The announcement ends months of speculation on where Sierra Nevada would set up shop. In October, it appeared that Black Mountain was in the running for the brewery, when the board of alderman asked the state to fast-track a new Interstate 40 interchange for an unnamed West Coast brewery that was looking to expand. But the request was denied by the N.C. Department of Transportation.

Sierra Nevada also considered a location in Blount County, Tenn., near Alcoa, but ultimately bypassed that area too.

America’s sixth largest craft brewery, Sierra Nevada was founded in 1979 and delivered its first beers in 1980 in the earliest days of the American craft brewing movement. It’s popular Pale Ale is the nation’s second best-selling craft beer. The Chico brewery operation employees about 450 people.



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