E-Malt.com News article: USA, CO & NC: Oskar Blues chooses Brevard, NC for a new brewery location

Oskar Blues brewery, the maker of Dale’s Pale Ale, will build a major expansion operation in Brevard, North Carolina, the company announced earlier this week.

Oskar Blues has signed a contract on a 30,000 square foot brewery space and a 6,000 square foot restaurant music room in Brevard. Oskar Blues plans to have the operation running by this December.

The brewery will be located in an existing building on Railroad Avenue. Between the restaurant, music hall and brewery, it will employ 75-100 people.

Brevard’s reputation as an outdoors destination helped draw Oskar Blues to the site, said brewery spokesman Chad Melis. “It’s very similar to Lyons, Col.” where Oskar Blues got started 15 years ago. The brewery’s main operation is in Longmont, Col., which expects to produce 85-90,000 barrels of beer next year, he said.

The Brevard brewery plans to make 40,000 barrels in its first year, he said.

It’s the latest national brewery to make an expansion into Western North Carolina, following Sierra Nevada, which is building near the Asheville Regional Airport in Henderson County, and New Belgium, which is building in Asheville’s River Arts District.

Oskar Blues has built a national following for its beers which are sold on draft and in cans. The company has long had ties to Western North Carolina through the Mountain Song Festival held in Brevard.

The company sells more than 35 percent of its beer east of the Mississippi River, “making this a great opportunity to look into a location in that area,” the company said.


04 May, 2012