New Belgium to Asheville: We’ll be making beer in your town in December 2015

Jay Richardson, who will manage New Belgium Brewing’s planned new brewery in Asheville, is in town today delivering a simple message to community residents and business owners: the Colorado brewery will break ground on the Craven Street brewery in a few months, and the craft brewer will be making beer in Asheville by December 2015.

In May, the company announced it was delaying its construction plans because it had just brought more beer-making capacity online in Colorado. That announcement shook up local residents and some observers, who began questioning whether New Belgium was committed to opening in Asheville.

Richardson is telling Asheville that the company has a firm new construction schedule: groundbreaking in December or January, with a brewery in place making beer along the French Broad River by December 2015.