Tags: beer, Beer City USA, brewery, featured, Hendersonville, Sierra Nevada

Word on the street: Sierra Nevada prepared to ink deal for new East Coast Brewery in Hendersonville

Jason Sandford December 11, 2011

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

For weeks, buzz around the beer scene in Asheville, aka Beer City USA, has been all about big craft brewers Sierra Nevada and New Belgium putting our town on their short lists for new East Coast breweries.

Both brewers are based out West and want to build new East Coast breweries to reach big markets on this side of the country. Sierra Nevada officials have visited at least three times, while this past week marked the first official visit from New Belgium’s president. Both companies say they plan to make announcements about their new breweries soon.

WLOSer Russ Bowen, in a tweet, noted a Henderson County Board of Commissioners discussion planned for Monday on an incentive package that appears to be aimed at helping lure Sierra Nevada. Bowen’s tweet:

@SierraNevada incentive pkg to be discussed Monday by Henderson Co. Commissioners? bit.ly/vzBJ3U one step closer?

Click on the link and you’ll see the details of the incentive package. Everyone I’ve talked to seems to think this is a done deal. Guess we’ll have to wait and see. But if Sierra Nevada does in fact choose a site in Henderson County for its new brewery, the decision would simply help cement the Western North Carolina region as a craft beer brewing mecca. And it could well help convince New Belgium to build here. And speaking of New Belgium, The Coloradoan has a great profile of the company and notes that it’s looking to Asheville as a possible site for its new brewery.

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