Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
A new nano brewery called Blue Ghost Brewing is set to open in Fletcher in early 2016, says Erik Weber, a member of the venture which he described as family and friends coming together to open a brewery, build community and make a dream come true.
Weber, a former brewer at Oskar Blues Brewery in Brevard, says he’ll be the primary brewer on the 1-barrel system to open at 125 Underwood Road, which runs off Airport Road and is right on the Buncombe-Henderson County line. The location is an empty, 4,000-square-foot steel-frame building.
Weber is a long-time home brewer who headed up Oskar Blues’ specialty beers program for a time, before leaving the brewery in April. He currently teaches at Blue Ridge Community College, which has a program that focuses on craft beer production.
With two children of his own, Weber says the goal of the Blue Ghost Brewing venture among his family and friends is to create a place where people can hang out with their children and enjoy great craft beer and conversation. Because the location is so close to several hotels, another idea is to eventually add a kitchen and offer a pizza-and-growler combo to folks staying in the nearby hotels.
You can follow Blue Ghost Brewing’s progress here. A snippet:
In the fall of 2012, Blue Ridge Community College announced a program that would focus on craft beer production, slated to start in January! I thought to myself “This is it!”… a quick, cheap, and local course that would allow me to obtain a certificate in brewing science! My best friend, Zach and I decided that we would sign up and attempt to make this our career! Well, after refreshing our browser over and over again after registration became live, in attempts to obtain one of the first coveted seats, we both got into the inaugural class!
School started in early January which coincided with the due date of our second child (Grace, my daughter was 22 months at the time). Although the timing was not perfect, my wife supported the venture wholeheartedly as I believe she both saw my passion for getting into the industry, and shared the passion for craft beer as well (I have pictures of her brewing her own batch of beer 8 months pregnant!). The course was a partnership between Oskar Blues Brewery in Brevard NC and BRCC. It was two nights a week– Monday’s were lectures and Wednesday’s were at the brewery. After a few weeks, I felt with even more certainty that brewing beer is what I wanted to do! I attempted to meet as many brewery folk as possible, and applied at Oskar Blues to every manager that I knew of. Zach and I would study before and after class in the taproom, and we took additional courses to help us stand out. After two interviews and about a dozen emails I found myself hired on as an Assistant Brewer! What that title meant- I didn’t really know!… but hell, I was in! I remember my first day like it was yesterday! Want to hear more?…….too bad! Jack just dumped his cold water (it always has to be COLD water), on his poor, unsuspecting sister! Stay tuned for the conclusion… coming up soon(ish)!
Can’t wait, good luck Erik!