Ken Grossman, Founder of Sierra Nevada has a press release of his own in regard to the new site build in North Carolina…
After a long and comprehensive search, I’m excited to announce our location for a second brewery, in the Henderson County town of Mills River, North Carolina.
Throughout the last 31 years, we have had the privilege to make bold, flavorful, and hop-forward beers – the kind of beer we have always loved to drink. Luckily, we’re not the only ones who drank it, and for most of the time we’ve been in existence, we have been scrambling to keep up with demand. For years, we’ve considered a second brewing location. The recent growth of craft beer in the eastern USA, combined with the environmental impact of shipping all the way across the country, made a second brewing location the most sustainable solution for us moving forward.
For the past several years, we’ve reviewed over 200 sites with painstaking detail and an exhaustive list of qualitative and quantitative considerations. In North Carolina, we were humbled by the community, its values and the outstanding craft beer culture in the area. Much of Sierra Nevada’s success stems from the hard work and dedication of our staff, along with the brewery culture that has grown up alongside the physical brewery. While we were making this decision, it was important for us to choose a location similar to our home in Chico, CA. Mills River and the Asheville area feel like a great fit for us; a close-knit community with outstanding quality of life, shared values and access to the outdoors.
Much like Chico, with its close proximity to many creeks, rivers and the Sierras, the location for our new brewery in North Carolina will be situated on property that borders the French Broad River, with the Blue Ridge Mountains as a backdrop. Of course, building a new brewery from the ground up is no small task, and we anticipate the construction to take between 18 and 24 months. Our East Coast brewery will be built with a sustainable and mindful approach and maintain the integrity of the property and beauty of the natural landscape.
Construction will take approximately two years, and when completed, we anticipate the new brewery to be close to 200,000 square feet, with an on-site pub & restaurant.
My son, Brian Grossman, and Stan Cooper will be leading operations of the North Carolina location, and a few key Chico staff will also be relocating to the new facility.
We thank you for sharing this adventure.
Cheers!
Ken Grossman
