Highland Brewery celebrates ten years in the business

Modern Brewery Age, May 24, 2004

AP -- Ten years is a long time in anyone's life, but in the craft beer business, it's an eternity.

It's such a risky and expensive game that not too many small brewers survive to celebrate their first decade.

But Asheville's Highland Brewing Co. pulled it off and launched the local craft beer scene in the process. In February 1994, retired engineer Oscar Wong and his then-partner John McDermott announced plans for the city's first brewery (at least in modern times). In December 1994, the first barrels of Highland's Celtic Ale (now Gaelic Ale) rolled out the doors.

But not before the first 6,000 gallons were dumped down the dram because the brew wasn't right.

"We didn't have enough sense to quit," said Wong, who spent 27 years as an engineer and had retired before starting a new life in brewing. "We broken even in our eighth year."

Highland has grown from a tiny operation into the region's premier craft brewer. Last year, it produced about 6,500 barrels of brew (a barrel is 31 gallons). Highland now makes six year-round brews, including a new one, Heather Ale, in celebration of the brewery's 10th birthday.

Highland's beers are sold across North and South Carolina, in Tennessee in Knoxville and around the Tri-Cities and most recently, Athens, Ga. And perhaps more importantly, Highland's success paved the way for three other breweries to open in Asheville, the most of any city in the Carolinas.

"There would be no beer scene here without them," said Mike Rangel, cofounder of Asheville Pizza and Brewing. "They set such a high standard for beer that I think anyone who comes into this market has to play to that level."

Highland is among the state's oldest craft breweries, said Julie Bradford, editor of All About Beer magazine, an influential, Durham-based publication that follows the industry. "Ten years is really something to be proud of," she said.

"You have to get past the stage where you are a novelty. You have to make good beer and be solid businesspeople. Anyone who doesn't have those things down doesn't last."

Behind the scenes Highland has survived and thrived against the odds--the space is too small, and the beer is made using modified dairy equipment. The staff has also seen some changes, the biggest being the 1998 departure of original brewer McDermott, who has become a successful furniture maker. Current head brewer Tim Keck will leave in May to help open yet another downtown brewery/restaurant.

Two key forces remain in place: Wong (raised in Jamaica and a Notre Dame graduate) and brewmaster John Lyda of Swannanoa, who joined in July 1994 "when there was nothing here except a couple of tanks," be said. Not to mention plenty of confidence. Lyda was sure from day one that Asheville was ready for its own brewery. "I thought that Asheville was hip enough of a town and that people would be willing to try something new," he said.

Highland Brewing remains a small operation, with just a dozen young employees who brew the beer, run the bottling equipment, keep the books, market the brand and deliver the beer. This is a tight-knit bunch, a family that works and plays and pulls together to get it done. Wong, 63 (who looks 20 years younger) is often found working the bottling line or delivering the beer to far-flung distributors.

In the earliest days of planning, Wong and McDermott considered the idea of a brewpub--a restaurant that makes its own beer--and that's how they occupied the space at 42 Biltmore Ave., in the same building that is home to the wildly popular Barley's Taproom and pizzeria.

But Highland and Barley's have always been separate operations. Highland was later involved in the city's first brewpub: the long-closed Blue Rooster.

The brewery long ago outgrew its downtown space, Wong and Lyda said. So this spring, they shifted some bottling production to the Frederick Brewing Co. in Frederick Md. And by next year, Highland hopes to open a new 20,000-square-foot local brewery. "Hopefully, it will be sooner rather than later in 2005," said Lyda.

The company is considering sites within Buncombe County.

In the current space, Highland has struggled to keep up with demand but will introduce new beers once it has relocated, Lyda said. "We will do more seasonals," he said. "'I would love to do a wheat, which we can't make right now because of our equipment. I would love to do lagers."

The new Heather Ale--which will be on tap locally in a few days and in 12-ounce bottles later this year--is Highland's first new beer in more than two years. The beer is made using heather as a flavoring.

Whatever comes next, Wong and Lyda say they won't stray from their commitment to excellence.

"We are quality-driven and customer-sensitive, and we try to match the two," said Wong. "If those things don't work, we are out of here."