The Asheville Brewers Alliance isn’t really an alliance after all.
The creation of the alliance a few weeks back was hailed as a great coming together of Asheville’s fine bunch of craft brewers. The alliance will exist as a non-profit organization aimed at promoting Asheville-based beer. Asheville Pizza and Brewing, Highland Brewing, Green Man, the Wedge, French Broad Brewing and the not-yet-open Craggie Brewing are all a part of the alliance. Oysterhouse Brewing, the in-house brewery at the Lobster Trap restaurant, and the Lexington Avenue Brewery, if it ever opens, are eligible to join.
But the fine print of the organization notes that only “Asheville-based” brewers can sign on. That leaves out one of the major players on the local scene, Pisgah Brewing, which is located out in Swannanoa/Black Mountain.
Why would the alliance purposefully seek to keep out Pisgah Brewing? Wouldn’t it make more sense for everyone in Buncombe County to work together?
Mark it down to petty jealousy, a clash of personalities, and probably a little grudge-holding.
Pisgah Brewing is newer on the scene than Highland and Asheville Pizza and Brewing, and their instant and growing popularity took the established beer scene by surprise. The Pisgah guys moved in, and sported a little attitude, and that probably didn’t help matters. Then a year or so ago, there was talk of a potential legal battle over the naming of some local beers. That situation was diffused without going to court, but there are still some hard feelings.
So don’t let anyone fool you – the alliance really isn’t an alliance. It’s a group of Asheville breweries banding together, purposefully excluding a major local beer-maker.
Make your beer-drinking choices accordingly.
13 Comments
You’ve got it, GPI. It’s not an issue of picking on a particular brewery. There are ethical and legal rules that breweries should follow, out of respect for the craft and for each other. People who don’t play by the rules aren’t usually invited to the party. There’s more to the story and, frankly, it’s nobody else’s business.
All this talk about Pisgah what about Heinzelmännchen and Appalachian Craft Brewery they are both in WNC just not in Asheville.
I agree that claiming location as the reason for leaving Pisgah out is basically a technicality that could be over looked. I do believe that the alliance is trying to make a point by not inviting them. As someone who is close with most of the breweries in town, I will say that I have heard many negative things about Pisgah’s business practices that goes way beyond "attitude". As I see it, this is not about jealousy or pettiness. It is about trying to get all of the breweries to work together, and if there is one brewery that doesn’t play by the rules than they should be left out.
Dock, if the brewers in the alliance are, and have been, supportive of Pisgah, then why don’t they allow Pisgah in? To define the alliance as only Asheville-based breweries is disingenuous. The Pisgah brewery is what, 15 minutes from downtown Asheville?
The "motive" of this post is plain: to call the alliance members on the carpet for their pettiness.
There is, indeed, a very great deal more to the origins of the rift than mere "attitude." As a parent of small children, though, I’m not all that patient with the "he started it!" defense.
Add one more to the side of skepticism on this issue. There must be more to this situation than the blogger suggests. The breweries in the Asheville Brewers Alliance have supported many breweries outside of Asheville, including Pisgah for years. If the motive of this post is to support the idea of "everyone in Buncombe County to work together," then it is hypocritical to stir up a petty jealous, grudge holding argument between breweries in our county. Unless a bias is already held more information should be gathered before making this kind of statement on this situation.
I agree with illysea. There’s probably a bit more to it than Asheville breweries holding a grudge against Pisgah for "sporting an attitude." Brewers within city limits have a vested interest in promoting their product to keep drinkers drinking, especially with Asheville becoming such a hot spot for beer tourists. Asheville has always been supportive and inclusive to breweries outside the city, including Pisgah and Catawba Valley.
The vibe between the breweries in WNC seems to be mostly positive. I don’t think any of Asheville’s brewers host nothing but support to they’re neighbors in Black Mountain. I think there is more to this story. I think the settling agent "JBo" speaks of is isinglass (from fish bladders) and is rarely used in modern brewing. I also heard Highland is organic
I visited the Pisgah Brewery early this year & those folks are fab, friendly, and full on professional with their quality of brew. There is no logical reason as to why they should not be in a regional alliance – as if 10 minutes of travel time really makes a difference?
Supposedly Pisgah is the only purely organic & vegetarian brewery around, as most other breweries use a settling agent that is derived from fish and these guys don’t.
The battles between the City and the County morph into many different forms.
Those of us who live outside the city limits chuckle sometimes at the city-centric approach taken by some (such as the Brewery Alliance addressed in this article)
I’ve made comments on MxPress articles only to be told by some city residents that I have no business commenting unless I live inside the city limits.
Hopefully Pisgah’s product will continue to speak for itself and the "alliiance" will come to realize that their approach is only harming themselves in the long run.
As far as I know, Pisgah is still allowed at the Brewgrass festival and I hope that will continue. Maybe Black Mtn will have to create a Blues ‘n Brews festival <grin>
I still enjoy heading into "the city" from time-to-time and will continue supporting all local businesses, breweries, and bands regardless of their zip codes.
Whoa, Ash, you are really rousing the rabble now. Bravo.
I feel a sense of pride when, looking on the the NC beer map, I see that Asheville has the densest cluster of breweries in all of North Carolina. Yet in some parts of the world, like Germany, there can be a hundreds of breweries in and around a city of Asheville’s size. Point being, if we dig beer so much, and we become known as a beer town, we can easily sustain even more breweries without resorting to unsavory competitive practices.
And, Black Mountain is definitely, deeply, culturally, commercially, spiritually a part of Asheville.
You nailed it, Ash. It’s a bit of’ tit for tat’ I think… Rumor has it that the Pisgah crew wasn’t very friendly to some of the established breweries early on (I speak personally for one that I have close ties with, which in the interest of professionalism will remain nameless), so I can see how they might be met with resistance. That ‘sporting a little attitude’ left some folks with a bitter view of Pisgah’s motivations early on. If they wanted friendship and camraderie, (sp?) they should have sown those seeds early on instead of doing damage control later. With that said, and with my personal biases aside, I enjoy Pisgah’s offerings and am impressed at the expansion of the tasting room and music facilities out there. They have been nothing but kind folks when I’ve been there, so perhaps the mood is shifting. It’s a good thing for Black Mountain and the community, and I think it’s silly for them not to be included in the alliance.
Ash, thanks for addressing this! I was wondering why no one else was noticing the absence of pisgah. They are one of the best local breweries I think. A shot over their bow so to speak was the launching of black mountain bitter organic by highland. Also look for the pisgah pale ale to be available in your local ingles soon via six pack. The pisgah boys have bought a bottling machine, can you say…..Gaelic ale killer! Instead of all the petty bickering between these local breweries why not get together and support and uplift the beer scene that they all have created and makes ashvegas so unique!