Every time a new brewery is announced, I brace for impact.
With each story comes voices of folks weary of beer-based expansion. “Another brewery — just what we needed,” some say, their words dry with sarcasm.
What they don’t always realize is that, yes — it might be just what we needed.
At their simplest, breweries — is it more palatable to call them beverage processing plants? — create manufacturing jobs, same as any other factory. This region historically brimmed with such factories, from woodwork to textiles. But, over time, too many have closed their doors.
Breweries are one form of manufacturing that have stepped in to pay the salaries of our neighbors. Their property tax checks pay for police officers and sidewalks just as effectively as a cabinet making operation, and they generate a lot more income than a boarded-up building.
According to the Asheville Brewing Association, once New Belgium Brewing is fully staffed, the sector will employ more than 1,000 people in Western North Carolina.
That’s a higher number than those working in the textile industry in Buncombe County, based on NAICS data. It’s closer to the 1,175 people working in plastics and rubber manufacturing in the county.
So why all the distaste for beer?
It might be that, when a brewery is announced, people envision a few well-mustachioed men with a good recipe and next to no business knowledge setting up shop to cater to their friends.
And, yes, while many businesses can start with this kind of spark, it’s not the norm these days. More often, these are savvy entrepreneurs ready to hire a dozen — eventually scores — of workers.
Perhaps breweries are seen as little more than tourism draws. Again, this isn’t often the case. While breweries do bring in tourists, their main market is increasingly not tourists — or even locals — but grocery stores throughout the region. Some of the biggest operations are looking at the entire east coast to sell the goods they make here in Asheville.
What’s more, our local breweries continue to expand, yet they keep their operations headquartered in Asheville. Among other expansion news, Highland Brewing is kicking up its capacity, spending millions to add to production facilities. Wicked Weed is expected to add 82 jobs after its $5 million expansion is fully rolling. Late last year, Hi-Wire announced it is adding 25 jobs and investing $3 million to expand its plant.
In addition to the jobs, all of the construction on these home-grown businesses will be a boon to local construction crews.
These entrepreneurs are choosing to invest in our region, hire our neighbors and pay taxes to fund infrastructure. They’re creating products that are well-known for hundreds of miles around.
They embody much of the spirit Western North Carolina is known for: They’re independent. They’re entrepreneurial. Their local roots are deep.
Manufacturing the way it once existed isn’t likely to return to Western North Carolina. But these home-grown and expanding manufacturing operations are filling the gap, no matter what they produce.
Their contributions extend way past the latest IPA or porter. We should appreciate what they do for our economy as well.
Thanks for the coffee
We’re only a few sessions in on our monthly “coffee with the editor” chats, but they’ve been great so far; I couldn’t ask for better, more well-rounded discussion. They often “sell out” quickly, as we wanted to keep the groups small to facilitate discussion.
The conversations are free-form, and each has been different from the last. Sometimes, they’re filled with questions about stories we’ve done or stories we should do. Other times, it’s a conversation about how the media will survive in the future. Sometimes, it’s issues with our comics or crosswords.
You’re welcome to join in. There’s no charge.
To those who would like to be a part of it, visit citizen-times.com/insider. The next session is 8 a.m. May 28, but we’ll keep up with them monthly if this one is full.
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