ASU trustees to state and feds: We want to sell beer

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Brett Taubman/Photo by Jason Sandford

From the Winston-Salem Journal:

Appalachian State University trustees voted unanimously yesterday to pursue state and federal permits to establish a brewery that would allow the university to sell beer made by professors and students in brewery classes.

Ivory Tower Brewery, in the basement of the Broyhill Inn and Conference Center, is a small nonprofit brewery operated by university professors who taught an honors class in beer brewing to 12 students last spring.

The class covered the chemical, biological and production process of brewing malted beverages, including the science of how to combine hops, malt and yeast to produce styles and flavors of beer.

Since that beer was used for research and educational purposes by a university, it was legal. But selling beer is another matter.

“The university is authorized to sell products that are incidental to instructional and laboratory work already,” said Dayton Cole, ASU’s attorney. “But because alcoholic beverages are so heavily regulated, we need to get permits.”