USA, NC: Blowing Rock Brewing Company’s first beer from new brewery almost ready

The first beer brewed at Blowing Rock Brewing Company’s new brewery in Hickory is almost ready, Hickory Record reported on April 20.

Blowing Rock Brewing Company operates a brewery and restaurant in Blowing Rock. The company’s Legacy Series will be produced and packaged at the Hickory brewery. The Legacy Series includes a High Country Ale, IPA and Summer Ale. The series has been brewed in Pennsylvania until now.

Blowing Rock Brewing Company’s founders, Todd Rice and Jeff Walker, explain once the brewery is running smoothly, they plan to open a retail space with a restaurant and brew pub attached to the brewery. They said the new space will maintain the industrial spirit guests find at Highland Av enue restaurant and The Crossing event space upstairs.

“We want to keep in touch with the era in which this mill was built,” Rice said.

The founders hope Blowing Rock Brewing Company’s new location will become the gateway to the burgeoning craft beer scene in Western North Carolina. Rice said the new brewery is the 85th in North Carolina. “It’s become a craft beer Mecca,” he said.

With easy access to Interstate 40 and Charlotte, Rice said he and Walker plan to grow their business into a regional brand.

23 April, 2014