USA, NC: Green Man Brewery’s Mike Karnowski to open brewery

Mike Karnowski has been brewing at Green Man, on Asheville’s South Slope, for the past seven years. He started what’s arguably Asheville’s oldest sour program in barrels on Buxton Avenue, Ashville, and for the last two years, he’s brewed nearly everything but the flagships next door to the large brewery on the same street, Mountain Xpress reported on May 12.

Yet Karnowski is leaving the red-hot Slope to build a brewery of his own with his wife, Gabe, in Weaverville.

“My brewery will be in a cool old firehouse right behind Main Street, Weaverville, says Karnowski. “It will be fun to bring it back to life.”

With just 1,500 square feet, Karnowski plans to devote much of the space to the 7-barrel brewery and to the bottling and storage of beer.

While Weaverville currently has one brewery - inside Blue Mountain Pizza - Karnowski thinks the area has room to grow. “It’s such a nice town and so close to Asheville, I’d be surprised if there aren’t three to four breweries in Weaverville in a couple years,” says Karnowski.

For now though, Weaverville will have to wait a bit longer for the second brewery. Equipment is on order, but Karnowski says he’s working on the name trademark, permitting and everything else that comes with the territory. “I’ll be leaving Green Man next month, and hopefully I’ll have the name secured soon. But as far as getting up and running, I’ll be happy with sometime before the end of the year,” says Karnowski.

15 May, 2015