More than two years after first breaking ground, Sierra Nevada is set to open its new North Carolina brewery to the public in September.
Located in Mills River, 20 minutes from downtown Asheville, the site is on a forested ridge near the river, reached via a winding road that climbs over a striking stone bridge. At first glimpse, the scope of the state-of-the-art brewery is palpable. Sierra calls it “a temple to craft beer.”
Rising above the lush landscape, and adorned with timber, slate, brick and copper, the complex is home to a 350,000 barrel brewhouse and soaring rows of stainless steel fermentation tanks, plus offices, and packaging and shipping facilities. Still under construction are a tasting room for tours, a separate gift shop, a taproom, a restaurant and a music venue, and hiking and biking trails.
On Aug. 3, I traveled to Mills River to attend the final leg of the Beer Camp Across America tour and festival. The seven-city celebration, planned to precede the milestone of the North Carolina opening, started out at the original Chico, California, brewery, where CEO Ken Grossman founded Sierra in 1979. It traveled to San Diego, Denver, Chicago, Portland, Maine and Philadelphia, taking in brewing regions around the country.
Before the festivals, Beer Camp Across America was launched as a one-of-a-kind mix-pack, with 10 bottles and two cans containing Sierra collaborations with Allagash, Ballast Point, Bell’s, Cigar City, Firestone Walker, New Glarus, Ninkasi, Oskar Blues, Russian River, Three Floyds, Victory and the Asheville Brewers Guild.
Many of those breweries were at the Mills River festival, along with breweries from North Carolina and around the Southeast. Georgia was represented at the tasting by Red Brick, Sweetwater, Terrapin, Wild Heaven and Wrecking Bar.
Among the scenes at the festival, it was fun to see Grossman and his son, Bryan, who is managing Mills River, pouring beers at the Sierra tent. And find the Alstrom brothers, who founded Beer Advocate, tasting beers from Wild Heaven and Wrecking Bar, while chatting with brewers Eric Johnson and Bob Sandage.
Asheville and Western North Carolina has fostered a booming craft beer scene, with historic homegrown breweries like Highland, innovative newcomers like Wicked Weed, and transplants like Oskar Blues, New Belgium and Sierra Nevada.
If the enthusiasm of the some 4,500 beer lovers who showed up for the sold-out Beer Camp Across America festival in Mills River is any indication, it seems like the best is yet to come.
The Sierra Nevada Mills River gift shop opens and public tours and tastings begin September 2014; taproom and restaurant open late 2014 or early 2015; hiking and biking trails open spring 2015.
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