SOUTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA (WECT) –
The Port City is seeing a boom in breweries, opening their doors to consumers seeking craft beer. It’s an industry that’s also seeing growth nationwide and across the state of North Carolina.
“Every home brewer’s hope is to one day brew on a commercial level and show other people what you are all about,” John Savard with Wilmington Brewing Company said. “Our beer represents us and the fact that this is blowing up so much in Wilmington and other breweries are seeing that same thing, it’s phenomenal.”
Local brewers are turning their hobbies into careers. A number of them opening up for business in New Hanover County in the past year and more expected to get started in the Port City in the next few months.
Brunswick County is also catching onto the trend. The Economic Development Commission brought in a consultant to review areas of the county that would be viable locations for craft breweries to open up shop. The consultant suggested Shallotte, with a blossoming riverfront area that would help draw in customers.
“There’s the potential for 3,000 new craft breweries across the U.S., so knowing there’s that kind of growth potential in an industry why not take a shot to see if some of it could be a good fit for Brunswick County,” Assistant Director of the Economic Development Commission Kelly Stuart said. “It’s a good opportunity for us to target business that could go anywhere in Brunswick County.”
Other industries are cashing in on craft beer as well. Tourism is finding its way onto the beer scene with the Port City Brew Bus.
The concept is to tour consumers from brewery to brewery, teaching them about the brewing process and nuances of each beer along the way.
“From point A to point B, they learn a little something and by the time they’re done they appreciate the work of our local brewers,” Mark Mueller with the Port City Brew Bus said.
These craft brewers have the drink down to a science, like Barry Owings with Broomtail Craft Brewery. He analyzes every drop of water before it’s treated, then taking it through multiple processes to take the water from “Castle Hayne Aquifer quality” to pure H20.
“The water here doesn’t fit a perfect beer profile, so we take all of our water all the way to pure H20,” Owings said.
In the simplest form though, creating beer comes down to extracting the sugars out of grain and fermenting that sugar water into alcohol.
“It’s definitely an acquired taste,” Owings said.
A taste that local brewers are hoping they can help transition consumers into enjoying, rather than the traditional Budweisers and Miller Lites of the world.
“Changing Wilmington’s perspective on beer and kind of the whole beer industry and beer scene and getting them into craft is what it’s going to take for Wilmington to become more of an Asheville,” Savard said.
They’ve also had to help change public policy. With a new industry embarking on new territory in the Port City, local leaders had to adapt their policies to help these small businesses open.
“We had to look at our policies and change them to help these people open up craft breweries,” Mayor Bill Saffo said. “You know we played our small part in that but we’re glad to support that type of industry and that small business owner that is doing that kind of business here in our community.”
For a sustainable future in craft beer, local brewers say the bottom line comes down to the brews they have on tap and consistency in their products.
“I think the way breweries are going to succeed, especially in Wilmington as the industry grows, is by the beer itself,” Savard said.
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